Dropped to Neutral when braking/downshifting

[abyss]

Hi Guys,

It happened to me several times lately that the gearbox dropped to Neutral automatically when braking/downshifting from normal speed. There was no warning light or anything. I can simply touch the brake pedal a bit and up shifting back to "1" and everything back to normal again.

The things I have done to the car recently was installeding the DBW and put a new relay in. The relay is an Alfa one (Onron) black color 50A exactly the same as the original Bitron fuse in the car from new. I have since put the Bitron relay back and hopefully it is ok.

Anyone experiences this?

 

[lozcb]

Hi Guys,

It happened to me several times lately that the gearbox dropped to Neutral automatically when braking/downshifting from normal speed. There was no warning light or anything. I can simply touch the brake pedal a bit and up shifting back to "1" and everything back to normal again.

The things I have done to the car recently was installeding the DBW and put a new relay in. The relay is an Alfa one (Onron) black color 50A exactly the same as the original Bitron fuse in the car from new. I have since put the Bitron relay back and hopefully it is ok.

Anyone experiences this?

From my experience that is not an F1 pump issue, but a clutch issue ..................more than likely being on the way out , they were the very last symptoms that i went through when my clutch had 17K miles over and above when i was quoted it was a 100% worn , gets kinda dangerous especially when it does it slowing down for roundabouts , and then its suddenly clear , you put your foot down at 30mph and just watch the rev counter hit the 7k rev band oops and then flick the paddles and alls well untill the next time , it will happen with increasing predictability but its certainly dangerous if you have nicked a tight gap through a roundabout and all of a sudden nothing there , you end up looking like edward scissorhands


regards loz

 

[JACIRO]

It happened to me in my QP with 36k on the original clutch but in the garage I could not get it in drive or reverse without reverting back to neutral. I then noticed the map light on and wifey said it almost stalled on her, so I immediately put the Save A Battery on for a couple days and everything seems fine. Now I will get an SD3 reading on the clutch and check the battery?

06 QP sport
06 GS spyder
06 GS coupe

 

[lozcb]

It happened to me in my QP with 36k on the original clutch but in the garage I could not get it in drive or reverse without reverting back to neutral. I then noticed the map light on and wifey said it almost stalled on her, so I immediately put the Save A Battery on for a couple days and everything seems fine. Now I will get an SD3 reading on the clutch and check the battery?

06 QP sport
06 GS spyder
06 GS coupe

Stalling is apparently another symptom of a clutch issue altho it only happened to me once , taking into account that my GS was/ is not an everday car it was just another tick in the box that it needed doing


regards loz

 

[adam01]

OP thread, possible clutch sensor problem?
Any one with experience

 

[Gullible]

my car did this amongst other things and it was partly to do with the F1 pressure and partly to do with the clutch actuator.But my SD readout gave 40% clutch wear so they knew it was unlikely to be the clutch.
The F1 pump had a slight pressure issue and would not allow for an SD self diagnostic as it was struggling with needed pressures.
Reverse selection requires the most pressure of all the gears i am told.
anyway i digress ,once the new F1 pump was fitted the real problem became more evident and Emblem were able to instantly see that the Actuator was out of parameter. this was causing the selection to do many odd things.
I will post the entire diagnostics process and findings once the jobs complete and i collect the car but its worth posting my initial problem and its progression to what it is now and what it turned out to be if anyone is interested.
all the best adam

 

[Emtee]

From what I've been told by the guys at Shiltech, (the conversation came about as we were discussing a QP they had in at the time for the same issue, so it was practical rather than theoretical), the sensor takes it's reading from a magnet. In true Italian style, the magnet was fitted the wrong way round on numerous cars, and so as the clutch wore, the magnet could not get a reading and so it errored, thus prompting the ECU to put the car in neutral.

No recall but the affected cars were quietly fixed at clutch change.

 

[adam01]

^^^^^
Informative post Adam Txs
Further feedback appreciated

Likewise Miles

 

[Gullible]

seems there can be many different solutions to this symptom.
I guess the right one is the one that worked for your car.
adam

 

[Maser Sod]

Hi Guys,

It happened to me several times lately that the gearbox dropped to Neutral automatically when braking/downshifting from normal speed. There was no warning light or anything. I can simply touch the brake pedal a bit and up shifting back to "1" and everything back to normal again.

The things I have done to the car recently was installeding the DBW and put a new relay in. The relay is an Alfa one (Onron) black color 50A exactly the same as the original Bitron fuse in the car from new. I have since put the Bitron relay back and hopefully it is ok.

Anyone experiences this?

What was the last clutch wear reading on your car, and how many miles has it done since? If the clutch is scarcely worn - which is easily tested - then you can rule this out as a source of the problem.

If your last service report doesn't show a clutch wear reading, then insist next time. It doesn't cost these guys anything.

Anyway, aside from that - enjoy the DBW. Best mod out there!

 

[abyss]

The clutch is only 2000mi old and last reading was 30% worn. It feels very grippy so don't think the clutch is worn.

Will try the Solenoid reset in other post to see if it makes any different.

 

[lozcb]

Hi Guys,

It happened to me several times lately that the gearbox dropped to Neutral automatically when braking/downshifting from normal speed. There was no warning light or anything. I can simply touch the brake pedal a bit and up shifting back to "1" and everything back to normal again.

The things I have done to the car recently was installeding the DBW and put a new relay in. The relay is an Alfa one (Onron) black color 50A exactly the same as the original Bitron fuse in the car from new. I have since put the Bitron relay back and hopefully it is ok.

Anyone experiences this?

Having given this a bit moe thought, it could possibly be the brake pedal switch loose or faulty connection , if it hasppens when you have eased off and applied braking , worth a quick look


regards loz

 

[BennyD]

30% worn in 2000 miles? Some going! I hope mine lasts longer than 6600 miles!

 

[abyss]

Not sure how accurate was those worn figures. The invoice does stated new clutch at 31k mi and the car is now 33k mi.

 

[lozcb]

Not sure how accurate was those worn figures. The invoice does stated new clutch at 31k mi and the car is now 33k mi.

Its only a guide , but really depends on how well the set up was performed and how the parameters were reset back to zero if you get my drift , who fitted the clutch


regards loz,

 

[conaero]

30% worn in 2000 miles? Some going! I hope mine lasts longer than 6600 miles!

That sounds normal, I had mine done and at the next year service with about 5k miles on the new clutch was showing a reading of late 20's

The following year and another 5 or 6k miles it was mid 30's so would not worry about it, sounds like you never get a true reading, especially on the initial setup.