I know years ago that was the only way but is there any other software or device I can purchase to program a key to a car. 

I have a smart that the fob has had a dead battery for years and the car no longer sees it. 

We had spare minty lenses and today we changed it. The shocking thing is that four of the 7 plastic clips that hold the lens on - the ones on the top of the car - had basically turned to microplastic dust and there was no recovering them. So: what to do?

Answer: make my own clips out of thick wire.

The rubber gasket was coated lightly with clear silicone and the lens was temporarily clamped to the tight position and then wire was tied over the lens clips and then they were tied tight and the vice-grips released.  After wiring, the lens-to-housing gap was filled with clear silicone too.

The end result was satisfactory:

I know I should have tried starting car on a regular basis, but physical inability ruled this out.  I know I'm facing a new battery and oil change asap.  Brake fluid and maybe transmission fluid aside, is there anything else I should be looking at to restore my car to roadworthy status?  I'll be swapping summer tires on rims with snow tires on rims.

Does probably have old summer fuel so I'm thinking maybe with the cold lately it might be gummed up.

Any other ideas?

https://youtube.com/shorts/2rIT781tBkI?si=YiANs-2WB2lg7-tv

I am not looking to pay a subscription to have access to service literature but I'm hoping someone here would have a good place to point me in a direction of a full engine service manual and where I can find one.    I want to be able to do a full tear down on the engine and have all the specs to check on wear ect.     The reason I am seeking only the engine manual is because I do not have the rest of the car I am building a special motorcycle and I already have the stand alone electronics to run the engine.   If anyone can help that would be awesome and can get this stalled project moving again.     Respectfully Scott

I have two of these cars and they're both doing the same thing. I've was planning on replacing the clutch actuator on the second one, but maybe that's not the cause of the problem. What should I be looking at next?

Last week the tachometer suddenly started reading low. With the engine off, it show 0. Idling, my iCarsoft says 850, the analog tach says just over 500. Cruising at 100 km/h (GPS, 104 on the speedo), tach says ~1600, icarsoft says 2250. In neutral if I idle it up until the tach says 2000, the icarsoft says 2700.

In all cases I believe the icarsoft, as I have another smart that would show similar numbers under that same circumstances, as would this one until recently.

Not sure how relevant it is, but just before this happened, the car refused to crank. A mechanic found the power wire was backed off the connector on the starter and he pushed it back on. I don't know what else might have happened while he was in there, but that's what he reported.

What should I be looking for to fix this?

ON way out to pick up some firewood( I live at teh bottom of a long and windy road, half of it uphill) my car started making a loud sharp knocking noise in time with the engine revs. Managed to get it to the garbage area for my community and then tried to  limp back home(mostly downhill)  there was some shaking with the knocking and it seemed like zero power as I couldn't get up the slightest hill, like there was no connection with the tranny. My brief attempts to get up this slight incline resulted in much weird smelling black smoke so I turned it off and managed to roll back to a small pull off. Happily the Smart is small.  Heat seems normal, 3 bars, plenty of oil of the right colour(might be too much actually, might've slightly overfilled it earlier this year). Plenty of diesel, I know a fuel delivery problem can sound very dramatic but I don't remember it making a loud sharp knocking noise.

Any ideas? I saw somewher ethat this could be the clutch compression plate rivets going/new clutch? Time to get a new car? Thanks! If I fixed it I would be doing it myself.

I forgot to mention, last week when I first notice it acting up, I notice it almost so put tearing a bit higher rev, so when I stopped I revered her out in neutral and it sputtered and was very smoky. 

I'm leaning toward replacing injector (s).  I was also putting injector cleaner in every other tank, it made no difference.  What should I do when Spring rolls around?

Turbo is operating, I can hear it spooling up.

Leads me to believe I've got an exhaust leak before the turbo.  If I had a leak after the turbo I assume I wouldn't be loosing power.

Sounds like I need a manifold gasket. 

What do you folks think?  

Just pulled the stock pan off it so I could put my newer drain plug pan on.

However, this part fell out of the oil pan when I drained it off. 

Any ideas where it came from?  It's definitely half of the part.  The other half was not found, yet. 

I suspect it might be the high pressure pump connector from the cam shaft to the pump... half of it at least.  Looks small for that though. 

The floors and battery well are dry, so that's not it. Could it be an ignition switch fault?

I'll drop the SAM on the weekend and put come MolySlip Combat on all the contacts after inspecting them, but right now I'm short of ideas.

The fact is that I have always worked on cars without computers/ECU/SAM and so this is relatively new. Is there someone who has knowledge of what I should be looking for, and how I can fix this problem?

