Hello,
I'll try to keep it brief. Every poor soul's story on this forum could fill a small book. I need a list of all possible error codes that the TCM could throw to prepare for a summit meeting in three weeks with the shop that rebuilt my transmission (truck arrived to them on a hook). As a side note, based on our location, they wouldn't warranty their work unless an aftermarket cooler was installed which I agreed to.
Shortly after the rebuild, I experienced a brief shudder while leaving a stop light. Hmmm. It happened again a couple of trips later so I decided it was time for a return to the shop. Before I did return, a couple of trips later while going around 30-35 MPH I lost all power as the engine revved up like it was just shifted into neutral. After it slowed down some, power returned and I pulled over to go to the market. A few hundred feet later, after leaving the market, this happened again so I got to the side of the road and called the shop. They said bring it over so I restarted and drove the remaining four miles without incident. The pulled codes (posted below) seem to me to indicate an internal problem but I'm fairly ignorant about automatic transmissions (I'm an electrician, auto trannys are a plumbing nightmare). They cleared the codes and went for a test drive without incident. This took a couple of days.
The boss is on vacation but after some calls to him, they started whining about how it was probably the TCM which I should have replaced as well as several other things it might be (although they didn't check any of them). The boss also told them to charge me for this visit considering it to be investigation of a "new" problem. "Not a chance" said I, so the young man in charge wisely gave me the key as I told him I'd attempt to drive it home and leave it there until this was sorted out later (drove the few miles to home also without incident but working out of my wife's peanut SUV sucks and I have to leave jobs early to pick her up).
Unfortunately, I didn't have the presence of mind to see if the dash indicated "N" while I was freewheeling. One reason is that after a few months of driving, the truck lost its ability to manually downshift via the "left clicks" so I don't watch the dash anymore for which gear I'm in. This is a total PITA because I'm always slowly going up a steep grade or someone's driveway and as soon as it levels out a bit, it thinks it can upshift. Not! So, back and forth it goes which can't be good on the transmission. I have been able to mitigate this somewhat by throttle modulation but since the rebuild, this has not been working so well. A couple of years ago a different shop said they thought it was the TCM. But, being an expensive item, I decided to live with it. I questioned if it could be the shifter because it did communicate over the CAN bus but their scanner couldn't tell so I dropped the matter. I had a brief conversation with the Sprinter mechanic at this shop (who just left to start his own Sprinter only shop). He said it was the shifter and not the TCM. He also said the scanner could see the "-" and "+" calls so it could have been checked.
A study of the TCM shows that indeed, it monitors several inputs directly as well as some indirect information over the CAN bus. So, I need to know how many of these signals can throw an error code from the TCM if out of bounds so the shop can't BS me. It's possible some sensors might need to be checked but I don't see at this point how they could cause the TCM to throw 'er into neutral while driving down the street. The Sprinter shop manual's wiring diagrams are mostly s**t so I've ordered an expensive book claiming to have complete and detailed wiring diagrams for every system including connector pin outs, locations, etc. I'm good at checking electrical systems so if there's another avenue to travel down I want to be able to go there first. I'm not trying to pin them to the wall, just trying to help diagnose and fix this.
As a mechanic (but not an automatic transmission mechanic), I can certainly see the shop's reluctance to tear into this thing based on not having it happen to them during a test drive. But, as a vehicle owner, I tend to think that they need to suck it up and consider replacing all components in the transmission that could have thrown these codes unless there is good reason to suspect something else. And, if so, what might that be? I don't think they have a good diagnostician on payroll at the moment. Also, except for the P1 code, these seem like generic codes but they swear their information is correct:
P2500 Improper ratio (slipping)
P2228-001 TCM Transmission ratio error fault present
P1912 Internal controller won't clear (gear selector)
P2333-004 S/C vehicle speed ….. (their copy cut off further written notes)
Thanks,
Jvf
P.S. Shop manual mentions a PCM (module?) but doesn't give any description. What's that? Also, there is mention of a PCI bus. Is this separate from the CAN bus or is it another name for the low speed CAN
I'll try to keep it brief. Every poor soul's story on this forum could fill a small book. I need a list of all possible error codes that the TCM could throw to prepare for a summit meeting in three weeks with the shop that rebuilt my transmission (truck arrived to them on a hook). As a side note, based on our location, they wouldn't warranty their work unless an aftermarket cooler was installed which I agreed to.
