Willys

Sorry for your loss.

I have found so many sites in the last few weeks that the thought of Smarts dying has sort of disappeared, it seems that we think this way here, why I do not know, but I have met new people who used to have a club of 50 members in Ontario apart from this site...Hmmmm....? How can that be...? This being not that many years ago. Yes COVID has hit that hard also but, another club with that many active members and no mention of it? Yes I know there will always be two sides to the car enthusist coin, keeping it stock and modding the daylights out of it. It is the same with every vehcile out there....but some how they seem to survive, It has me confused.....and yes I'm easily confused as I age....lol. Fingers crossed we can survive.

I do not know how or why these new to me sites are doing so well membership wise, numbers wise.....some have tens of thousands of members and show many many posts a day. You compare that to our site and we are almost dead already! These other sites also have many younger members possibly as they show modified smarts or all ages/models and don't ridicule members for modifying their cars no matter what the end product turns out to be...? Also imho the smart car isn't a dead issue, it still has that quirky following of a niche type vehicle. No different than a old school mini or fiat 500..... Yes the main pool of folks could be on the other side of the planet but from what I have seen over the past week there are many in North America also. Many below our border and yes not the CDI models but still smart cars none the less. Yes we seem to be a CDI specialist site but we do offer all models here, so why aren't we active? Yes I do realize that many of our core base is a bit long in the tooth as in original owners of the first smart cars when they first landed on our shores, but we also have other who have found our site who are simply after a place to chat and get help for our beloved cars. I do not know anything about how the internet (FB) works that attracts new people to specific sites etc, but there must be a way to put our site in front of new eyes so we can get new blood into our great site...? Maybe it is time to get new management or moderators that know how this works to positions that will benefit the site as a whole...??? I do realize many of the other new to me sites have plenty of advertisements etc on them which isn't fun so to speak, but if that is the way to get us breathing again maybe we should think about it...? I don't even know who owns or manages our site or who here is educated enough to change things for the better? I'm definately not that person. I know enough about computers to usually ruin my own...lol.

Yes I know and have tried to spread the word about our site, but....we also need to have more activity to attract new members imho. All you need to do is type in smart car sites on FB and you get a big surprise to find out how many active sites there are out there. I personally want this site to grow and thrive....it has far too many helpful members willing to share their knowledge to those who ask for help. Fingers crossed that things change for the better.

Hi guys and do we still have any gals here...? I just happen to be notified of another smart car site on FB, so I joined, yep deserted our great site, but not left. After joining that site many other sites have popped up to join....WTF....? These sites seem to have tens of thousands of members with so much activity daily it's almost too much! Yes they are from all over the world and deal with all models and years etc etc.....just like we do. Plus they have the young or crazy blood folks who are modifying the daylights out of their cars!!!! And some think I'm crazy.....I have nothing on most of these folks! Any way....my thought or question is.....why isn't this site working like these new to me sites....? We have far more technical information imho to offer etc etc....but we aren't getting the flow of new members? Why...? It saddens me to watch our site slowly die off, because if feels like this is what is happening....sniff sniff....! Isn't there any way for our site to attract these new folks here? Some sort of trigger in the programing that offers up our site to the FB masses...? Are we missing something that allows this to happen? I'm a new member of 4 new SmartCar sites and the notices of action is non stop almost.....almost so much it's annoying...lol. See as I type another "ping" letting me know someone somewhere else has posted up. Please don't allow our site to go the way of the "DO_DO".....we have so much to offer....and gain from all the new blood so to speak.

Hi guys and do we still have any gals here...? I just happen to be notified of another smart car site on FB, so I joined, yep deserted our great site, but not left. After joining that site many other sites have popped up to join....WTF....? These sites seem to have tens of thousands of members with so much activity daily it's almost too much! Yes they are from all over the world and deal with all models and years etc etc.....just like we do. Plus they have the young or crazy blood folks who are modifying the daylights out of their cars!!!! And some think I'm crazy.....I have nothing on most of these folks! Any way....my thought or question is.....why isn't this site working like these new to me sites....? We have far more technical information imho to offer etc etc....but we aren't getting the flow of new members? Why...? It saddens me to watch our site slowly die off, because if feels like this is what is happening....sniff sniff....! Isn't there any way for our site to attract these new folks here? Some sort of trigger in the programing that offers up our site to the FB masses...? Are we missing something that allows this to happen? I'm a new member of 4 new SmartCar sites and the notices of action is non stop almost.....almost so much it's annoying...lol. See as I type another "ping" letting me know someone somewhere else has posted up. Please don't allow our site to go the way of the "DO_DO".....we have so much to offer....and gain from all the new blood so to speak.

A new chinese starter which they all are now a days should n't cost you more than $250....plus your time to install.

Is it a rectangular connector going nowhere, correct..? Don't worry about it...just make sure it's not so corroded it could be shorting itself out...?? There is also a white connection in the battery well that corrodes that must be maintained so to speak. Also, look for a silver cigarette sized alluminium box and check it's connections. You can also open this box up and check for corrosion, it usually has plenty of white fuzz inside it. Clean it using vinegar and a toothbrush, then recoat the entire board using clear nail polish while your wife doesn't see you steal it...lol You usually won't need to change the eyelets just wire brush them like new and also the ground post then apply marine grease to the pin and eyelets so it won't happen again.

OK....