Tim

This car gets driven daily and never had a problem starting until this morning. When the key is turned on, all the dash lights come on as usual. When the glow plug light goes out, I attempt to crank and nothing moves. I hear a click like a relay that sounds like it's coming from in front of me. The voltage dips only slightly, like from 13.0 to 12.8 (this is with a 3.5A charger having been on it all day). I also hear a humming from behind me for a few seconds.

I tried earlier today with a booster pack as well as with booster cables from a running vehicle. Same result. I've ruled out a current problem at least to the battery cables. So then I connected an iCarSoft 2 and looked for fault codes. Nothing. All the live data appears to be normal as far as I can tell.

If the starter died, it was sudden. I never heard it fail to engage in the past. If the starter was seized wouldn't it bring the voltage down significantly while trying to crank? With the minimal voltage drop I'm seeing I don't think there is any significant draw beyond maybe the glow plugs and the ECU itself.

What to look at next? I'm not sure what else to try before giving up and towing it to a shop.

Locally there is a 2005 diesel smart hardtop that looks to be in good condition

It has 170km on it and I've read from a few sources that that is a rough life expectancy for the early diesel smarts before they start developing big problems.

I'm actually contemplating older echos but this car came up and I do like the diesel smarts.

What's the word here?

Late last year, I fully rebuilt my 2006 800cc CDI engine thanks to many of the kind users here on this forum. I had not previously had any other issue than starting the vehicle, which was resolved mainly by replacing my burnt up valves. I reinstalled the rebuilt engine, fired it up, and started resolving other issues that popped up. Those issues included needing to lap my high pressure fuel pump surfaces to prevent the car from dying at highway speed, fixing some leaking fuel lines, and pulling the oil pan off due to a bad sealant job from the rebuild. I managed to get the vehicle in a decently stable state so I did what any crazy person would do and I decided it was time for a road trip.

I took the smart through a pretty nasty snow/rain storm. It powered through like a champ with its new engine parts, but I didn't realize that my clutch actuator and my transmission were not sealed very well. It had been about 6 to 8 months since I had touched the clutch actuator and the transmission main seal and axle seals were leaky, so I ended up filling both with water.

I didn't make it too much further after the storm until it was hit with awful shifting and plenty of clutch actuator related error codes. I managed to get the car to a Walmart parking lot where my girlfriend and I torn apart the actuator, re-greased it, "re-taught" it, and got it back on the road. The plastic gear inside was quite mangled, but it seemed "ok" all things considered.

We drove another 80 miles or so until we got another shifting/clutch related issue. We pulled over, stopped, tried to put it back into 1st gear, then upon hitting the accelerator, the car rev'ed up, then lurched forward violently. After that, the 3 bars of death appeared. At that point, we decided to get it trailer-ed back home.

Once home, we ordered parts, opened up the transmission to clean it out, ripped open the wiring harness all the way from the ECU to the transmission, verified it was a solid connection and replaced the clutch actuator, connector to the actuator and the connector to the trans rpm sensor. We checked each wire for continuity back to the ECU. Once hooked up, the car still had the 3 bars of death. We tried to reteach the gear selection motor, but the process always initiated slightly, then stopped and failed. So we then removed the gear selection sensor and probed for resistance as detailed on Evilution. It matched up with what he stated value wise, or at least within a 10% variation.

We then assumed that it must be the gear selection motor. We have pulled it from the car and hooked up 12 volts to pin 1 and 6. It spins both forward and reverse at similar speeds to other diagnostic videos that I have seen. We also plugged it into the car while the motor dangled, then spun the motor's shaft by hand and watched it's readout in MB Star. The encoder position does indeed change when it is spun by hand. We also moved the gear that the motor interfaces with in the transmission. When we slightly rotate it out of neutral, then hook it back up to the car, it knows that it is not quite aligned, so it moves either forward or back to get the transmission back into neutral...

In the MB Star software, all looks ok and within spec as far as we can tell with the exception of the transmission gear position. It states that in software, its position is implausible and unknown. I believe this is why I am unable to teach the transmission. Based on what I know about this engine/transmission, the only way that the car knows what gear it is in outside of teaching, is where the gear selection motor is. I am leaning towards that being defective, but would love some feedback. That or the fact that the only persistent code is C1330.

C1330: The CAN signals transmitted from the engine system are implausible.

Any ideas on where to look next?

TLDR:

Clutch actuator, transmission, and potentially the ECU got wet driving in extreme wet conditions.

Clutch actuator, transmission connectors, and seals were replaced.

C1330 error is present and I am unable to reteach transmission via MB Star.

All wires transmission related have been checked for continuity and the gear position sensor resistances

Sorry the subject is so basic, but I couldn't find any matching topics, and hope you won't mind me sharing my present challenge. 🙂

In the past I would just take it to Uncle Glenn...

