≡ On The Speedo
Difficulty
Credit
Evilution
Cost
For
Old Style 600cc For2
Old Style 700cc For2
Roadster
Old Style 700cc For2
Roadster
≡ On The Speedo
Three horizontal lines on the speedo LCD indicates that there is a fault in the gearshift system. There are a few reasons for this to happen.
Three horizontal lines on the speedo LCD indicates that there is a fault in the gearshift system. There are a few reasons for this to happen.
This is the symbol that will displayed on the speedo if a shifting problem occurs.
Generally the car will not start and now gears can be selected although there
have been cases where the car has driven fine despite the error showing.
If the car drives fine forwards and backwards, simply disconnect the battery for
10 minutes before reconnecting. This should clear the error from the car's memory.
What Can Cause It?
Faulty SE Drive
Stuck gears
Weak battery
Faulty brake lights
Faulty rear light loom (Roadster)
Faulty gear motor
Faulty gear position sensor
Faulty clutch actuator
Chaffed wires
Seized gearbox
Faulty relay
Split reluctor rings
The gear change works on non contact hall effect sensors that are activated by a magnet
(much like a reed switch but a chip format). Gear changes should be clean, smooth and full
push or pull to the limit of the stick's travel before releasing. Hesitation during a gear change
or not pushing/pulling the stick to the full limit can cause this error code to appear.
It is unlikely that the magnet will lose its power but there have been cases where the
internal PCB of the SE Drive falls down. This can put the hall effect sensors out of reach
of the magnet causing the same problem. Usually this problem can also cause the
ignition switch to move away from the barrel making the car impossible to start.
Usually related to a faulty gear motor but can get stuck in their own right.
Forcibly pushing the car back and forth usually rocks the gear box free.
If this fixes it, it may be worth thinking about a gearbox oil change.
There may be a part in the gear box that isn't moving as well as
it should and a fresh batch of oil can help get things moving again.
Thanks to Pedro Caria for adding this info.
It seems it is possible for the battery to be too weak to move the gear motor fully.
As the gears attempt to move and fail, the error code is bought up.
Get the battery tested and replace if it is faulty.
It has been known (mainly on the Roadster) that having the rear light units unplugged can cause the 3 bars problem to appear. The Roadster suffers from corrosion of the short wiring loom between the car and the rear light units. The short replacement loom can be purchased from smart.
Another possible fault is a faulty brake light bulb or an intermittent connection to the bulb.
Take the bulb out, clean the connector and bulb terminals and look at the 2 filaments inside.
If 1 of the filaments has blown it can hang down and short circuit to the side lights.
In addition to faulty lights in the Roadster you can also have a water damaged wiring loom.
This loom joins the car to the rear lights and is only very short but has been known to
fill with water and destroy the connectors causing electical issues with the rear lights.
The motor is the device that actually moves the gears in and out of position.
It is a motor that can run in both directions to select a gear through a linkage of levers and a drum. Motors can burn out, the brushes can become damaged and the connections can become faulty.
Unplugging the connector will allow you to view the connections and allow you to clean them.
Removing the torx headed bolts will allow the motor to be removed and exchanged.
The sensor feeds back the position of the gears to the ECU, this allows that ECU to control
the gears via the motor mentioned above. If the sensor becomes faulty, the ECU has no
idea what gear the car is in so calls up the error to save any damage or accidents.
Sensors can become dirty as well as just break outright. Removing the two bolts located on
either side will allow you to pull the sensor from the gearbox. Unplug the wiring connector
from the sensor and pull the unit free of the car. Giving it a quick clean may help.
It is worth checking the wires to the plastic connector as in many cases the protective
sheath is cut short so the internal wires are open to the elements. It has been known
for the engine movement to gradually damage the separate wires causing one or
more to ground out and therefore causing the sensor to fail.
The gear position sensor is the disc at the top of the picture and therefore the motor is the unit located below it. As you can see, the wiring to the motor isn't sheathed very well.
As you look at the back of the car the motor and sensor are found over on the left,
tucked up the back of the engine where the intercooler scoop rises up into engine bay.
Faulty Clutch Actuator
Thank to Roland Welte for letting me know about this one.
Roland had the 3 bars problem and fixed it by following
It is worth checking the wires to the plastic connector as in many cases the protective
sheath is cut short so the internal wires are open to the elements. It has been known
for the engine movement to gradually damage the separate wires causing one or
more to ground out and therefore causing the motor to fail.
This is becoming more and more common, it seems the wiring tends to chaff on the intercooler.
Check picture below to see the placement of the motor.
Thanks to Nanak for this info.
The clutch plate can stick in the closed position, usually for 1 of 2 reasons.
Water contamination into the clutch housing can cause the clutch plate to seize closed.
The clutch arm bearings can also seize which then holds the clutch closed.
In both circumstances, the best solution is to strip the clutch down.
Check the transmission fluid level as seen here, open the filling point and see how much
fluid you can get in before it begins to overflow. If you can get more than 300ml in then
I would recommend draining the transmission fluid and filling it with new fluid.
Thanks to Matt N for this info.
If you have a 600cc smart it is worth checking the gearbox relay under the left hand seat.
Swap over the 2 blue relays and try again, they are for the starter motor and the gearbox.
K2 is for the gearbox and K5 is for the starter motor. If when you swap them, the car won't start, the relay K5 is faulty. Relays can become intermittently faulty and the gearbox is a lot more sensitive to voltage problems so swapping the relays may fix the problem.
Obviously it makes sense to get a replacement relay as soon as you can.
The obvious answer is to get one from smart but Google search any numbers on the relay.
If the car won't start once you swap the relays and you desperately need 1 more drive to go and buy a new relay then try this. Put the good relay in position K5, start the car, remove the relay from K5 and put it in position K2. The car will keep running and the gearbox should work fine.
Don't make a habit of using that fix though, get a new relay.
There seems to be a very rare case (hence being last) where split rear reluctor rings can
cause the 3 lines to appear. So, check them and replace them if they are damaged.
Thanks to Graham S for sharing his fault.
Print page
Translate
Back to top
© Copyright 2012 Vone Internet Services. All rights reserved