So old, yet so useful....a good tap may solve it for a while like in the old days...lol

Check the signal wire connection to the starter to make sure it's tight as it does come lose...? A simple tightening might help..? Did you try to hot wire the starter bypassing the solenoid..? Is the short braided wire from solenoid to starter broken or corroded? Where did you order your starter from? Any place can get them for around the $200-$250 range so hopefully not the dealership...augh!

The gear position sensor counts revolutions of the gear selector motor, no? It gives this information to the ECU constantly I would expect and IF the gear selector motor doesn't go to the correct number of revolutions it causes an error code, no? It's just how I would expect it to work but could be wrong..? Getting at the gear select motor isn't an easy job if I remember correctly as mine is under inter cooler scoop arrangement...which means taking off the inter cooler etc etc which is a mentally painful job.....I haven't had to do this in a long while so my memory could be wrong. Either way if you are curious to see if the motor has corrosion inside you have no other choice, do you...? It is just a motor after all so it isn't that difficult once you get it off and on a bench to check it. All of my experience is on a CDI 450 2005-2006 so things will be slightly different but the basics should be the same no? The STAR is a dealership diagnostic tool that reads the codes and also tells you how to repair the issue, the hard part is understanding how to get to the appropriate area within the STAR program etc. I use mine so infrequently that I forget how to get where I need to go compared to a mechanic who uses it daily, which makes it painful to deal with it. BUT, nothing else gives you the information like a STAR. It has colour pics showing what you are after, what tools to use, how to fix it, and how to test everything and what readings you need to see to repair things. After saying all this it is difficult for someone to follow who doesn't have mechanical knowledge of some degree, but if you can learn then it is very very useful and worth the money to get one. Ask other people who own one and get more opinions on it .......but I haven't heard anyone be able to use more modern testers/readers better than the STAR system. Yes some can do many things but still can't do it all. You can buy very very expensive reader/scan tools etc but they also give so much information that it requires mechanical experience to know what you are looking at. I just had one of my cars plugged into an $11,000 scan tool and it showed all sorts of stuff I knew nothing about which simply confused me but my mechanic knew what it all was.....still didn't resolve my problem...!

Yes the term is gasoline not petrol and us north americans are even lazier and shorten it down to gas...lol I'm an ex-pat from Uttoxeter. I can't offer much in the way of actual advice as to location and such of anything but for the 450 but I expect all issues are transferable so to speak......as you say yes they all leak and yes most if not all carpets are soaked. I do not know if the 451 suffers the same issues in the SAM as the 450 does for burned pins, connections, cold solder joints on the circuit board or not.....like the 450 does? I still stand with the idea of owning a STAR if you want to do your own repairs which will easily pay for itself, also you can help fellow smart car owners for a small fee or donation etc to help re-coop some of the purchase costs. Diagnosis, re-teaching, keys, plenty of ways if you so choose. The STAR that you do buy off the internet is in the semi grey area as it can never be allowed to touch the internet as it will try and update itself which will render it useless. But that is easy to stop happening...VPN and never turn the internet on for that screen. Hmmmm....????? Shhhh.......

IF you can find someone with a STAR local to you imho you could re-teach a secondhand SAM to speak with your existing speedo and ECU which should be far far cheaper than what they are quoting you. Christ you can buy a ready to use STAR off Ebay I believe for under $1,000 and have it ready to use to solve any other issues that surface. I'm not sure what a SAM would cost you for your model but it can't be that bad...used of course from a running car. OR you could find a wrecked car and swap in all 3 of the computers if your model works the same as a 450 model as they must be all changed together IF you do not have a STAR to re-teach each unit to talk to the other 2. Personally this is the very reason I purchased my own STAR, knowing these thieves would try to bleed me dry. IMHO, all these stealership want to quote you so high a repair bill that you choose to scrap the car so they get them all off the roads so they never need to work on them. They aren't the easiest car to work on as there is almost zero space to get your hands around the engine compartment. IF you are interested in the STAR there is a specific version of the multi-plexer that works best for our cars. for my 450 that would be the one that uses the C-3 multiplexer or is it a M-3, either way it's the number 3 version. Someone who uses it for your model will chime in to say for sure. IF you are planning on owning your car for any length of time I would buy a STAR, you can always sell it after you sell the car and re-coop most of your money back. You already know what it's capable of, that can save you the cost of purchasing it...so why not if you can afford it..?

OK you have the use of a STAR, great, you can re-teach the transmission gear selector gear location points. IF the issue semi resolved itself after changing the actuator, perhaps it's in the actuator wiring that is causing your issues? Check the contenuity of the plug connection to make sure there is no break or weak connection in the actual plug and the wiring that leads up to it. Check for a pin that may be pushed back within the plug? OK, when you checked the ground points did you take the nut off and check for corrosion between the eyelets of each ground wire? Yes they may look good at a glance so to speak but these cars are very prone to get bad grounds. There should be a ground point as you look into the engine bay just under the front lip of the engine bay cover at the 11 o'clock position, it sometimes has issues. Then the main ground strap that is a braided type wire, it usually simply disintergrates. I would also take the gear select motor off and open it up also if you haven't already and see how good or bad it is inside. I have seen one so badly corroded from rust and dirt it was simply junk. As for the transmission oil, always a good idea to change fluids from time to time. I have rebuilt my own transmission just because I'm curious....it has a very slight discolouration or smeer of dirt in the case which easily flushed with parts cleaner as I had it apart. This amount of dirt or debris wouldn't do anything to the operation of the transmission imho at all. The car had 120,000kms on it when I did all of this work. Let us know how you make out.