That's a selespeed fault, not a gearbox fault.
Technically speaking, there is no such thing as a selespeed gearbox. All Abarth gearboxes are exactly the same.
All the Selespeed system does is select the gears. It's a very high tech gear stick. The selespeed setup is a hydraulic system mounted on top of the gearbox that uses the hydraulics to lift and move the selector forks on top of the gearbox, taking the place of the levers and cables that connector to the good old fashioned manual nob. It of course actuates the clutch too.
It's adaptive so when you're driving like a loon and having fun it'll change gear stupid quick and you can enjoy a paddle shift or sequential shift via knob, which is a fun gizmo to tell ya mates about.
There aren't that many people out there that understand the selespeed systems (dealers don't have the foggiest) so if you're not mechanically inclined and a bit tech savvy looking after one can be hard work.
Still if you've got the time to read up on them, are handy with a spanner and have
MultiECUScan you'll make your way in the world just fine.
Selespeeds were very much more common across the Alfa 147, 156 and GT platform, were fitted to some of the 156 and 147 GTA models and I think might even be lurking in some Maserati somewhere too. The Masser and GTA models were 6 speed, the rest all 5 speed.
I would say if you buy that, top up the selespeed fluid with the correct fluid, not just any old auto trans fluid will work, run the diagnostics and see what it does.
Common fault is the accumulator pressure vessel fails and it wont hold hydraulic pressure to shift. they're a fairly cheap and easy fix. You'll know if this is an issue as typically you'll find a puddle where you've parked it (the pump primes when you open the drivers door).
It might just be that it wants the calibrations and adjustments running on it.
