Just a quickie <br>
Does anyone have the part number for the later finned transfer box ECU handy? My laptop with Microcat is in hospital at the moment! <br>
Box transfers fine but my occasional "Select Neutral" message is now becoming a regular visitor after any decent length drive so I'm guessing a heat soak problem with the original fit "weaker" ECU <br>
Ta!
AMR6459 is the later version.
It could be the ECU, or maybe it's a dodgy switch in the motor itself, or the microswitch in the H gate which is causing it to think it's trying to change range or it's between ranges when the vehicle is in gear...
The original ECU from what I understand only really has the heat/blow up problem when it's actually changing range, if the motor sticks, then the power transistors, or MOSFETs or whatever they use in there to do the shifting overload and go pop... shouldn't have that problem if you haven't been changing range though...
There was another one that a guy had a problem with and it ended up being a connector under the centre console which had a dirty pins of something. After he'd taken it apart and cleaned it, the transfer case started behaving as it should do...
Marty
Thanks Marty<br>
The actual box switches quite happily between High and Low. I'll pop the console out and have a look at the H gate and connectors. <br>
Never rains but it pours though. Was sitting in crawling traffic queue to pick up various offspring and hangers on from a festival yesterday and my EAS compressor (rebuilt a year ago) was chuntering away far more than it should have been. Time to have a look at that too....<br>
Sigh
If it switches happily, then I would imagine that it should be the microswitch in the h gate (it's down in the metal part)
I'm not discounting the ECU having a fault - especially if it only does it after it's been out and driving for awhile as I would expect the microswitch to give problems whenever it felt like it, rather than after being driven for awhile. If it is ECU then it could just be a dry joint or a slowly failing capacitor on the input pin from the microswitch I guess.
I repaired a BECM logic board with a fault on the input pin for one of the rear door ajar microswitches and that was a faulty input capacitor, which was pulling the pin low all the time and effectively telling the BECM the door was open the whole time. I haven't pulled a Tcase ECU apart before the see what's in them either... I am guessing though that on the older ECU's, it would be possible to repair ones that have blown the transistors aswell... maybe I'll pull an old one apart at some point...
Depending on the compressor seal kit they can last awhile or not long at all. I bought one from the netherlands which claimed to be uprated and all this - and it lasted about 6 months. The ones I got from UK sellers off eBay seem to be lasting a lot longer at the moment though.
Interesting.... just popped the seat forward and went to check connectors on trans box ecu and the ecu is bloody hot- 45C read off the case! <br>
As I haven't used the car other than backing it into the shop and running it between high and low and selecting neutral, I'm thinking there's definitely a problem there! <br>
Going to pop the motor off and give it a clean next
Hmm... maybe it is the ECU then... 45C is definitely a bit warmer than I expected it would be... as far as I know the ECU doesn't blood do anything until it's told to!
Yeah- I do now have a continuous Select Neutral and a strange hot smell that I thought was the local pub cooking a steak or two! <br>
Raised to extended- selected neutral again and the ECU is now 55C :( <br>
The EAS will have to wait on the back burner (no- that's not the smell!) while I pop the motor off
Bloody motor's fried :( <br>
12v won't drive the motor in either direction. <br>
Bet it's taken out the ECU as well! <br>
Now to search to see if I can lock the range selector in high somehow, without the motor, so that I can at least use the car...
Orangebean wrote:
Interesting.... just popped the seat forward and went to check connectors on trans box ecu and the ecu is bloody hot- 45C read off the case! <br>
As I haven't used the car other than backing it into the shop and running it between high and low and selecting neutral, I'm thinking there's definitely a problem there! <br>
Going to pop the motor off and give it a clean next
Showing off now, inboard bbq, whatever next , lol
I'd quite like to bbq the whole bloody car at the moment Chris! <br>
It's now stuck in the workshop until Furness can (hopefully) next-day me the replacement motor and ECU :( <br>
At least the sun's shining for the walk home....
Wow, that went downhill fast :(
Not as fast as when I "accidentally" park it on a cliff edge and the handbrake mysteriously fails... <br>
Has anyone ever tried calibrating one of these motors? Can't find anything about it in RAVE apart from the switching data. It's my natural curiosity with things engineering that makes me want to know why things that are made adjustable don't seem to have a process or reference on how to adjust!
I didn't know they were adjustable -
Should have given me a call - I was up at the workshop today and have a spare later ECU and couple of motors sitting on the shelf.
I'm guessing that one of the switches in the motor has it thinking it's not in high range, so it's been trying to shift to high, stalled the motor and burnt it out.
Chances are the replacement motor will already come in high range as that's what most of them are only ever used in.. so should bolt right on...
If it doesn't then 12V should shift it to high range where you can then bolt it on.
My day hasn't been amazing either - pressed new bushes into a set of radius arms, which was nice and easy with the 20T press and the proper press tools... Then had a bit of a nightmare fitting them, and then found that the bottom of my nicely dusty RR engine (sorry Morat :( ) has a nice damp spot on both side with signs of there being a fair bit of coolant there.... The worst bit is that on the LHS it's coming from one of the core plugs... Looks like my engine rebuild plans are going to have to be brought forward somewhat...
Yeah- there's a vernier type scale on the casting and the switch casing and the mounting holes on the switch casing are slotted. Mind you it's not the original motor as it was slathered in silicon where it mounts to the box and the wire colours are different from ETM. According to my records it had a new used ECU fitted in 2009 as well. <br>
Your coolant weeps are a pain. If you can get at the plug it might be worth postponing the inevitable and just replacing it to win yourself a bit of time rebuilding another lump? <br>
I did think of giving you a shout when I started to tinker yesterday and thought that my main focus was going to be on the compressor/ valve block (no leaks in bags or lines) to see if you had anything on the shelf. Wasn't really happy about the compressor when I refurbed it a year ago as the piston had scars from someone else's efforts to re-ring so thinking I'd start with a fresh piston. Got distracted by the trans switch issues! <br>
If you get stuck pulling or dropping in your motor, if you go down that road, let me know and I can pop up for a day and give you a hand with the 2 person bits...
Don't know how Marty's putting engine in, I've always found putting a short engine in is easier as you can get to top bell housing bolts, on r/h head, I insert bolts, fit exhaust manifold, have some 1 inch packers to sit head on, start bolts, drop to 3/4 packer ect ect, saves a lot of fighting with the back exhaust bolts,, will be sticking my new engine in this week hopefully, just giving it a polish first,, OK, a degrease,, !!
I will post up a picture of the weepy plug in a new thread to keep this on topic for Mark's transfer case....
If you need to use the RR until you've refitted then you could put the motor back on and just leave it unplugged. You might get random beeps but it won't jump out of range with the motor connected...
Though hopefully your bits will turn up today and it will be sorted!
EAS - I have a couple of compressors on the shelf that I've rebuilt so far, with new cylinder liners, seal, o-rings, filters etc. and about 3 more on the shelf to work on at some point!
Ah well, parts arrived so kudos to Furness for fast posting! <br>
Time for a crawl around underneath...
All's well now. £57 and it doesn't go faster, climb harder, look better. Sigh <br>
What it does is to go through all gears, high and low with no silly messages. <br>
Just have to reset the windows etc and retune the radio. I'll do lots of things without disconnecting the battery, but wasn't going to risk frying the new ECU!
Now on to the EAS compressor...