Variomatic Transmission Problem

Post by **petefarrell360** » 10 Dec 2006 06:27 pm

In the last few days this problem has got increasingly worse. It started off when I reversed out of the drive, went to move the auto stick from Reverse to Neutral and to Drive, and the UK variomatic has a warning lamp and very 80's sounding buzzer for when the button on top is pressed and it's between gears. This didn't light up and the buzzer didn't buzz, and it didn't seem to be declutching, making moving from reverse to Neutral very hard. Not the variomatic green book section to hand at the moment, can anyone point me in the right direction as to what is wrong?

It works perfectly fro Neutral to halfway into reverse and stops buzzing or flashing, even with the button still pressed. Perfectly into Drive and back to Neutral. Nothing from Reverse to Park or back. If it was any of the vacuum part I'd assume it would affect other things. Are there contacts on the side of the gear stick that might have corroded making a weak contact? Or possibly the microswitch I remember being somewhere around the button press or gear selection area?

It never did it again that day after that incident, so I thought nothing of it and that it was just cold. Did it again last night and again today, which meant resorting to pulling it out of reverse, which when it did let go meant it hit Drive too soon and it hadn't prpperly declutched, resulting in a nasty crunch. I don't want to keep having to risk such moves, and causing any damage, as something clearly isn't right! Any ideas?

Cheers,

Pete

Post by **pettaw** » 10 Dec 2006 08:37 pm

There's a connection in the gearstick at the base of it where the electrical connection for the microswitch lives....this will have worked loose. I remember Will Plummer saying it was a very common problem.

Post by **petefarrell360** » 10 Dec 2006 08:43 pm

Cheers Andy, I remember him saying now, and now you've reminded me, using 'microswitch' I've found it. http://www.volvo300mania.com/forum-uk/v ... icroswitch
I'll investigate tomorrow! Cheers.
Pete

Post by **shimon340** » 11 Dec 2006 02:23 pm

the declutching servo is controlled by a microswitch on the base of the gear lever just as Andy ( pattaw ) says. The connections failing or the switch not working are common probs.

I just wanted to chip in to say its a common thing on the 66 also - I have a one which crunches as you try to change gear ( very tough to move stick ) as indeed the switch prob isnt working. However, due to the age of the 66 Im also going to check the condition of the vacuum pipes to the servo too. The car lives in a garage so this fault was discovered on its last trip around the yard!

hope you get it sorted soon!

Shimon

Post by **petefarrell360** » 25 Dec 2006 09:31 pm

Right, finally found some time to have a look. I'd not used the car in the mean time, as I didn't want to do it any damage, as it wasn't beeping or declutching in any positions. It turned out to be the brown wire as predicted. It hadn't come off, it has actually broken just past the shoulder of the mini spade connector. On close inspection, when it was originally crimped on, I think there was a sharp edge, which over time has cut through the wire and it's come apart. Due to the pendulum movement of the gear selector, the wire has to undergo a lot of movement from one end of the travel to the other which doesn't do it much good. As Will said originally, the Park position is probably the most stressful for the wires as they are quite tight to the tunnel below.

Ignore Dekay cam pinkness on the white sections! It's simple to remove the gear surround, one screw behind the Park end of the scale into the cubby hole area. Then it slides forward as you lift it to give you some room. That will reveal four philips headed screws, remove those and the next part will lift up. I just disconnected the bulb for the gear letter illumination so it could fold back a little further. Then lift the section that sits in the slot around the stick to cover the movement, and turn in around, the stick is best back in D to work on the rear connector. As shown below.

As it's a mini spade connector, I didn't have any of these to hand, and the old one was unusable, as they normally are once used! So I used a standard sized one pinched up slightly to grip the connector well. It'll do for now until I can source one of the correct size.

Just as another possibility there are a bunch of wires running past the gear stick area, and are tucked behind the removable carpet panels, these are similar connectors to those used behind the stereo for the original power and speakers etc to the loom, (not the the back of the stereo) anyway, these were slightly apart and with little provocation came apart. So I'd imagine they could cause some odd problems, as that carrys the connections for the microswitch as well it seems. Pushed well together again the clips on the side still didn't seem overly secure, so something to check if you have problems.

If anyone has seen in the owners manuals section of the site, there are two Variomatic CVT manuals or user supplements. The first is the earlier version, which on the cover the picture has no warning buzzer, indicated by the red lamp infront of the gear stick on the Mk3 manual and only has the gear selection lettering down the left side, being the drivers side for most countries. The UK Mk3 got the lettering down both sides as my manual shows, and the lamp. When I started using the vario I thought a bulb had gone, as the lettering was only illuminated on the left side. It seems as though they couldn't be bothered to insert another bulb, holder and wiring, that's the way it's meant to be! Aymat was surprised by the buzzer and lamp, Belgium didn't seem to get these additions at all, and I'd imagine most markets other than the UK. It's something I've got used to, but it makes passengers who haven't heard it before jump!

Pete