Hello,
First post in the forums! I am from Ankara, Turkey and unfortunately am furious of the selespeed system and its problems. This is mainly due having only three alfa specialists in a 5 million city and neither of them are fully knowledgeable on selespeeds. Their typical response is "since you can't find EV0 separately, buy a new or second hand actuator"....... After investing tons of money just to maintain a safe and enjoyable drive for my family and I, there is no going back. Have to make it as perfect as possible and would like to get your help.
Since this is going to be a looong one, please bear with me. My car is a 156 ts selespeed (pre face lift model) at 167,000 km.
A) What has done in the last 17,000 kms: lpg conversion (kind a must with super hish gas prices; but, in general I am very happy with the performance), expansion tank (for antifreeze), front brake discs, front brake pads, rear brake pads, rear transverse arm (short), variator, cam belt, balance belt, spark plugs, v belt and bearing, waterpump, injector o-rings, thermostat, right bottom wishbone, right upper wishbone bushes, left upper wishbone, rubber body to bar bushes, front anti-roll bar links, track rods, track rod-ends, rear crank seal, clutch kit with release bearing, accumulator (new), selespeed pump (second hand bought from UK), filters, oil, etc. Paid a fortune!
B ) 6 months ago, I replaced the accumulator (had N issues) and it seemed to solve the issues. 4 months ago it started to do stupid things (not engaging at all - locked gears, etc.); but it did fix itself in summer! (have no idea how/why).... So, I bought a second hand pump, just in case, but didn't have it installed until 5 days ago (waited for the new clutch assembly and whole suspension and steering overhaul - see more in part E).
C) 4-5 weeks ago, the sound coming from the actuator started to get clunky and rather harsh again. I could feel it during driving. It didn't want to engage to 1st gear - engine on/off - problem solved. While my better half driving the car (in city mode) and while I am driving (manual engagement) it went to N several times, didn't want to go in reverse, etc.....
After above symptoms appeared, I went to the specialist thinking that my pump is almost dead. He connected the car to the examiner. After checking the relays and the pressure (started with 51 bars dropped to 47-48 while engine was not working), he told me that my main problem is not the pump but the actuator. Unfortunately, here they have limited knowledge on fixing the actuator and asked for $$$$ for a second hand whole actuator unit.
According to my research, system consists of:
Solenoid valves:
EV0: solenoid valve to control the clutch actuator
EV1: solenoid valve to control the engagement of the odd gears 1-3-5
EV2: solenoid valve to control the engagement of the odd gears 2-4-R
EV3: on-off solenoid valve to control 1-2 gear
EV4: on-off solenoid valve to control 5-R gear
Sensors:
Hydraulic circuit pressure sensor
Actuator position sensor
Gear selection position sensor
Gear engagement position sensor
Clutch position sensor
Clutch disk speed sensor
I was thinking to invest in a EV0, called Fiat dealer for the part number 71753760 (replacement of 71719391) and got a quote of 857 tl (around 300 quids!!) - stopped there...
I also contacted several shops for viton o-rings (10.5-1.2mm; 11.5-1.2mm; 12.5-1.2mm and 18-2mm) - thinking that changing the o-rings inside the EV0 would solve my problems - no darn luck finding these o-rings in Ankara...
D) Before deciding what to do, I saw a local ad for a second hand whole actuator unit for 150 pounds. The guy told me that it has several issues like going into N once in a while. I trusted him and since my pump and accumulator is new, I thought that I could use the sensors and valves. Unfortunately it was mostly gone (see part E) and I was hosed again
E) After doing some tests with FES, I came up with the following graph: http://img198.images...5nov2012001.jpg
I also realized that the clutch rod length was around 29.86 mm. Therefore, on Saturday (december 8), I went to the specialist and told him to replace the pump, the actuator I bought earlier, the clutch assembly with the bearing and the wishbones, rods, etc.
At that time, we realized that the actuator I bought did not engage the new clutch at all...so we put mine back.
The good news is, after replacing the clutch and the pump most of my problems went away - - - since yesterday, two going into N issues again; sad.
I really don't know what to do or where to look - smaky, would you come to Ankara for several days I am not sure whether to invest a second hand actuator from ebay.co.uk or do you know where to find a working ev0?
The worst thing is, even though I am an engineer, I am a total noob in fixing cars. But still, I think I can perform some tests to understand the matter or help you to identify the issues by using FES...
Best regards,
Onur