2002 Triptronic: "Gear Selector not Engaged"

[adrianw]

Hi,

I did a search for this and only found one other mention of it on Pelican - do you not get this from the autos in the states?

It happens on my car occasionally when driving along - the vehicle continues OK, you just need to pull over and pop it into neutral then back into drive.

Being optomistic I'm hoping it is just a sensor switch that the DME is having trouble with.

Anyone know why the car displays this error on the dash? (it has a nice icon of a gear in a casing).

Thanks

Adrian
PS It happens to the wife more than I, I suspect she is not applying as much pressure when moving from neutral to drive.

[adrianw]

Hi,

A very nice garage in Bristol in England called 'Advanced Car Care' worked out what the issue was.

They commented that my gear movement from P-D etc was very stiff.

At the back of the gear box next to the left hand catalyst is the rear linkage for the triptronic gear change. This mechanical pivot pin(?) mechanism needs to be taken off, cleaned, buffed and greased to give you as little resistance to gear change as possible. (saving you cable stretch)

You do not need to take anything off the car to do this, there are a few bolts to remove and a couple of plastic (danger - they may be brittle) ball joints to pop out (the most tricky ball joint being further inside the engine bay) (Best done when engine cold)

If you are lucky you may not need to touch the one further inside the engine bay, it depends on how easy it is to get the pivot pin out - Mine was being stubborn.

Once out, a quick buff on a polisher and a load of copper slip later and re-assemble.

You will notice immediately that the gear shift offers much less resistance and in our case stops the console message about gear selector not being engaged.

Try this first before giving someone a load of cash to take the car apart to replace the expensive "automatic transmission shift assembly" (Page 37-16 to 18 Bentley manual - Sorry Wayne didn't notice this in your book).

I'm so glad I didn't get stiffed by a transmission shop on this.

You will be too.

Cheers

Adrian

[Dmitry at Pelican Parts]

Hi Adrian - really glad that you got the issue worked out. If you did a write up of the process and steps that they took, you may be interested in becoming a DIY Project Expert - we'll look over your submitted article and if we add it to our database of DIY articles, we'll give you 10% off your next order and a credit next to the article. If this sounds like something that you may be interested in, please check out the link below!

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-Dmitry