RENAULT QUICKSHIFT "NO PRESSURE ISSUE SOLVED"
Hi I hope this post is useful to people who have the Renault quickshift boxes, which are known to be trouble and owning a Clio mk2 with the gearbox I am aware of the issue and have had the gearbox robot fail, but have managed to solve this without having to go to Renault dealership or replace the robot unit.
Background to gearbox
The quickshift gearbox comes in a few variants, QS5 and QS6 (the number determining the number of gears the box has. The gearbox is marketed as a semi-automatic, however the gearbox is in fact a manual gearbox with a electro-hydraulic unit which actuates and changes the gears and clutch. The gears can be changed, by leaving it in auto mode, which has a small "A" next to the gear number or manual mode, in which the driver selects the gear using the gearstick, up for up and down for shifting down. The gearbox is capable of changing down a gear itself when braking even in manual mode.
The gearbox consists of an electric pump which runs to allow the accumulator (looks like a black sphere) to build up pressure, using the ATF fluid contained in the clutch accumulator reservoir. This accumulator allows the gearbox to change gears without having the pump running constantly. The robot units are known to leak ATF, which is stored in the clutch actuator fluid reservoir (clear tank which sits on top of gearbox with pink ATF fluid).
NB: one of the ways to prevent the issues is to ensure that you put the car into neutral when you come to a stop and apply the handbrake. This is because despite the handbook telling you it is ok to keep the car in gear with foot brake, it IS NOT. If you do this then the pump will burn out and the accumulator will wear out faster as well.
From my research through renault forums and googling extensively, people suggested that it may be possible to change the brushes in the motor if you were able to do this (however this is beyond my skills and not sure if this would work)
What are the gearbox issues:
The main issue is that people don't understand how the gearbox works, which leads to the box being misused. The gearbox is a manual transmission with a clutch, with the clutch and gearchanges made by a clutch actuator which is moved using the pressure created by the pump and accumulator. The gearbox will not shift as fast as a normal manual, it is not meant to and is not a true auto.
Over time the membrane/ gas in the accumulator goes bad causing the system to lack the pressure it needs to be able to change gear properly, the gearbox becomes sluggish and wont accept manual changes (notably from 2nd to 3rd gear and will revert to 2nd gear all the time).
The other issue is that eventually the gearbox will either keep going into neutral, or as I found, the gearbox became stuck in 3rd in the display but had actually got stuck in neutral. This is the MOST COMMON FAULT! This is caused when the accumulator and pump have finally burned out and pressure has failed, with an inability to restart the car (because it needs to be in neutral and the car thinks it is not).
The fluid then all entered the reservoir and this should not be the case, it should be half full when pressurised, and IMPORTANTLY, the car did not make the usual electric whining motor noise when i opened the door, or tried to put it into gear when the car finally started (AA man had to hit the transmission with a mallet to nock it completely into neutral to allow it to start.
BUT this lack of pressure is caused by the failure of the pump and accumulator which are available, despite Renault dealers condemning the whole unit, you do NOT NEED TO REPLACE THE WHOLE ROBOT!
Solution:
The solution is to purchase a new accumulator (black sphere) and a new electric pump, , and the system is apparently bled using new ATF fluid and a scanner tool (garage level) to actuate the clutch.
The auto mode failing to activate can be cause by these parts but also there is a brake pedal switch which is part of the circuit which causes the car to go into manual mode unexpectedly or unable to select auto mode at all.
The system also has its own computer next to the battery which talks to the ECU and determines how and when to change gears, fluctuations in battery voltage, aux belt or timing slipping or being off cause issues which cause it to kangaroo and fail ultimately.
I hope this is helpful to those with the Quickshift robot units and that there is no need to replace the whole unit.
Hi I hope this post is useful to people who have the Renault quickshift boxes, which are known to be trouble and owning a Clio mk2 with the gearbox I am aware of the issue and have had the gearbox robot fail, but have managed to solve this without having to go to Renault dealership or replace the robot unit.
Background to gearbox
The quickshift gearbox comes in a few variants, QS5 and QS6 (the number determining the number of gears the box has. The gearbox is marketed as a semi-automatic, however the gearbox is in fact a manual gearbox with a electro-hydraulic unit which actuates and changes the gears and clutch. The gears can be changed, by leaving it in auto mode, which has a small "A" next to the gear number or manual mode, in which the driver selects the gear using the gearstick, up for up and down for shifting down. The gearbox is capable of changing down a gear itself when braking even in manual mode.
The gearbox consists of an electric pump which runs to allow the accumulator (looks like a black sphere) to build up pressure, using the ATF fluid contained in the clutch accumulator reservoir. This accumulator allows the gearbox to change gears without having the pump running constantly. The robot units are known to leak ATF, which is stored in the clutch actuator fluid reservoir (clear tank which sits on top of gearbox with pink ATF fluid).
NB: one of the ways to prevent the issues is to ensure that you put the car into neutral when you come to a stop and apply the handbrake. This is because despite the handbook telling you it is ok to keep the car in gear with foot brake, it IS NOT. If you do this then the pump will burn out and the accumulator will wear out faster as well.
From my research through renault forums and googling extensively, people suggested that it may be possible to change the brushes in the motor if you were able to do this (however this is beyond my skills and not sure if this would work)
What are the gearbox issues:
The main issue is that people don't understand how the gearbox works, which leads to the box being misused. The gearbox is a manual transmission with a clutch, with the clutch and gearchanges made by a clutch actuator which is moved using the pressure created by the pump and accumulator. The gearbox will not shift as fast as a normal manual, it is not meant to and is not a true auto.
Over time the membrane/ gas in the accumulator goes bad causing the system to lack the pressure it needs to be able to change gear properly, the gearbox becomes sluggish and wont accept manual changes (notably from 2nd to 3rd gear and will revert to 2nd gear all the time).
The other issue is that eventually the gearbox will either keep going into neutral, or as I found, the gearbox became stuck in 3rd in the display but had actually got stuck in neutral. This is the MOST COMMON FAULT! This is caused when the accumulator and pump have finally burned out and pressure has failed, with an inability to restart the car (because it needs to be in neutral and the car thinks it is not).
The fluid then all entered the reservoir and this should not be the case, it should be half full when pressurised, and IMPORTANTLY, the car did not make the usual electric whining motor noise when i opened the door, or tried to put it into gear when the car finally started (AA man had to hit the transmission with a mallet to nock it completely into neutral to allow it to start.
BUT this lack of pressure is caused by the failure of the pump and accumulator which are available, despite Renault dealers condemning the whole unit, you do NOT NEED TO REPLACE THE WHOLE ROBOT!
Solution:
The solution is to purchase a new accumulator (black sphere) and a new electric pump, , and the system is apparently bled using new ATF fluid and a scanner tool (garage level) to actuate the clutch.
The auto mode failing to activate can be cause by these parts but also there is a brake pedal switch which is part of the circuit which causes the car to go into manual mode unexpectedly or unable to select auto mode at all.
The system also has its own computer next to the battery which talks to the ECU and determines how and when to change gears, fluctuations in battery voltage, aux belt or timing slipping or being off cause issues which cause it to kangaroo and fail ultimately.
I hope this is helpful to those with the Quickshift robot units and that there is no need to replace the whole unit.
