bothfeetin

diesel gearbox problem

14 posts in this topic

Hello, new here...purchased last week a 2006 Pulse, Diesel, but it cannot seem to shift or move anymore. engine runs and the gearbox kind of wants to go but slips (?). There is a loss of engine and or gearbox oil evident under the car.

As I have no idea nor a manual for the Smart, can someone answer me the following:

Is the gearbox and engine oil filler the same (ie engine);

what oil is being used in the gearbox, if any? And where is the fill spout located?

Is the only dipstick one for the engine oil?

 

Yes I know, stupid ...but rather than guessing...expert advise is needed. If there is an expert in Nova Scotia....would be great to hear of him.

Perhaps I got taken and bought a real heap of junk...but it looked so good, haha...

Pm or comment pls. Thanks!

 

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Welcome to CsC.

 

Trans fluid should be red in colour.

 

There is no filter for the trans fluid, the trans has no dip stick.  There are two access points on the trans one for filling the other for draining.

 

 

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Where is the access point for filling the fluid and do you know what transmission fluid it has to be? Dextron or ?

 

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No time like the present to crawl under the car and become familiar with the layout.  There is a search feature on the site, make use of it.

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ive always wondered why so many people call it dextron

 

also welcome to here

 

on some sites it may seem rude to tell people to use the search system but youll soon see the people here are rather technical and its best to search out the simple things yourself ...they hate answering simple questions ,,,but it will pay off bigtime to stick around for when you end up with a crazy impossible problem youll be amazed at the knowledge these folks have 

 

 

Edited by LooseLugNuts
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Asking questions is waaaaaaay better than guessing.  There are no stupid questions, just ones that haven't been asked yet.

 

I'm not as technically-minded as some of the people who have responded, but asking questions, simple or not, has kept my two diesel smarts on the road.  Good luck in finding a simple solution to your issue,  and :welcome: to the club.

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Thank you all for the response to my problem. Not sure, I Googled before asking, that lead me to this Club page. However, nothing solved yet. Tried to download a repair manual for the specific model/year/engine....to no avail! Nor did other manuals gave me a hint what might be the issue with this now not so smart Smart!

Any other hint, advise is appreciated. I take all comment with a grain of salt as they are all with good intentions as some of us have more of time than others...

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This may sound strange but start the car take off the hand break and try to roll the car forward or backward.  Smart cars have a strange habit of having the breaks rust up and makes the car incredibly hard to move.  I think you will find that the oil leak is a separate problem and can be addressed later.

Alan

 

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18 hours ago, bothfeetin said:

but it cannot seem to shift or move anymore. engine runs and the gearbox kind of wants to go but slips (?).

 

 

4 hours ago, Henry said:

This may sound strange but start the car take off the hand break and try to roll the car forward or backward.  Smart cars have a strange habit of having the breaks rust up and makes the car incredibly hard to move.

 

 

I like Henry's suggestion. I have had 2 smarts with seized rear brakes from being outside in bad weather.

 

Both recently had new rear brakes installed.

 

The posted solution is a complicated technique involving removing a wheel.

 

I found it much easier to get a long metal rod (I used a socket wrench extension), remove the hub cap if it has one, place one end of the rod between the wheel spokes against the rear brake drum on the drum surfaces where the brake pads are and hit the other end of the rod forcefully a few times with a rubber hammer. In both instances you could hear a bang as the brake pad released from the drum.

 

The photo below shows the internal structure and the position of the pads.

 

It is for this reason that I rarely use the emergency brake when parked outside for long periods of inactivity.

 

 

slavecylinder.jpg

Edited by smartdriver

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Looked a bit more into my problems re not getting it into gear/drive; I got another clutch actuator; installed it and there is still the same issue with the car - when putting it into gear the gearbox makes / starts rocking and clicking noises - it becomes louder when shifting into reverse. All in all it will not move. On the dash it also will show eventually 3 wrenches. I tried pushing while in gear etc etc ....to no avail, car is not moving under power. Brakes are good and not seized, can push the car very easy. Is there any adjustments I have overlooked? When installed the new actuator I followed the guideline to move the actuator into the gearbox and then pressed the actuator with 10 NM into and locked it. Any other help is appreciated - getting to a point of selling and forgetting being "Smart".

 

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