danharris1000

[DanHarris1000 0]

Hi. I'm new to the Club and happy to have found you. I have a 2005 Coupe Passion. I bought it new and ordered it as soon as they became available, having seen one in the Swatch store on the Champs-Élysées in Paris. My car was likely in the second shipment. we had to wait for a shipment because I declined their offer to upgrade to a convertible model.

 

I am now having to decide whether to keep it because I have just had a transmission glitch - three bars on the display and no forward motion. That is, the ForTwo stopped being Smart. I'll hunt the archives for advice, as I really love the car and would like to keep it.

[Willys 717]

Welcome to the site/forum....best SmartCar CDI site imho.

Research 3 bars of death as they call it. How many kms on the car? Have you had the actuator serviced or adjusted lately? Is it showing any codes? Who has been servicing your car from new?  It probably requires a STAR machine to re-teach the actuator and or the transmission..?   Some of us do have Star machines, myself included. 

 

Again welcome to the site, do your research and learn all you can and all the possibilities it could be and start with the easiest, that is if you are capable/willing to wrench on the car yourself. It's just a jigsaw puzzle for adults so to speak.

[Nigel 275]

Welcome to the club.  
 

Nigel

[DanHarris1000 0]

Thanks for the welcome. The only cars I have previously worked on are a 1963 VW Beetle and a 1959 Austin-Healey 100-6. Both if them were crudely mechanical wonders that wouldn't know a computer if they ran over one, but I have skinned my knuckles on cars before. I'll find the right forum as Willys suggests and take it from there.

[MikeT 721]

Chances are it's simply chafed wiring near the intercooler. Should be a simple fix. This happened to our first smart, which was later destroyed in a rear end collision. The dealer found the issue immediately and the cost of the repair was $150.

 

We were on a waiting list from July 2002 and finally got our car in January 2005. Same reason, offered lots of spec cars but we waited for ours because it was an oddball mix of options.

[Leadwing 559]

According to Evilution, there are multiple possibilities for the 3 bars

 

Evilution says:

The smart gearbox relies on a lot of electronics to keep it working properly, it only takes one part to misbehave to call up an error code. Causes can be one or more of the following:

Fuse Blown
Secondary Fuse/Relay Box Corrosion (600cc)
Faulty SE Drive
Stuck Gears
Weak Battery
Poor Earth Lead
Faulty Brake Lights
Incorrect Brake Light Bulb
LED Brake Light Bulbs
Faulty Gearbox RPM Sensor
Faulty Rear Light Loom (Roadster)
Faulty Gear Motor
Faulty Gear Position Sensor
Faulty Clutch Actuator
Chaffed Wires
Damage Wires
Stuck Clutch
Seized Gearbox
Faulty Relay
Split Reluctor Rings
Worn Clutch Fork
Solder Joint Failure
Faulty gearbox RPM sensor 
Gearbox Reteach
Canadian E-Box Failure
ECU Component Failure

[MikeT 721]

Start with the most likely and cheapest to repair - chafed wiring - and go from there. That should sort the wheat from the "chaff"

[Willys 717]

Personally I'd be checking the main engine ground and then all grounding pins located near engine and body and SAM and battery....those are all free....so to speak. Then yes, check the wiring that travels over the inter cooler scoop. Also just the  gear selector wire connector for corrosion or pulled pins..?

 

[smart142 593]

I would check the clutch actuator. The rod could be too loose or it could have punched through the clutch release bearing..