I'm back! (And looking for a Citroen...)

[CitroJim]

I had forgotten all about the Pleiades tool. Are they still available ?

Short answer no, long answer possibly. Chris570 was trying to get a group buy together as Pleiades would manufacture a batch if there was sufficient demand. Have a natter with Chris and see how the ground looks Simon. Somewhere he posted a thread looking for expressions of interest.

Oh, and even on cars that have lived down sarf all their lives spheres can still be a bit of a pain to get off...

I never bother to depresurise a V6 when doing any spheres. When on low the residual pressure is very low.

[myglaren]

Here is Chris' thread on a group purchase of the Pleiades Tool.

[Mandrake]

Ok guys. Emergency question

I'm stuck in the car park at work and I can't select a gear.

The reverse light on the gear shift repeater on the dashboard is flashing and the locking gate for the gear shifter won't disengage when I press the brake pedal. The gearbox has been working perfectly up until this morning.

What on earth is happening ? Faulty gearbox ? I've tried disconnecting the battery but no change.

I can walk home but I'm in a park where I might get towed if I stay overnight. Argh.

[hirsty]

Had this problem on mine before. It's probably the plastic inside the pedal that's snapped off. It can be repaired .To release the shift lock you need to push against the solenoid switch with a screwdriver. To access, remove the gear indicator near the gear selector and look down the right hand side. You should be able to see or feel the solenoid. When you stop again, leave the car in neutral otherwise it will lock again.

Keith

[Mandrake]

You had a flashing R on the dashboard too ? Google searches for this have not turned anything up...

[hirsty]

I think you will find this is because the selector is between contacts and thus flashes the nearest contact. Mine will flash if you rest your hand on the selector lever.The clue is in the solenoid preventing any gear selection. Try pushing the selector lever back up to park and the flashing should stop. The contacts are small copper squares which connect when the selector touches them and do wear during use making the connection sloppy.

Keith

[DickieG]

I'm not entirely if this applies to your car as my French isn't very fluent but Citroen produced a service bulletin (1-99) that appears to relate to a fault similar to what you describe, it mentions checking fuse no 2 then checking for chafing on wires leading to a block connector on the side of the engine above the gearbox attached by a cable tie to a bracket.

As a quick thought to get you going is it possible to physically remove the solenoid preventing the gear lever being moved or supplying with 12v directly?

[Mandrake]

Thanks guys, Keith in particular, you well and truly saved my bacon

I'm now back safely home just as it started pissing with rain. I might have figured it out eventually but being unfamiliar with the V6 Auto I had a bit of brain freeze and assumed the worst that the flashing R was some sort of gearbox doomsday signal (Yes I have read about dying gearboxes in V6's so I saw everything flash before my eyes...)

No, it doesn't appear to be a faulty switch on the brake pedal, once I got it working again I've figured out whats happening - as you say if you move the shifter half way between reverse and park the symbol will start flashing, and yes the park contact on the shifter switch must be a bit dodgy, so even though the lever was fully in park the contact was not making thus it thought it wasn't sitting properly in park.

In this state it will not engage the solenoid when you press the brake, so there is no way to move the shifter back and forth to get the contact to register again, thus you're locked out. After manually operating the solenoid its all working fine again. I'll add checking and cleaning the switch contacts to my to-do list and keep a screwdriver in the car in the mean time in case it happens again. (Luckily I had a full tool kit in the boot today)

One thing I've noticed though, perhaps my paranoia again, is that the gearbox seems to be hanging onto 1st gear to a lot higher revs than before with gentle driving - around 2500 rpm or so instead of about 2000 rpm, (no, sport mode is not on) but I did disconnect the battery when troubleshooting the flashing R, so is it possible that the auto adaptive feature in the gearbox has reset to defaults and will soon "learn" to shift at lower RPM again ?

Thanks again guys, forum to the rescue, and this really reminds me why I love having a smartphone

[DickieG]

One thing I've noticed though, perhaps my paranoia again, is that the gearbox seems to be hanging onto 1st gear to a lot higher revs than before with gentle driving - around 2500 rpm or so instead of about 2000 rpm, (no, sport mode is not on) but I did disconnect the battery when troubleshooting the flashing R, so is it possible that the auto adaptive feature in the gearbox has reset to defaults and will soon "learn" to shift at lower RPM again ?

If this is happening when the engine is cold it's normal as it assists in warming up the transmission fluid quicker, Citroen did do a software update which reduced how long/high the lower gear is held onto by the box, I updated the software on my V6 which improved matters.

[Mandrake]

Interesting. Well it is fairly cold (4 degrees) but not as cold as it has been recently when it was shifting at lower revs. By the time I finished the 2 mile drive home I had noticed that it was shifting up from 1st at lower revs already, about 2200, so I guess maybe it is some sort of auto adaptive behaviour. I'll keep an eye on it.

[xantia_v6]

In case you have not figured it out, the switch is bolted to the transmission behind the selector lever. You can safely remove it, as the splines will only fit with one alignment. The switch itself is riveted together, but you should be able to drill out the rivets, clean the contacts and reassemble with suitable screws and nuts. The problem is probably due to copper filings contaminating the grease in the switch. I had one with symptoms like yours, but it would also blow the injection fuse from time to time, causing the engine to cut-out, usually at a most inconvenient time.

re-the hanging on to first gear, that is normal. If you momentarily switch to "snow-mode" it will force a change to second gear.

[hirsty]

Happy you got going again and glad to be of assistance. The problem on mine was caused by the mounting for the plunger which activated the solenoid breaking off (it's thin rigid plastic). The local stealer qouted £56 for a new pedal box, however the previous owner fixed it in 10 minutes using a 50p spatula from Morrisons (must have been watching Blue Peter ). 30k miles later it's still working OK. I also had near heart failure when the lights started flashing, but fortunately figured out what was happening.

Keith

[lexi]

Glad you got sorted mate. Never had any thing like that with selector.
I knew of the gears hanging on if it was cold and the auto adaptive nature of box.

You notice the memory if you have been driving gently. I wouldn't worry about auto box as my instinct
says it is a good un given the colour of oil when I dropped it..........sods law says it will blow up now

Bloody freezing up here for spannering now as well !

[CitroJim]

You notice the memory if you have been driving gently. I wouldn't worry about auto box as my instinct says it is a good un given the colour of oil when I dropped it..........sods law says it will blow up now

And you notice the memory if you've been driving a bit 'enthusiastically' too Mind you, mine seems to be stuck on the 'old git' map most of the time..

I'm sure the 'box has years of life yet but if it does.... No worries...

The solenoid lockout and the intermittent starting issues is certainly indicative of the position switch... As Xantia_V6 says, there’s nothing to loose by doing a bit of gentle surgery on it...

[Mandrake]

And you notice the memory if you've been driving a bit 'enthusiastically' too Mind you, mine seems to be stuck on the 'old git' map most of the time..

I was trying the sport mode a bit today, certainly makes a hell of a difference, does the sport mode have any auto adaptive learning behaviour as well ?

I'm also interested to know how the snow mode works, (owners manual is missing) I understand that it skips 1st gear and starts off in 2nd gear (certainly feels like it) but does it also remap the shift points and clutch operation ? (Not sure if that box has electronically controlled variable slip clutches or not)

The solenoid lockout and the intermittent starting issues is certainly indicative of the position switch... As Xantia_V6 says, there’s nothing to loose by doing a bit of gentle surgery on it...

Yeah I'll have a look at the slide switch when I get time, along with the starter relay mod.