Thread: 2011 D4 'Gearbox Fault' warning

Thanks again guys. Your help and encouragement is gold. I ordered the he correct belt and should have it tomorrow. I’ll fit it after work and see if I’m up for the 3D jigsaw or save it till Anzac Day. On my D4 there is this plastic moulded cable tray which is full of loose spagetti. It’s fixed to the underside of the scuttle. This is really deep and I can only work out how to take out the LHS (facing forward). On the RHS the brake lines lock it in place and also prevent it from being rotated out. Fortunately it’s flexible ABS or something. Even with this out of the way it was a head scratcher. Even following Christian’s method.

Balance in the universe is restored. I got the right belt today and it took all of about 10 mins to fit, pull the pin on the tensioner and refit the covers. If only I had the correct belt on Saturday.

I’ll save the oil separator till tomorrow.

On the D3, this is the exact position I could easily slide the oil separator in (or remove). The right side leg (as viewed in photo) easily slides over the passenger side inlet manifold.

Just had to push a bit into the plastic at the back of the engine bay.

Quick task before heading home (car is at work where I am performing the surgery) the dreaded oil separator. But it only fought for about 15 mins before relenting, popping into place then looking back at me all innocently and saying quite audibly 'see - it wasn't that hard now was it'.

What a horrendous piece of design from a service perspective. Oh well. Done now. Thankfully.

Hopefully not speaking out loud too soon but it's alive!

I had some trouble starting though. I jammed a multimeter in the lpfp fuse holder and ran the lpfp a few times into a bucket to make sure I was getting fuel. Then I put the fuse back in and connected the fuel lines. Ran the lpfp a few more times then started. I got a rough coughing idle then flame out. Ran the lpfp a few more times then started. Barely a cough. Repeated this 2 more times. A cough and a weeze at best. Poor battery.

So then I had a coffee and a back to basics think about things. I pulled the fuel lines again and ran the lpfp a few times. No fuel. I jammed the multimeter back in and ran the lpfp 6 A and fuel happily flowing into the bucket. Fuel lines back on. Ran lpfp 4 times with the multimeter in to see if the pump was pulling current. 6 A on each lpfp cycle. So I turned it over. It breathes, revs well and idles nicely! No faults on the GAP as a bonus.

The fuze is fine but it looks like jamming a multimeter into blade style fuse holders isn't a very clever thing to do. Looks like I bent one of the contacts. I'll unbend it and hopefully head off on the maiden voyage soon after a clean up and a calm down.

Have you ever seen anything more beautiful…

Congrats buddy. You’ll soon fall back in love with it. Starting them after messing with the high pressure side always taxes the battery and then you find it’s not got enough grunt to keep the voltage up and the injectors to fire. When I did my injectors I needed to get a new battery to get it to fire.

Thanks. I’m pretty happy and if I didn’t post I reckon I may have had a rebuilt gearbox by now and still no solution. I’ll get the battery on charge. It certainly copped a beating during the failed attempts at starting.

All up, including the messing around with the wrong belt, cleaning grime and finding the bent fuse holder I reckon it took me 12 long hours over 2 days with 2 little 15 mins tasks in between.

The GAP tool is sure going to get a workout between now and when confidence returns.