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I've got a 2005 450 which has been operating fine until a couple of days ago. After being parked outside in a heat wave, I couldn't get it to go into gear. In fact, I haven't been able to since then. This is what happens: the car starts normally, then when attempting to shift into 1st, I hear 10 slow thumps, then I get three dashes. After that I can no longer attempt to go into 1st. However, I can attempt to go into reverse (with the three dashes still displayed), where I'll hear 8-9 much louder and quicker thumps. I can only do that once as well before I have to restart. Am I in some kind of strange mode? This literally happened while the car was parked - it was operating perfectly before then. I'm quite far from a dealer so any advice that can get me back on the road (even in limp mode) would be appreciated.

Hi all, I've been lurking on these forums for quite a while now and have had a lot of success treating various issues on my smart up until this point. As the title says, my '08 Passion 451 has had a transmission issue which has only become exceedingly apparent until recently - meaning it may have been a progressive failure somewhere. Its just hit 69k miles. The transmission has had the current issue for at least 1k miles. The issue is when shifting. After a cold start and in manual shift mode, the smart will not shift out of first gear unless the car is at decent speed and the revs are high (i'd say above 4k, i don't have the tach. pods to tell) In auto shift mode, the car will shift at normal RPMs but then--as the accelerator is depressed--the tranny seems to "slip" out of a low revving second gear and into neutral. When this happens the dash reads 1st gear and the motor is free-revving. I recover from this "slip" into neutral by releasing the accelerator and letting the revs reduce. Then I reapply the gas and will hear the clutch slowly grab/slip until back into a high revving first gear. To get into second from then, I must push the gas a bit harder and shift. It seems to require a strong inertia to catch second gear. Once the car has warmed up after about a half mile of driving, it will then shift from first to second at a more reasonable rev (2~3k). If it has been 50 degrees or more outside, the smart will also show less problematic shifting at cold start. The smart has had its clutch actuator replaced and subsequently configured at a mercedes dealership. I have since adjusted it/moved it away from driver side so that the plunger is closer to the clutch plate. I have also recently replaced the tranny fluid with the correct royal purple fluid -- this helped the smoothness but not the shift issue itself (PS: change your tranny fluid! mine was filthy). I suspect a worn clutch plate, as I can feel it slipping during certain slow take-offs. Many times the upshifts will be harsh as well. An OBD code of P0716 for Input / Turbine speed sensor A circuit range/performance is present. My question is if the problem may be limited to a clutch plate replacement, or if the flywheel has become glazed, or perhaps it is even just an issue of some solenoid inside the tranny housing? I have replaced the transmission speed sensor (the one above the clutch actuator) but the code is persistent. I have also replaced the crankshaft position sensor (which may have nothing to do with the issue).

Firstly I am unsure of the model of my smart car - it seems its a rare bread, it was registered in 2003 in Germany and is a 799cc Diesel Engine, Pulse CDI I believe but I cannot find much info about the actual model number. So last night whilst driving home the abs and the warning light came on, but the brakes still worked fine. When I got home I switched the car off and on and the ABS light was still but the warning light had gone. This morning I started the car - abs still on initially, but started to drive and it went off, but then I was unable to shift up from 1st gear. So 1st, Neutral and revers all work, it just wont go from 1st to 2nd. On another note I had noticed that a sort of mild grinding noise had started to come from the rear, it sounds like brake disks/brake pads worn sort of sound, but as yet I haven't checked. I have searched and seen lots of posts about the gear being stuck in park but nothing about unable to shift up. If anyone has any ideas I would be most grateful :-) Thanks Dave