Hi all,

I'm new to the forum so my apologies in advance if this post isn't in the right area.

Last week I bought my wife a Punto. It is a 2001 model speedgear with just under 40.000 miles. It is superb - almost unbelievable MPG (compared to what she used to drive) and in fact I was so impressed that I planned to sell my car and get one myself!

Here's the problem. I bought a similar model (sporting) and when it is started up, the autobox light flashes intermittently. When I put it into Drive or Reverse it "jolts" into gear. Once in gear it drives beautifully but if I need to change, it jolts. I also noticed that once or twice it would give the "reverse warning beeps" and the in dash display would change to "r" when going forward (as if it didn't know what gear it was meant to be in). As I said though - it drives really well once in gear.

I did a search and there was mention of a rear light cluster. Could that be the cause and if so - is it the drivers or passenger side one? ps... I did also notice that a "light bulb" warning would keep popping up on the dash from time to time too.

Thanks in advance you your words of wisdom from a recent Punto convert (not one but two of them sitting on the driveway) ;-)

There is a recent thread on the rear light issue. The bulb and the reverse sensor are on the same circuit so a dirty bulb or rear light unit earth contact can confuse the gearbox ECU by affecting the voltage. However no mention was made of the box clunking.

Hi,
Thanks for your swift response. I'll try the rear light thing. With the jolt, the only way I can describe it is as if you imagine having the car in neutral, then holding the revs at around 2000rpm and then putting it into gear. It's strange because other than for this it is silky smooth and the only way I know it's changing when I'm driving is that I can see the revs changing.

By the way - one of the things that really impressed me about the Punto was when I took my wife's one on the motorway and when sitting on 70mph the revs were nice and low (lower in fact at 70mph than a Jaguar X type that I used to own) and seeing the MPG slowly climb above 50 ;-)

The mpg is indeed very good but dont trust the trip its not the most accurate.

The Speedgear is actually a CVT system with no discrete gears. The electronics make it feel like separate gears. Best to get it checked by a specialist ASAP.

WhiteSei said:

The mpg is indeed very good but dont trust the trip its not the most accurate.

The Speedgear is actually a CVT system with no discrete gears. The electronics make it feel like separate gears. Best to get it checked by a specialist ASAP.

Click to expand...

Ah... That explains why I couldn't detect the gear changes ;-)

My plan is to check and clean the light cluster connections first thing in the morning as well as the battery as my wife had an A class merc some years ago that did the same jolt when putting it into drive or reverse. We had the RAC out and the guy said that it was common for dodgy batteries to affect the gearbox electronics. A replacement battery and then all was perfect!

Once I've done those two things if it hasn't worked then it's straight to a specialist. I'm pretty certain that the cluster does have something to do here though because every time I press the brake, or indicate left, the car thinks it's in reverse and starts beeping. this doesn't happen when indicating right or not braking so my first task will be to check the left hand side cluster.

I'll report back my findings.

First, Im no expert on these autos
The rear lights earths are iffy and the gearbox ecu senses from the same circuit. It may be worth adding an additional contact with self tapper screw to the car body. I've no idea if this is actually possible but worth checking out. You'll need the wiring diagram

Hi all - I have an update...

This morning I removed the rear passenger side lights. After disconnecting the wiring connector I noticed that the pin that has the black wire looked a bit discoloured as if it had been arcing. Also the corresponding connector on the light plug was discoloured.

After cleaning them thoroughly and also separating the light strip so that I could inspect and clean all the bulb connections, I put it all back together. In all it took me a few cleans to get it just right but in the end the connection was restored and with the ignition on (but not the car) I was able to indicate left without the reverse beeps happening. After moving the gear selector back and forth a few times, the gearbox light stopped flashing and stayed off.

I then turned the ignition off and then started the car - the gearbox warning light stayed off and after selecting forward and reverse gears, the jolt was gone ;-)

Thanks to all for your comments. I imagine that the advice within the forum has probably saved me £100+ (especially as an auto transmission specialist that wasn't particularly au fait with this issue may have tried changing the oil and filter etc etc).

Thanks again - you're all stars!