hello from canada

[patallen 6]

Hi, thank you for letting me be part of this forum

recently bought a 2006 450 who needs a lot of love and work, got it almost for free. its all there but sick. i am to make it work 100% perfecto.

 

will need your help to figure out a lot of things.

 

i am an ex mechanic with a lot of experience on german cars (mostly BMW), antique cars as well. my main job is electronic designer for the automotive market and industrial market.

 

regards,

Pat

[Willys 747]

Welcome Pat to the site.....I'm sure you'll fit right in.....there's plenty of very usefull help here with great membership to help answer any and all questions.
Have you a goal or set list of what's all wrong with your Smart yet.....?
Pics are always enjoyable.....

 

Again welcome.

 

[patallen 6]

Hi, first the car was dead

-starter corroded, not operating

-alternator seized

The guy who gaves me the car told me there was a problem with the transmission (are we surprised)

I fixed the starter and alternator and now can "test" the car.

 

It runs...but...

 

The clutch actuator has been messed with a lot. the actuator was going thru the arm of the pressure plate so he welded a nut on the end to make sure it presses onto something...nice. but it works actually.

 

Clutch slipeage and actuation seems a bit jerky but i guess if i can adjuste the slipeage point it could improve (with a star tool i guess)....i am not there yet.

 

Problem: the car shift R-N-1 but refuses to upshift in 2 and up.

 

funny thing is, when the motor is not running, but key is on, i can shift in 2nd but not more, by holding the brake. I can hear the motor doing something into the transmission.

 

So my quest now is to find out why it refuses to upshift more. Everything else seems ok and functionnal on the car.

 

Thanks for any helps !!

[patallen 6]

oh one last thing, the obd scanner reported an electrical problem with the transmission, cant recal the code....code was" electrical problem" transmission related.

 

thanks

[Willys 747]

I would say you need the clutch actuator to be retaught back in and also the transmission, those you need a STAR machine to do.   Ask around here if anyone has one near you....I have one and the teach in is easy if that is all it is.  The dealership will bend you over bad to do such a job I'm told. That is the reason I went and bought the STAR as 3 trips to a dealership would probably pay for STAR....just the way I looked at the cost of buying a STAR.

 

[Willys 747]

Where in Quebec are you

 

[patallen 6]

Sherbrooke, about 1.5 hour from Montreal

[Willys 747]

You need to put the word out for anyone within your area for that STAR machine.....change your location in your signiture so folks know an exact town, it will help...just saying...I am the same distance from Toronto time wise and twice that from another STAR ....they are far and few between....can you tow your Smart? To a Star location, trailer or tow bar?

 

[patallen 6]

the car right now is all apart in my garage, cant really tow it anywhere. basicaly its a winter project. it may not see the road anywhere soon before spring.

Brakes needs tlc as well.

 

IIRC the guy told me he had issues with the transmission before he started to mess with the actuator so there is something else besides the actuator itself and this is where all my attention will be put in the next weeks. i may try to test the encoder and the motor itself out of the car and try to see if there is no mechanical damage inside the transmission as well. It may ends with a drop down of the transmission.

 

i was tempted to buy the iCarsoft II for MB as i own one for BMW and VW and i like them a lot, but i found out recently that they cant teach the clutch on the MB....so i guess the only alternative is the Star....i saw a lot of variations on ebay, would be temped to buy one but dont know which one really...

 

 

[LooseLugNuts 557]

might be worth checking the harness ...i seem to remember something about a transmission harness that rubs thru wires along the side of the intercooler scoop housing

[patallen 6]

31 minutes ago, LooseLugNuts said:

might be worth checking the harness ...i seem to remember something about a transmission harness that rubs thru wires along the side of the intercooler scoop housing

will check that thanks

 

[Will 2]

6 hours ago, patallen said:

Problem: the car shift R-N-1 but refuses to upshift in 2 and up.

 

funny thing is, when the motor is not running, but key is on, i can shift in 2nd but not more, by holding the brake. I can hear the motor doing something into the transmission.

 

When the key is in position 1, the transmission will only upshift as far as gear 2.

That is the way it is designed.

 

When the key is in position 2, and the engine is running, but the car is not being driven, the transmission will not upshift past gear 1.

 

When the engine is running the transmission will only shift into gears that the ECU knows will work, based on the combination of the engine RPM capabilities, and the cars speed. That is to say, when driving at 30 kph, you can not toggle the transmission up to gear 6, as that would place the engine in a 'stall' state. So the ECU simply will not do that.

