2005 2L petrol gearbox problems

[Bongobaz81]

Started experiencing problems with my bongo about 9 months ago. First issues started with an intermittent issue when changing gears (mainly but not exclusively between 2nd and 3rd). Gear changing was very abrupt and accompanied with engine over reving, sometimes with engine fault light. Took to a local (supposed) auto gearbox specialist who changed the solenoid valve body. Problem continued. They then changed valve body again claiming they thought they’d been sent a faulty one. Problem continued. It’s been back to them numerous times during this time and they claim to have made some adjustments. Problem continued. They claimed they could not read the blink code in relation to the engine fault light. The gearbox output speed sensor has now been changed along with the battery (??? Don’t know why battery was fine and only twelve months old). Problem continues. As it stands the fault occurs more frequently and through all gear ranges including when stationary in first occasionally. Noted that when the fault occurs the speedo drops to zero and then reads a speed once a gear is selected. I’ve now been pretty much without the van on and off for 9 months and missed a whole summer not using it. As you can understand I have given up on the charlatan local garage as they clearly have no clue what they are doing.

Any suggestions or advice on a decent local specialist (I’m in Portsmouth) would be greatly appreciated.

Martin

[Katka]

Did you do a search? Alacrity seems to be the goto man on the south coast. There's often discussion about 'boxes in the forum and he's often mentioned - he's in your area too, sort of. viewtopic.php?f=67&t=76892&p=711414&hil ... ox#p711414.

[Bongobaz81]

Many thanks Kayla for the quick response. Im new to forums so you’ll have to excuse me, I’m dragging myself into the 21st century.

I’ll give them a call and see what they say. They are about 60 odd miles away. Lack the confidence the van would get there so may have to look at transport etc.

If it ever gets sorted I’ll be sure to try update this so hopefully it may help someone else out one day.

[Bob]

Good advice from Katka.

If you have to pay for transport it will be worth it.

[Katka]

Apologies Martin for my unintentionally terse responce ...... At the very least I should have wished you good luck with the 'van. There's lots of good info and many knowledgeable people on the site, and a question asked by one person may well help others too. Updates with a problem's solution is very welcome as that can be at least - or more - help as asking the question initially.
Before committing to transport costs are you sure it's 'box related? I've found on our 'van, that the symptoms seen, actually come from an apparently unrelated fault. Owl Motors advertise on this site and are in Portsmouth. Worth a chat with them. https://igmaynard.co.uk/blog/2017/10/19 ... vices-ltd/
again. Good luck

[Flanners]

From being on here the 2.0 box mechanically never seems to be the issue, in fact like most on the 2.0 it's pretty damn bombproof (as are all the other variants gb's) with care and maintenance; the issue is usually electronic. I had a problem 2 years ago which you describe the revs rising between changes and this is NOT usually a mechanical problem, obviously the bands can wear etc and a whole host of other problems but before you go any further search my posts and others with regards to altering the position of the TPS, once I did this I have never had a problem again. Not saying it will cure your issue but before you throw any more money take 10mins to alter it. Before I realised it was the TPS and fixed it myself I was given the 'it will cost a couple of grand to fix' BS/rubbish by an apparent exalted auto box 'expert', perhaps they were after an easy cure and a nice big fat paycheck

I hate reading posts especially so on here (the frequency is quite staggering) of people that have been fleeced/charged huge sums of money by mechanics who obviously haven't or can't diagnose a problem and set about changing a myriad of things needlessly and never curing the actual issue and the bill running into £00's for nowt with what seems like an open pay check once they have your vehicle. this seems especially so in the camper van world.

If the van is changing gear but revving etc it should be ok to nurse it along the coast for 20miles to Southampton where there are a couple of garages/dealers who would I am sure have a look at it for you.

[Flanners]

Although not 2.0 it started me thinking about the TPS an old but good post

viewtopic.php?f=3&t=18421

TPS values

viewtopic.php?f=3&t=49702

a good read

https://www.igmaynard.co.uk/bongo/forum ... =3&t=10162

[Bongobaz81]

So the van has been with Alacrity for about three weeks. They said it would not be the TPS because the gearbox is dropping out of gear. After three weeks they cleaned the “rain sensor switch” as they said this gives indication on the dash which I has said would drop off when the fault happens. It also inputs to the gearbox controller.

Another £350 lighter and the Van still does the same, no difference.

Really starting to loose faith with it all now as this has now been ongoing close to a year. Really don’t know what else to do. Worried i change the gearbox and find the issue is still there. Could it be an engine fault?

Any help would be greatly appreciated, I’m getting desperate.

[g8dhe]

"rain sensor switch" any idea where this is ? Never heard of it before is it in the gearbox or where ?

[Bongobaz81]

Apparently on the gearbox. To be honest I thought they were having me on when they said it. Apparently it inputs to the gearbox controller and provides the indication on the gear you are in on the dash.

“Cleaned out rain sensor switch, re-greased and re-fitted. Carried out extensive road tests”.

I collected Thursday. By today it was doing the same thing

[g8dhe]

Maybe its a change on the last models, but can't find anything about it in the gearbox manual. Unless it was misheard/abbreviation for 'powert"rain sensor perhaps. will have to ask around!

[Flanners]

Oh dear, I would be calling to ask what they intend to do about it and what the money they charged was actually for, why it took 3 weeks and what extensive road testing was undertaken, as the problem is just the same. Do they mean the Transmission Position or Range Sensor?

[Bongobaz81]

When they said “rain” sensor I thought maybe I miss heard “range” sensor. However rain sensor switch is what is written on the paper work.

Really not impressed with them. They claimed there was a fault code on the engine but then lost what the code was. Still charged me for the diagnostic though.

[Flanners]

There is a 2.0 currently being broken in Plymouth may be worth a transmission transplant posted on Facebook Bongo Owners'