W168 a160. Auto. No reverse!!!!!!!!!!!!

Page may contain affiliate links. Please see terms for details.

NOMONEYBUTAMERC

MB Enthusiast
SUPPORTER
Joined
Aug 27, 2010
Messages
1,333
Location
Weston super Mare
Car
BMW X1 . Porsche 968 Boxster
Having decided to get rid of the A160 , I thought I would try to cure the "F"ing display fault . Removed handbrake console, took the pcb out of the PRND unit and sprayed it with electrical contact cleaner . Made sure it was totally dry , reassembled the unit and started up. Dash indicated P, moved gear lever to R , dash still displayed P and car did not move, moved lever to N , dash still displayed P , moved to D , dash displayed R , but the car was actually in drive! a slight predicament as it is at the bottom of the drive , facing the garage!:wallbash::wallbash:. I really do not want to throw good money after bad by buying new pcb`s etc , and still have a faulty car. I bought my wife a 60 plate Kia Soul yesterday ( sadistic I know! ) , thinking I would give the A class to my youngest son , but it seems not such a good idea since he always wants me to sort any problems with his cars!
 
Have you tried heating the PCB, after you cleaned it? - more often than not W168 suffers from dry soldered contacts and this might help.

Ideally you'd need a hot plate from underneath (obviously not hot enough to melt) and very narrow heat gun from the top.

Also, have you tried W/S switch?
 
Thanks GLK , I used the wifes hairdryer , rather than my heat gun , to dry off the pcb . Also tried switching W/S . Reset fault code with an OBD2 , got dangerously close to picking up a large hammer after taking out/replacing everything three times. Decided to leave it until another day before touching again :mad:.
 
Yes, I know the feeling.

I really took good care of my old W168, never put it in gear until RPMs drop below 1k, FMBSH, etc, and then it got the dreaded F and I had to replace the TCU, which took more than six weeks. Sold it right after that was done, with 107.5k on the clock and for a very good price, in all fairness.

The current C169 with 29k on the clock was purchased five days after the fault appeared - I knew I won't keep the old one, once fixed.
 
She has refused to drive it (providing i can even fix it) , so theres the best part of a grand gone to waste.:mad:
 
Losing one's confidence in a car is hard to overcome with logic alone.
I still like the 168 shape better than 169, but ...
 
Thanks Graeme. I used this link yesterday to get tips on dismantling/reassembling. The car was selecting all gears correctly , between fails, until I took it apart.! seems I have only made matters worse. :mad: I have decided to have one more attempt at fixing it and have disconnected the battery for a while to see whether it has any effect on rebooting the ecu.
 
I wonder if the gear lever has to be in certain position when the system reboots/reconnects to establish a "zero" or reference point?
 
Just found ecusolutionswales. they offer a testing/repair for £120 , think I may give them a try. Either will have a car I can sell , or just lose another £120:doh:
 
Ecutesting.com will sort this out for you.

They're fantastic
 

Users who are viewing this thread

Back
Top Bottom