Shortly after the rebuild, I experienced a brief shudder while leaving a stop light. Hmmm. It happened again a couple of trips later so I decided it was time for a return to the shop. Before I did return, a couple of trips later while going around 30-35 MPH I lost all power as the engine revved up like it was just shifted into neutral. After it slowed down some, power returned and I pulled over to go to the market. A few hundred feet later, after leaving the market, this happened again so I got to the side of the road and called the shop. They said bring it over so I restarted and drove the remaining four miles without incident. The pulled codes (posted below) seem to me to indicate an internal problem but I'm fairly ignorant about automatic transmissions (I'm an electrician, auto trannys are a plumbing nightmare). They cleared the codes and went for a test drive without incident. This took a couple of days.
The boss is on vacation but after some calls to him, they started whining about how it was probably the TCM which I should have replaced as well as several other things it might be (although they didn't check any of them). The boss also told them to charge me for this visit considering it to be investigation of a "new" problem. "Not a chance" said I, so the young man in charge wisely gave me the key as I told him I'd attempt to drive it home and leave it there until this was sorted out later (drove the few miles to home also without incident but working out of my wife's peanut SUV sucks and I have to leave jobs early to pick her up).
Unfortunately, I didn't have the presence of mind to see if the dash indicated "N" while I was freewheeling. One reason is that after a few months of driving, the truck lost its ability to manually downshift via the "left clicks" so I don't watch the dash anymore for which gear I'm in. This is a total PITA because I'm always slowly going up a steep grade or someone's driveway and as soon as it levels out a bit, it thinks it can upshift. Not! So, back and forth it goes which can't be good on the transmission. I have been able to mitigate this somewhat by throttle modulation but since the rebuild, this has not been working so well. A couple of years ago a different shop said they thought it was the TCM. But, being an expensive item, I decided to live with it. I questioned if it could be the shifter because it did communicate over the CAN bus but their scanner couldn't tell so I dropped the matter. I had a brief conversation with the Sprinter mechanic at this shop (who just left to start his own Sprinter only shop). He said it was the shifter and not the TCM. He also said the scanner could see the "-" and "+" calls so it could have been checked.
A study of the TCM shows that indeed, it monitors several inputs directly as well as some indirect information over the CAN bus. So, I need to know how many of these signals can throw an error code from the TCM if out of bounds so the shop can't BS me. It's possible some sensors might need to be checked but I don't see at this point how they could cause the TCM to throw 'er into neutral while driving down the street. The Sprinter shop manual's wiring diagrams are mostly s**t so I've ordered an expensive book claiming to have complete and detailed wiring diagrams for every system including connector pin outs, locations, etc. I'm good at checking electrical systems so if there's another avenue to travel down I want to be able to go there first. I'm not trying to pin them to the wall, just trying to help diagnose and fix this.
As a mechanic (but not an automatic transmission mechanic), I can certainly see the shop's reluctance to tear into this thing based on not having it happen to them during a test drive. But, as a vehicle owner, I tend to think that they need to suck it up and consider replacing all components in the transmission that could have thrown these codes unless there is good reason to suspect something else. And, if so, what might that be? I don't think they have a good diagnostician on payroll at the moment. Also, except for the P1 code, these seem like generic codes but they swear their information is correct:
P2500 Improper ratio (slipping)
P2228-001 TCM Transmission ratio error fault present
P1912 Internal controller won't clear (gear selector)
P2333-004 S/C vehicle speed ….. (their copy cut off further written notes)
Thanks,
Jvf
P.S. Shop manual mentions a PCM (module?) but doesn't give any description. What's that? Also, there is mention of a PCI bus. Is this separate from the CAN bus or is it another name for the low speed CAN