Strange Behaviour on a Zafira Transmission

[ZippyZafira]

Hey Guys

Hoping someone can assist me and shed some light on a issue before i go ripping the transmission out.

I have a Zafira here Auto only done 90,000k and im having a problem with the transmission.

When i start the car every day she runs beautifully very smooth and no weird sounds however once the car heats up fully the transmission starts to play up.When i come to a complete stop and go to take of the car seems to hesitate and shutter a little then all of a sudden she jumps and races off. "almost feels like holding the breaks while reeving and then releasing them"

No i have noticed is i press the sports mode button on top of the shifter is increases the problem but if i press the the snowflake button the problem go's away but of coarse it is very slow then on take off.

I have also noticed if i put the shifter in first gear on take of it also does not have the problem. The problem only happens when in 2nd, or 3rd or drive.

Now for the really weird part. If i turn the car off when it is at normal running temperature and put it in park and try to start it it will not start until it cools a little. The motor will not even try to turn over as if it is still in drive?? and yes i have eliminated the starter motor

I have change the oil and replaced it with genuine fully synthetic oil but it made no difference.

Im hoping someone out there has some great advice on AUTO's and can explain this for me

 

[Matt]

astra22bertoneauto seems to be pretty clued up on the auto boxes, so may be able to shed some light for you

 

[astra22bertoneauto]

Hiya. There are a few sensors on the auto box. Sounds like 1 of those is playing up - possibly the neutral start switch or oil temp sensor??? The auto box has its own ecu too so might be best to plug opcom / tech2 into your diagnostics port and select your transmisson option. OPCOM has an option where you can look at stored codes there (not sure if those codes show up EML?)

Looking on the EPC disc shows a few sensors on top of the box & the oil temp one at the lower front (to the right of the starter motor area)

Might even be able to remove them and give them a clean? Hope this helps If not AtomX knows more about the mechanical operation

 

[ZippyZafira]

Thanks Guys

I will plug the OP-com in and give it a read and see if there are any errors

will let you know how it go's

 

[ZippyZafira]

OK Plugged the OP-COM in and checked for fault codes but non were present.

in regards to the sensors does anyone have any pictures of where these are located and what they look like

 

[astra22bertoneauto]

Ill take some pictures of my auto box and then post them up for you, but you should notice some wires with connector blocks that terminated on top of the box. May need to remove the battery tray first thou.

 

[astra22bertoneauto]

in regards to the sensors does anyone have any pictures of where these are located and what they look like

Heres a picture of 1 of them circled in red. You would need to remove the battery & tray to see the others, but look for something similar to this.

 

[ZippyZafira]

Ok thanks

will start to pull it down and look

 

[ZippyZafira]

Ok strange things have happened.

The car now seems to have sorted out its issue with the transmission

 

[Matt]

Typical cars!

 

[markoneswift]

I had an issue similar to this when I owned a 2.3 Zetec Galaxy auto. I had it in to the dealer for some other issues and when I got it back, it drove like a pig - it wanted to max rev before changing up, sluggish from take off and all sorts. I did a bit of digging and it was suggested that the 'adaptives' had got messed up - I'm assuming some kind of memory in the ECU that 'maps' your driving style to the box. So, I dropped the battery for half a day, popped it back on and drove it a bit - right as rain again Maybe the Vauxhall auto has a similar adaptive memory ?

 

[Matt]

I had an issue similar to this when I owned a 2.3 Zetec Galaxy auto. I had it in to the dealer for some other issues and when I got it back, it drove like a pig - it wanted to max rev before changing up, sluggish from take off and all sorts. I did a bit of digging and it was suggested that the 'adaptives' had got messed up - I'm assuming some kind of memory in the ECU that 'maps' your driving style to the box. So, I dropped the battery for half a day, popped it back on and drove it a bit - right as rain again Maybe the Vauxhall auto has a similar adaptive memory ?

The wife's old Smart was the same. Smart actually did an update to the auto box ECU and it made a huge difference.