Technical 500L - Delayed Engagement (gear box issue) Semi Auto

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Technical 500L - Delayed Engagement (gear box issue) Semi Auto

B33ma247

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I have just purchased a car with an underlying issue. The seller told me he has no idea what’s going on.

(First time starting the car) Basically, when I shifted from Park into First (semi-auto), it displayed I am in 1st gear on the dash, however accelerating to pull away, I had no power for a few seconds. Then Bam, the car shot forwards with a big jolt and the car stalled (Possibly my reaction on the park & foot brake).

I’ve read that it’s called “Delayed Engagement”, however I’m not sure of the cause.
Can anyone shed some light on this situation and tell me what I can do to try and rectify this issue. Thanks for any input.

Car: 2013 1.3L SemiAuto FIAT 500L
I have just purchased a car with an underlying issue. The seller told me he has no idea what’s going on.

(First time starting the car) Basically, when I shifted from Park into First (semi-auto), it displayed I am in 1st gear on the dash, however accelerating to pull away, I had no power for a few seconds. Then Bam, the car shot forwards with a big jolt and the car stalled (Possibly my reaction on the park & foot brake).

I’ve read that it’s called “Delayed Engagement”, however I’m not sure of the cause.
Can anyone shed some light on this situation and tell me what I can do to try and rectify this issue. Thanks for any input.

Car: 2013 1.3L SemiAuto FIAT 500L
Vid: https://youtu.be/GeeZxtD71ko
 
Hi There,

2013 Fiat 500 L - 1.3L Diesel - Stop / Start - SemiAuto

Battery replaced, and ground connections cleaned up. Now have a car that has no fault codes on the dash. However, my main issue is long far solved.

When I put the car into drive, I see on the dash selecting 1st gear. However giving the car some revs to move forward, the car eventually slams into gear with quite a shunt and stalls the engine. This is quite a serious problem, and I won’t be doing that again, but can someone point me into the right direction for a fix.
 
Hello and welcome to the forum.

Battery replaced, and ground connections cleaned up.

That's an excellent first start, and likely the first thing that would have been suggested here.

Possibly my reaction on the park & foot brake

Read the manual for the correct procedure when pulling away. If you're doing the right things, but getting the wrong outcome, then the likelihood is there's something wrong with the car.


However giving the car some revs to move forward, the car eventually slams into gear with quite a shunt and stalls the engine.

I'm not sure exactly which gearbox is fitted to a 500L diesel, but the dualogic box used in the standard 500 is well known for giving trouble in later (and not-so-later) life; see this thread if you haven't already found it.

There are almost no simple fixes. Unless it's something as straightforward as a worn out clutch, lasting repair may not be an economic option on a 2013 car. Sometimes the selespeed fluid level drops, and topping up might provide some temporary respite, but many folks who know anything about these cars generally top up the fluid, reset the fault codes and sell them on at the first sign of trouble.

If you've bought it from the trade, I'd return the car and press for a refund. If you've bought privately, this probably won't get you very far.
 
Last edited:
Thanks for both your replies. Yes it’s a manual gearbox (Code: PCC510) controlled by the Selespeed Robot. (PN: 46342823 / 55246006)

After speaking with a gearbox specialist, he said 95% of the time it’s caused by the sensor on the Consentric Slave/Bearing inside the gearbox. He mentioned that clogs up with clutch/brake dust. Cleaning this will fix my problem. However, there are 3 reasons I don’t think it’s worth taking the gearbox off. #1 the clutch is engaging (hence the stalling and shunt). #2 it is showing live data of the clutch position when the jolt happens, it clearly knows it engaged. (Big spike on graph) #3 the mileage on the car is pretty now. (I know I can’t guess this one, however it must be taken into consideration).

Borrowed my mates snap-on diagnostics today so will update the thread if I come across anything.
 
Thanks for both your replies. Yes it’s a manual gearbox (Code: PCC510) controlled by the Selespeed Robot. (PN: 46342823 / 55246006)

After speaking with a gearbox specialist, he said 95% of the time it’s caused by the sensor on the Consentric Slave/Bearing inside the gearbox. He mentioned that clogs up with clutch/brake dust. Cleaning this will fix my problem. However, there are 3 reasons I don’t think it’s worth taking the gearbox off. #1 the clutch is engaging (hence the stalling and shunt). #2 it is showing live data of the clutch position when the jolt happens, it clearly knows it engaged. (Big spike on graph) #3 the mileage on the car is pretty now. (I know I can’t guess this one, however it must be taken into consideration).

Borrowed my mates snap-on diagnostics today so will update the thread if I come across anything.
 
I was chatting to somebody yesterday who had seen this on a panda

It was one of those vehicles.. bought with a few of the 'it could be be caused by' errors present

Worked through the list.. but no major gains

Car was sold in parts on here :(


I could do with a dualogic myself..

But am no longer capable of doing the indepth mechanical work :eek:
 
So basically I’ve gone through most things on the transmission testing. I was able to test and listen to actuators engaging, relays clicking, pump pumping, accumulator etc. Everything seems to be working on the Robot side of things.

Here is a short video showing Live Data with engine off. I did notice the Clutch Degradation Index is at 6697. However looking at a very helpful troubleshooting guide on here says anything above 6000 is bad. But looking elsewhere on the interwebs is saying upto 8000 or even 12,000.

I’m not sure how to reset parameter on this tool, but I guess it would be an idea to do this before having the gearbox out to replace the clutch?? There is a “self-learnt function reset” under “clutch replacement”. Do you think I should give this a go?

YouTube Vid: https://youtu.be/xpBAEVAgSYI
 
Hi, thanks again for all your help. Especially puntodeltathema for spending the time to look into this and message privately! I was indeed trying to reset the clutch parameters on my device, but for some reason it keeps failing.

MES are showing some extra necessities needed for proper execution so this may be why.

I think I shall invest in the software and cable to help before removing the gearbox and clutch.

https://youtube.com/shorts/2YdFqWdhLaw?feature=share
 
Just to say that B33ma247 and I appear to have had success today with recalibrating the clutch action on his 500L in MultiEcuScan (we also topped up the fluid which was a bit low).

The low fluid came up as an error in MES. There was also a generic CAN type error and in discussion it appears a low battery voltage spiked a lot of the systems across the car (presumably on a startup - it's happened to my Giulietta before), so I think this may have thrown out the Dualogic system calibration. The errors didn't return on clearing.

Anyway, fine theories but keeping everything crossed that this has sorted it. Really hoping I don't jinx it through vocalisation :eek: but though the info would be useful for the forum....
 
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