Hi all,
My 4C LE (Australian spec) has ~5,000km and recently started to develop some intermittent transmission fault codes.
Whilst driving in sometimes cool (22degC) sometime warm (35degC) conditions generally always in low load conditions (cruising around 80km/h) the car would throw a check transmission error on the display and advise that manual mode was not available. I would see the 'gear ring' symbol lit and the car would proceed in automatic mode (i generally drive in natural / manual mode) . This would last maybe 5-10 secs and the error would often disappear. No noticeable change in shift quality or any other noticeable fault with the car.
This had become progressively worse over the last 4-5 weeks, (the car has not be driven often as I work interstate during the week) to the point that on the last few occasions the car would be stuck in 3rd gear and only change into neutral once the car was stationary. Again, this would clear itself generally with the last occasion requiring to switch off the car and restart to clear the fault. On each occasion the car would be fine for the trip home and the fault would only appear once and only intermittently.
The problem has been such that I haven't trusted to take the car on any long trips, instead hoping to see a more conclusive failure close to home where a recovery service was going to be easy to arrange.
As it would happen, last Thursday there was finally a more serious fault. The car did the same thing as described above, on down change (manual, natural) from 4th to 3rd the check transmission fault appeared and the car was stuck in 3rd gear. I coasted to the first set of lights which were red at the time and stopped, in retrospect I should have tried to merge over to the shoulder, but there was a still a clear lane to my right and traffic was light. I had my hazard lights on to signal my difficulty but unfortunately an inattentive driver behind continued to take-off at speed and collide into the stationary and stricken Alfa as I was trying to reset the error - Insult added to injury!
Any way the fault reset itself and after exchanging details I drive off with the intention of getting the car to the Alfa dealer to fix both the transmission error and new damage on the rear bumper. After stopping to put some fuel in the tank, both the check transmission and engine lights came on as I was trying to pull out of the service station. The car was then stuck in neutral and I elected to push it back out of the way, and whilst the engine was running it also decide to turn itself off!
At this point it was no longer safe to drive the car and I called for the Alfa recovery service. I will keep you informed once I hear more from the dealer as to the cause and remedy for the fault. In the meantime, would greatly appreciate any advice from anyone that has had similar issues and already resolved the problem with Alfa.
My 4C LE (Australian spec) has ~5,000km and recently started to develop some intermittent transmission fault codes.
Whilst driving in sometimes cool (22degC) sometime warm (35degC) conditions generally always in low load conditions (cruising around 80km/h) the car would throw a check transmission error on the display and advise that manual mode was not available. I would see the 'gear ring' symbol lit and the car would proceed in automatic mode (i generally drive in natural / manual mode) . This would last maybe 5-10 secs and the error would often disappear. No noticeable change in shift quality or any other noticeable fault with the car.
This had become progressively worse over the last 4-5 weeks, (the car has not be driven often as I work interstate during the week) to the point that on the last few occasions the car would be stuck in 3rd gear and only change into neutral once the car was stationary. Again, this would clear itself generally with the last occasion requiring to switch off the car and restart to clear the fault. On each occasion the car would be fine for the trip home and the fault would only appear once and only intermittently.
The problem has been such that I haven't trusted to take the car on any long trips, instead hoping to see a more conclusive failure close to home where a recovery service was going to be easy to arrange.
As it would happen, last Thursday there was finally a more serious fault. The car did the same thing as described above, on down change (manual, natural) from 4th to 3rd the check transmission fault appeared and the car was stuck in 3rd gear. I coasted to the first set of lights which were red at the time and stopped, in retrospect I should have tried to merge over to the shoulder, but there was a still a clear lane to my right and traffic was light. I had my hazard lights on to signal my difficulty but unfortunately an inattentive driver behind continued to take-off at speed and collide into the stationary and stricken Alfa as I was trying to reset the error - Insult added to injury!
Any way the fault reset itself and after exchanging details I drive off with the intention of getting the car to the Alfa dealer to fix both the transmission error and new damage on the rear bumper. After stopping to put some fuel in the tank, both the check transmission and engine lights came on as I was trying to pull out of the service station. The car was then stuck in neutral and I elected to push it back out of the way, and whilst the engine was running it also decide to turn itself off!
At this point it was no longer safe to drive the car and I called for the Alfa recovery service. I will keep you informed once I hear more from the dealer as to the cause and remedy for the fault. In the meantime, would greatly appreciate any advice from anyone that has had similar issues and already resolved the problem with Alfa.
