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After nearly 28,000 miles of smart ownership and sometimes stuck in neutral usually during parking I think it's not really an electronic or gear lever problem.
Yes there's a motor that shifts the transmission so that part is electrical but I think the reason it doesn't find reverse is the same reason sometimes I can't get it into gear/reverse on a manual trans (which the smart although sequential is) More of a mechanical issue. My motorcycle is sometimes is stubborn to find a gear at a stand still unless I blip the throttle..
I have a feeling that the older the car gets as the syncros wear down and the clutch wears that it will happen more often
The best remedy is to put the car into manual mode with the stick(not paddles) to find 1st... roll a bit if possible then back to R and it will find reverse.
My car was diagnosed with a shifter motor going bad but I think it was just a blip and one time issue when the codes flashed.
I think its just one of many quirks to live with among other.
There are not one but two electric motors involved with the shifting process. One is set up to handle something like R-2-4, and the other does 1-3-5. There is a nice little diagram of how all this works in the smart mechanic's overview of the car, a copy of which can be found hereon.
~Your Out Of Warranty...<:-(( ~ A $1600.00 Fix~
Well we have all read about Smart's with bad clutchs that act like what your saying... What year is that Smart... Bad clutches have been being updated with a New improved Clutch Disk... Each Smart that is sold comes with its vary own Gremlin...!!!...No Extra Charge...<:-((
NOTE: If you bought a extended warranty, your still screwed... Its not covered...
If you haven't already done so, you may want to change your transmission fluid. It may or may not help your situation, but it certainly won't hurt. Plus, it's quite inexpensive and very easy to DIY.
Thanks for posting the old thread......I have asked the dealer at the 10k service about getting stuck in neutral & later during a 2.0 upgrade and a seat belt latch buckle that was replaced under warranty. I'll see if I can get the clutch replaced for free even though im out of warranty by 3,000 miles as they said it was normal for it to do that sometimes when I asked about it during servicing.... I've been to 3 different dealers so lets see who will step up...
My car had the problem of intermittently not going into reverse unless I turned the car off and turned it back on. They said it was because of an improper grease used in the assemble process at the factory...something about the grease being too thick or hardening. They replaced my clutch disk under warranty. That fixed the problem. That was about 10k miles ago.
I also had the problem of the shifter getting stuck. That was fixed with some grease in the shifter. That was probably at around 5k miles.
My car now had 21k miles.
The software upgrade made a huge improvement to the shifting and creeping. The car was miserable to drive in stop and go traffic before the upgrade.
I have 45,000 miles on my 2008 smart. It has had problems going into reverse SINCE DAY ONE (at 55 miles). I got the run around until it went past the poor 24K warranty period. Then I PAID to have the new clutch put in and it STILL DOES NOT go into reverse most of the time. When it sticks for up to 2 minutes the dash does not say "R" or "N" but it just is blank while the shifter is clearly in reverse. Yes, the seat belt broke, the little tabs on the tailgate broke after opening the tailgate maybe 25 times. The fan switch broke. The engine warning light keeps coming on (NO it is not the gas cap). The alarm key keeps falling into two pieces and the latest is the smart mechanic stripped my oil pan and I am on my 13th day without the car while they search for a replacement oil pan (an YES I have to pay for half of the cost. The security guard for the early bird drop off knows me by name.
Linear Mode
