ronnie_rotten Posted December 29, 2015 Share Posted December 29, 2015 Today I test drove a 99 td5 auto. It revs well up to 4k odd in neutral, only a little touch of the throttle needed, not foot to the boards. When in gear it seems sluggish to up shift. It pulls away smoothly, shifts to second bug then kind of hangs a bit. Wouldn't be much good as a getaway vehicle. If you feather the throttle there seems to be a 'dead spot'. Rev's sit at one mark over 2k until you floor it, it kicks down, revs jump to 3k plus and you get acceleration and up shifting. Seems to drive 'normally' as long as you're giving it welly. If you loose off a bit, at 1 mark below 3k the revs drop down to just over 2k and you find it lacking revs for the selected gear. My thoughts are that either the fly by wire throttle has a dead spot in the middle, or something in the gear box is holding back the engine until it 'lets go' and sorts itself out a bit. Or something else entirely. I'm not really familiar with auto box's foibles. Does the throttle theory sound likely or possible or silly? Fluid in box was changed a week or so before fault developed, did I read somewhere that the 'detergent properties ' of the fluid can stir up cack in the box and cause issues after a change? Possible cause? What else? I can't be buying a total sack of money pit as this needs to be a reliable daily drive. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tanuki Posted December 29, 2015 Share Posted December 29, 2015 I doubt it's the throttle-pot; if this has any issues then it's designed to "fail safe" and the engine won't get off idle. What do he ECU codes say? Don't waste money swapping parts at random until you've read the codes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ronnie_rotten Posted December 29, 2015 Author Share Posted December 29, 2015 The guy's had it plugged in and no codes showing (apart from clearing the air suspension code after swapping to coils). I'm more concerned about not wasting 1.5k on a lemon at the moment than anything else! Does the description sound like some sort of major box fault rather than a couple of hundred quid fix? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ronnie_rotten Posted December 29, 2015 Author Share Posted December 29, 2015 Should also mention : Tested without maf plugged in, ran terrible - reconnected. Egr deleted Silly little 'red plastic boost box' wired in. Don't know if that could be at fault, screwing up signals to the ecu? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ronnie_rotten Posted December 29, 2015 Author Share Posted December 29, 2015 He says he's changed: Airflow meter Injector wiring harness Air filter box Intercooler hoses All filters Tank fuel pump Interior fuse box Some of those thinking it might cure the shifting problem. :/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
qwakers Posted December 29, 2015 Share Posted December 29, 2015 could just be the box needs a oil and filter change... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ronnie_rotten Posted December 29, 2015 Author Share Posted December 29, 2015 He changed the oil and filter a week or 2 before the issue occured. Can you screw a box up by changing the oil 'wrong '? He seems a very thorough bloke to be fair, though he doesn't use this forum so I only half trust/respect him!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
qwakers Posted December 29, 2015 Share Posted December 29, 2015 could be a sticking governor... never had that issue myself so dont know if it fits your symptoms but can be caused by changing the oil... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ronnie_rotten Posted December 29, 2015 Author Share Posted December 29, 2015 could be a sticking governor... never had that issue myself so dont know if it fits your symptoms but can be caused by changing the oil... I read about that on the Ashcrofts faq page. Gonna look deeper into that I recon. I wonder, are there non gearbox related issues that could manifest like this? Perhaps an air in fuel issue or something td5-esque like injector seals, gasket etc..? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ronnie_rotten Posted December 29, 2015 Author Share Posted December 29, 2015 Could somehow there be a messed up electrical signal to the ecu? No instruction to change gear til high rev range? Isn't it great how all my 'help me threads' get polluted by my own wild theories? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steve_a Posted December 30, 2015 Share Posted December 30, 2015 There isn't a governor on the electronic boxes in these, the ECU controls it. Reading the description I'm wondering if you have a sticky solenoid and that it's got too high a gear engaged for the road speed. Changing the oil can loosen and stir up the gunk, which might have caused a solenoid or one of the balls in the valve block to stick. A good hard, hot drive might get it to shift the gunk? The other thing might be the boost box, I'd remove that and check if its better, there might be some issue for fuelling. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tanuki Posted December 31, 2015 Share Posted December 31, 2015 You say there are no fault-codes. That's odd. Are you sure you're reading the transmission ECU codes and not the TD5 engine ECU codes? They're spectacularly different issues. Please don't go randomly swapping more engine-components in the hope that it'll fixx what is clearly a transmission problem! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IanS Posted January 1, 2016 Share Posted January 1, 2016 The first thing would be to get rid of the "silly plastic boost box". Td5 electronics are complicated and that certainly won't help. But the way you describe it isn't too different to normal operation especially if it's cold. It does need a fair amount of throttle to get it going....... When I first got mine I thought there was something wrong as it sounded as though a clutch was slipping all the time. But after 6 years and nearly 50,000 miles it's still going strong. The shifts are very smooth so it's sometimes tricky to know which gear it's in. And remember the lockup in 4th at around 55 mph. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ronnie_rotten Posted January 2, 2016 Author Share Posted January 2, 2016 You say there are no fault-codes. That's odd. Are you sure you're reading the transmission ECU codes and not the TD5 engine ECU codes? They're spectacularly different issues. Please don't go randomly swapping more engine-components in the hope that it'll fixx what is clearly a transmission problem! I haven't swapped anything, it's not my truck. I just test drove it and wondered if some light could be cast upon the issue. I've passed on the good advice I've got here to the guy who owns it. I'm thinking that somehow when changing the oil he must have messed something up. Perhaps he just didn't get quite enough oil in there as I'm not sure how he would have worked through the gears whilst pouring on his own. Either way, as reasonably prices as it is for an ES, I've decided against buying a vehicle needing possibly major work. Instead, I've managed to double my budget by cracking open the emergency/rainy day/university funds so I'll be looking for a 02-04 MANUAL D2, cos auto boxes are too complimicated and confuserating for I. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
simonr Posted January 2, 2016 Share Posted January 2, 2016 Probably a good decision! I was going to suggest finding another one of the same vintage to test drive - so at least you have a comparison to know whether it's actually broken! When I bought my Td5 Defender, it was so gutless I assumed it was broken! Took it to a main dealer who confirmed it was OK, it's just a feature to stop you 'razzing' it! One remap later and it went much more like I hoped it would in the first place. Si Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ronnie_rotten Posted January 3, 2016 Author Share Posted January 3, 2016 I think I'm going to embark on a mad mission involving a plane flight, a lift from the old man, a ferry and 2 border crossings to look at and hopefully return with an 03 manual d2. Desperate, maybe. But perhaps less desperate than buying a vehicle with known issues when what I need is a 'get in and go'. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lindsayfraser Posted January 24, 2016 Share Posted January 24, 2016 If you ever think it is a throttle flat spot issue use cruise control to accelerate. If it accelerates with out a flat spot you have found the issue. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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