 

[patallen 6]

i understand the operating strategy of the ecu as it is just plain obvious but the reality is that it really doesnt upshift no matter how i rev it up downhill, and it codes almost instanly an "electrical problem" into the transmission ecu.

funny thing is, at speed, i toggle the + paddle, the motor stop to rev, i can feel the clutch engage as the motion of the car and motor rpm feels "disconnected" , it then "tries" to upshift but doesnt happen, clutch shuts off then it returns to 1st then it code. the 2nd into the dash never shows up.

[Willys 747]

Have you taken the ECU out yet? Looking for the dreaded green snot on the pins etc...beware of static electricity....I used sensor cleaner and a plastic brush and didn't ground myself thinking a paper towel on a wooden bench wouldn't create it but it did....and now my ECU is cooked....just a heads up....but i did have green snot on both ground pins in the ECU.   BEWARE...becareful...a used ECU is a $200 hit and just that from what I'm learning won't fix the issue completely, you need all 3 items in the chain...ECU Instrument cluster and SAM...The wreckers near me wanted $550 for them all, until I said no and said I'll simply wait for another parts car to come along and then they dropped their price to $200 for it all. But they also know me know.....There isn't that many folks searching for Smart Car parts in my neck of the woods luckily!  They are also smart enough to realize that you need the STAR machine to get them to ever work again and they also know most folks do not have one.  Plus how many 450 of the 2005-2006 vintage are there left being worked on, most get crushed.

 

[patallen 6]

Hi

fwiw my workbench is full esd safe. i have a wrist ground and all that crap. my day to day work is to fix and design sensitive electronics.

 

i am not already used to all the acronyms and birth names of the modules for the MB cars....the SAM module ? where and what is it. i could do a google search to find out but i think you will better serve me to explain me

 

i spoted a ecu near the air filter assembly, if not imbeded in it, with two large plugs on it, and one on far right. i will inspect all the visible plugs.

 

I would like to find an electrical diagram for the transmission part only if that is available.

[smart142 605]

This should help....  https://www.evilution.co.uk/index.php?menu=info&mod=120

SAM = fuse box, drivers footwell.

[patallen 6]

thanks moderator

 

cant recal which one is on the far right....there is a square plug on the top of it with a big red wire in  the center.

 

i searched a lot for a wiring diagram but the info is spreaded everywhere and mostly hidden. or you have to pay/create a mysterious acount,...

[Willys 747]

45 minutes ago, patallen said:

thanks moderator

 

cant recal which one is on the far right....there is a square plug on the top of it with a big red wire in  the center.

 

i searched a lot for a wiring diagram but the info is spreaded everywhere and mostly hidden. or you have to pay/create a mysterious acount,...

Join Evilution.uk.co   it's well worth what they ask for a min. donation, you will agree once you are there.  It is the best technical site I have found yet. No chating just loads of information.  The owner is a nice guy but he asks or demands politeness as is expected if you as for assistance. He is willing to answer questions when he can, he's a very busy man from what I can see.   Again the min donation is something silly like $10 if i recall correctly.  The site will be a pain to navigate at first but once you get used to selecting your style of car etc and learn how he organizes his site it's priceless.  It is what you need.  Then come back here for personal interaction from members here who have been down the road you're on.  Good luck.

Nice work bench, I used to have something not so well built but the same when going through electronic eng. in college.....all long gone now.  Sadly..sniff sniff...

 

[patallen 6]

thanks....cant believe diagrams are not available and organised somewhere...

 

just found out that the module on the far right is the glow plug module...

 

fwiw i went thru all of the trouble for the radio code lool....sure enough the radio card pin is not into the car hahahaha. remembers me my early years when i was fixing car radios in the 80's and 90's, Blaupunk to name one brand. I am lucky enough to have all the tools handy.

Got the code now....dang.

 

every single minute i work on this car i use very very bad words. what they did !!!

[patallen 6]

the only picture i have so far of the pokemon....

[smart142 605]

13 hours ago, patallen said:

thanks....cant believe diagrams are not available and organised somewhere...

 

 

Yes, Mercedes doesn't make it easy. I too have used more swear words in the past 10 years working on smart cars than I did in the previous 50.

 

Remember only 10,000 smart diesels came to Canada and they all had to be modified to meet Transport Canada rules.

Consequently even the dealers have difficulty finding info about the wiring!

[tolsen 630]

Perhaps we should post wiring diagrams in a special non public area on this forum. 

[patallen 6]

On 11/24/2018 at 11:14 AM, tolsen said:

Perhaps we should post wiring diagrams in a special non public area on this forum. 

this would be awesome.

i am member of a lot of car forum and most of them has seperate technical sections with collected reference documents.

[tolsen 630]

16 hours ago, patallen said:

this would be awesome.

i am member of a lot of car forum and most of them has seperate technical sections with collected reference documents.

How do they get around copyright issues?

[MikeT 744]

By "fair use" provision.