[stuartmacnb]

Hi eveyone, i recently picked up a 2011 smart with only 69k on it at auction (guess i know why it was there now). today being its second day with me i was driving towards a stop sign when it started slipping out of gear at the same time the cel light came on, at the stop sign i shut it off and when attempting to restart got no crank at all. i tried all the gears ect and no cranking or anything resembling a solonoid noise.

As i waited for my inlaw tp gear up a tire to push me the all of a block home it started miraculously after maybe 10 minutes of sitting in the intersection and drove just fine home.

my crappy scanner said p0805 or clutch position sensor which i guess would explain the not starting if the car thought it was still in gear.

Where do i start to look into this, it fixed itself with 0 interaction so im thinking it has to be electrical but i dont know anything about the transmission on the smarts.

i tested the battery and alternator and both tested well.

 

[smark]

Sounds like a trip to a smart dealership.

good luck!

 

[jwight]

You can do a search for "p0805" and read up on the various threads. A good candidate "may" be the clutch actuator - easy to clean and adjust (if needed): Clutch actuator maintenance instructions

 

[stuartmacnb]

I have a mercedes sprinter so I'm already not looking forward to dealing with the smart dealer here. Hoping it dosen't come to that.

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[wahi]

Yeah, start with the actuator. 3 bolts and disconnect the pigtail, and it's out. Mark the positions of the bolts before taking it off for cleaning.

-wahi

 

[gtdump]

Any other assosciated codes?
No harm in checking the clutch actuator's plug, but be careful as the retaining clip can crack quite easily, if it does break a ziptie works as a stop-gap repair to hold the plug in place.
You might need to adjust the clutch actuator's position, but mark it's position beforehand so you can put it back in the same place if needed.

 

[stuartmacnb]

i attempted actuator removal but the bolts were pretty corroded, got the first one out , broke the head off the second and striped the third. looks like ll be welding nuts on tomorrow.

 

[stuartmacnb]

Well it's out, I have two bolts to drill and re tap, can anyone confirm the bolt size is m7?

I dont see the sensor inside so I'm assuming it's in the motor or underneath the plastic gear. I will live up and re assemble.

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[Jeb Baker]

Hard to tell from the pic, but if the actuator is as unlubricated as it appears, it's little elec. motor might not have been strong enough to overcome resistance to push the rod in, resulting in the P0805. This actuator is essentially your left foot on a manual tranny. So clean and relube with plenty of lithium grease. You can manually wiggle the actuator quite a bit, but be careful of the heavy spring and cam action nipping your fingers. (I took mine all the way apart, removing cam and spring. Yuk, what a mess! Try to avoid that, it was a ***** to get back together!) Don't worry about where it was on the bolts, use the recommended push until rod contacts, then 3 more lines on the bolt slot hole. And clean the elec. contacts, then grease with contact grease to prevent future corrosion. (you will be driving through puddles, eventually eh?)

 

[SmartieAZ]

I grease my actuator every two years... Grease it plenty with lithium grease! If there are no plastic parts broken it should be o.k.! My actuator has 151xxx miles on it and
still works, as well I had to set the actuator to the second last groove - but the clutch is working great after I adjusted the actuator farther out. Retrain the clutch after installation - you will find various versions how to in this forum. Good luck.

 

[stuartmacnb]

After re installation I'm still having issues, it shifts once then seams to stay fully extended to the clutch in position. If you shut the car off it won't start again unless you wait 10 minutes or clear the codes.

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[SmartieAZ]

Did you do the initial adjustment when you reinstalled it or put it back where it was when you removed it?

- check the technical "stickies" section of the forum. There are several related to the clutch actuator including adjustment, complete dismantle/ reassemble, etc

Did you do the teaching in?
To be honest a "clean and lube" job on actuator does not address pivot point for quadrant gear that will seize up and render actuator "not working" if it looks like your one
with maybe water penetrated inside and no lube... You can look for a used one or new one at ebay for 279$ if nothing works.

 

[stuartmacnb]

I put it back to where the bolts were originally.

I saw a few pictures of people that totally dissembled the actuator including pulling the spline out, i accidentally extended mine when cleaning it and had to hit the motor with 12v to retract the gear.

I did squirt the pivot point with some PB blaster and try to work it a bit it looked a bit rusty.

Where is the sensor, is it in the motor itself ?

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[stuartmacnb]

I took it apart again to check the shaft a bit better , also put contact cleaner in the motor. I'm not sure what if anything I should be reading off the 4 sensor pins. If they're hall sensors as suggested in other posts.

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[joseph64]

I took it apart again to check the shaft a bit better , also put contact cleaner in the motor. I'm not sure what if anything I should be reading off the 4 sensor pins. If they're hall sensors as suggested in other posts.

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Any success with driving the car in Manual mode and switching to auto? Does your Instrument show what gear you’re on? I always had success adjusting Actuator with battery remove.

 

[stuartmacnb]

Any success with driving the car in Manual mode and switching to auto? Does your Instrument show what gear you’re on? I always had success adjusting Actuator with battery remove.

il give that a shot when i put it back in this weekend. i did try slideing it back a bit towards the drivers side and that got me 3 bars almost immeatatly and no gear icon.

 

[stuartmacnb]

To conclude this story I replaced it with a cheap Ebay one and it works fine. After tearing down the old one I fried the hall sensor by applying voltage to the wrong pins trying to retract the arm on the bench.

I learned this after I caved and bought the membership to evolution and read his little post about testing the actuators on the bench.

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[Obi55]

Hi eveyone, i recently picked up a 2011 smart with only 69k on it at auction (guess i know why it was there now). today being its second day with me i was driving towards a stop sign when it started slipping out of gear at the same time the cel light came on, at the stop sign i shut it off and when attempting to restart got no crank at all. i tried all the gears ect and no cranking or anything resembling a solonoid noise.

As i waited for my inlaw tp gear up a tire to push me the all of a block home it started miraculously after maybe 10 minutes of sitting in the intersection and drove just fine home.

my crappy scanner said p0805 or clutch position sensor which i guess would explain the not starting if the car thought it was still in gear.

Where do i start to look into this, it fixed itself with 0 interaction so im thinking it has to be electrical but i dont know anything about the transmission on the smarts.

i tested the battery and alternator and both tested well.

So this car is a 2011 model picked up at auction? Your title is a bit misleading can give people, like me, some heart attack thinking its a latest model of the SmartCar (2018-2020).. May want to change that headline...

Just saying.

 

[jwight]

So this car is a 2011 model picked up at auction? Your title is a bit misleading can give people, like me, some heart attack thinking its a latest model of the SmartCar (2018-2020).. May want to change that headline...

Just saying.

It's is in the 451 forums....

 

[1983JZR3W]

It's is in the 451 forums....

And we know no one ever posts in the wrong model forum......like the next post down.