2006, fortwo, 197,000km on it.

Runs smooth, clean, has had synthetics in it since 43,000km, and the inside of mechanical parts is spotless.

Very reliable, and about the only thing I have had to deal with is the usual clutch actuator fun.
Last fall, I tool that out, cleaned it from front to back, re-greased, and it was wonderful again... even found a new boot for the actuator, online!

Put it back in, mid-screw position for the slots, it re-learned on it's own and was wonderful...

My oldest son is it's primary driver these days, but we both love it equally.
He and his GF call it Hammy, after the famous Hamster... 😉

While taking it for a short trip to the doctor, 25km or less, noted some amount of additional "vibration" as he put it. He's not mechanically inclined, but as a Sound Engineer and Musician, he notices noises and rhythms more than others, to his credit.

On the way back he was going to tell me about that, when he completed a left turn onto a country road, had to stop hard behind a stopped water truck (ie: car had to downshift to 1st), and then lost forward power, and had to coast to the side of the road. (pushed the last few feet)

No 3 bars of death, unless we really play for a long time.

I don't think clutch.

CAA took to local mechanic who is younger, adventurous, and has worked with us on it before when we need a hoist and such... he also did shocks, new intercooler when we got tired of that dripping, etc.

He's "smart friendly", is what I am trying to say.

When we go into reverse or forward, there is no movement.

The sound, is a soft clucking sound, like it's trying to engage something, but failing.

The rate of sound, is about two to three beats per second when asking for reverse, and only 1 per second when asking for forward. (neither of which ever happen)

I have attached two sound files. (two formats)

You may have to turn it way up... the big single clunks are me asking for gears... Reverse first, and then Forward.

But you can definitely hear the pattern.

I am totally open to ideas/suggestions.

I can do myself, but my friend the mechanic, is leary to drop a whole engine/tranny, and tie up a hoist on stands, if it's likely something "grenaded" in the tranny.

We both know there is another actuator that does the actual shifting... so I think that is where I am asking for help here.

Is that something that can be fixed up, maintained, lubricated and put back, or should be totally replaced.

And does that sound "match" that sort of diagnosis for any of you out there? 🙂

thanks in advance - access to the car is local, so I can try other things, gather more intel... but I feel like we aren't ready to give up on Hammy just yet!! 🙂

thanks,

Andy

I'd like to try another turbo, but paying dealer prices doesn't appeal to me and I'm not sure if this part is still available. Does anybody here have a source of known-good replacement parts at a reasonable price?

On a related note, would an ECM tune help much with this? I can get a tune for less money than I paid for the ebay turbo and I'd be willing to pay it, but I don't know if it will address the current problem.

Can I just bypass the SAM by connecting the brake switch wire to piggyback fuse holder on an existing fuse in the fuse box?  Or is there something more obvious that I am missing?

I got back in and it wouldn’t unlock either the immobilizer symbol in the dash wouldn’t go out and it wouldn’t start.

The button to open the rear hatch wouldn’t work either.

So I figured the key fob battery died.

Walked a long way to a Shoppers drug store to buy a new key fob battery and walked back to the car.

After inserting the new key fob battery. Nothing changed. The cars battery was fine could turn the key and get lights radio etc. but no start because of the immobilizer.

Called my wife to come and rescue me. After a couple more hours she arrived. Her key fob worked perfectly and I drove the car home.

At home I got a know good battery, from my wife’s key fob, and put it in mine. Still nothing. Looked at both sides of the circuit board with a magnifying glass.

No sign of any damage. Finally tried bending the prongs that hold the battery in place thinking perhaps a lose connection. Still nothing.

So the end result is that like any piece of electronics the key fob can die for no apparent reason.

It lasted almost 20 years. I just hope my wife’s key fob doesn’t decide to die as well.

CANMAN

I have an issue that I believe is ECU related. I purchased a "known" working one from MW Smart and it "works" once installed, but the immobilizer is obviously no longer present. Has anyone here read the flashed files from the EEPROM on the 450 CDI Canadian smarts and cloned an ECU? 

I am aware that Evilution has a guide, but his ECU is different from the Canadian 450's. 

Thanks, any info is appreciated!

A week later, it started fine again—I drove to work without issues. But after work, when I started the car, the RPM began fluctuating sharply. If I revved it in neutral, I could stabilize it. However, when I tried to move (as you see in the video), it jerked and stalled (I was reversing at the time). Car: Smart 450 CDI, mileage: 212,000 km.

https://youtu.be/pLDKOSu6HFE?si=8XMiMbjCZoiEA5mx