[Transmission] Gearbox fault on Radio display

[JRT2023]

Happy friday fellow berlingo owners. 

I have found myself on this forum site hoping for help and advise around my Berlingo. 

Context:
I bought a used Berlingo - M Space 2011 EDHI semi auto about a month ago. 
*EDIT - forgot to add milage - its on 147000*
I had the intention of converting it to a camper. I do a lot of driving and wanted something i could sleep in as i often find myself out and about quite a lot. 

The first indication of an issue was the day i bought it - i was driving back home with it from Walsall - i live in Preston. After stopping off for food and about an hour of driving later when i was coming off the motorway on a slip road my car had a moment - i put my foot on the brake and when i had released the pressure to slow down as i was approaching the turning coming up the slip road the car began to judder excessively before coming to a complete stop and stalling and it felt like the brake pedal was still pressed in. 

at the time i didn't know the radio display flashed warning signs so i could not check what the error could of been. After it stopping and starting again it drove back fine but seemed 'clunky' in the gear change. 

I took it to an automatic car garage in preston and he said it had a few error codes on it but they where historic and everything seemed okay except for a brake signal/switch fault p171a which was a new one

The mechanic recommended another mechanic that's locally an expert with transmissions so i took it him and had him drive the car to see if everything was okay and he also said to me everything was okay but he couldn't tell whether it had a new clutch or not in but due to the high milage but said it drove as it had a new one. 

Last night

I was driving down to widnes/runcorn to get someothing for my drone and as i had been driving (around about an hour - similar to the first day i'd bought it) and it just kinda died as it made its way down the gear box (it gave a warning on radio display saying 'gearbox fault'. as i was auto mode it wouldn't get into any gear it just seemed stuck on either 2nd or 3rd unless i stopped the car fully (perfect timing on a busy Dual Carriage way) and i finally got it somewhere safe where i had to leave it and inevitably wait a until 11:30 at night for the RAC to come out. They offered me a recovery service but for only 10 miles and the guy who came out so late was dead nice and said that it could have just been hot and urged me to try and drive it home as it could cost me up to 300 quid just for a recovery back to preston. - he suggested to just drive in manual mode and hope for the best. it worked and i got home okay. 

Today

I phoned up the transmission guy and explained what happened last night and he said it could be something to do with my DUAL MASS FLYWHEEL but after lurking around on these forums and seeing other peoples issues i was hoping for an insight into if anyone has had a similar issue as the DMFW would cost me around 1200 to fix and about 600 quid if he was to go in and look at the transmission (he also said he would be fitting a new clutch if he did that) 

I'm just slightly anxious about resorting to such a costly repair for it not to actually fix the problem at hand i have seen on these forums a few people have had similar issues. 

Thanks for your time and advise everyone.

[brodfather11]

There is a lot of confusion whether or not the 1.6 were/are fitted with a dual mass flywheel.
I'm assuming its a1.6 hdi you've got.

Most opinions say they weren't.
If so the transmission guy is wrong.

Someone else will know better and will be along soon

[JRT2023]

There is a lot of confusion whether or not the 1.6 were/are fitted with a dual mass flywheel.
I'm assuming its  a1.6 hdi you've got.

Most opinions say they weren't.  
If so the transmission guy is wrong.

Someone else will know better and will be along soon

Thats something i didn't know about. I'm assuming the transmission guy is right. I have the 1.6 litre E HDI

[Sol]

It's nothing to do with 1.6 or E HDi, it's the power output which determines whether you do, or don't. JJ9 posted up info before and it was the 100 / 120 hp engines had a DMF but the others didn't, I'm pretty sure. I know the 75 does not, I've had my clutch done and it definitely does not have a DMF.

Here's another thing...a DMF is a mechanical part, pure and simple. How would the gearbox ECU flag a fault for a DMF issue? It wouldn't, that's how we know that's probably not the issue. 

Unless you've got a telepathic ECU...

[jj9]

It's nothing to do with 1.6 or E HDi, it's the power output which determines whether you do, or don't. JJ9 posted up info before and it was the 100 / 120 hp engines had a DMF but the others didn't. . . 

Yes, as far as I know the 75 / 90 HP engines have a standard flywheel / clutch assembly, it was the higher power variants that got the dual mass set up . . . I've no idea if the piloted auto had a dual mass or not 

.

[Sol]

Thanks JJ. Also still true that I can't see how the ECU could possibly detect an issue with the DMF even if it has one on the autos, so what's the gearbox fault message about? Ideally it needs scanned with Diagbox to know for sure what the fault actually is, and then they wouldn't be guessing.

There is no way any issue with the flywheel could cause the gearbox to jam or fail to work, and then flag a gearbox error. It has to be a fault with the control system.

[jj9]

Yes I would be thinking the same.

Not what JRT2023 want's to hear but I would avoid a piloted auto if you could, they seem to suffer a lot of problems.

.

[ItsGreen]

I'd be tempted to start with the simple stuff first and change that brake pedal switch.

Any clues what the other codes were?

As a generalisation, I'd expect a dying DMF to cause a rough idle.

[JRT2023]

I checked my cars specs and it looks like 92 HP (i think if that's correct?)

i think what my next steps will be is to fix the faulty brake switch and pull the error code of and then see how it drives fro m there.

I would be considering getting a full service on the vehicle too. Does anyone know if my model actually has some form of oil in there and would getting that changed and replaced be at least semi helpful?

[Sol]

It's just a standard mechanical gearbox with regular gear oil. Only the shift and clutch actuator is automated.