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Replacement transmission shift module Clio RS

4 hours to fit a TCM… are they including all their tea and lunch breaks in that time..?
I’m sure mine only took about 2.5 and that was with 2 separate programmings as the first one didn’t work.

Not that it helps you but my car is still on its original clutches at 237,600 miles. Unless it’s contaminated and slipping (which you’ve proved it’s not) it doesn’t need replacing.
 
I checked my bill. it was actually $2,800 for the TCU. I paid $1,200 for the loom. It goes from the TCU to the two clutch servos. BUT I paid $1,170 in labour to diagnose and install the TCU and the loom. I agree about being unreasonably slow - I originally told them when I was cross that I could physically replace the TCU in under an hour. Without a lift.

I'm curious about how flashing the Chinese TCM goes. I see a real business opportunity!

Thanks Sash. Wow, that is quite the mileage. Did I see that yours is used for learning to drive? As I said to them, when I drilled holes and looked in the bell housing, I was amazed by how good it all looked in there. Touch wood! They only judge the clutch by how it looks using the TCU-based diagnostics. I read somewhere that PWM functions are usually the first to go, and the clutch actuators are PWM. So they are likely asking a madman whether somebody else is sane ... I wonder how many engines have been dropped and the clutches replaced when they were perfectly good?
 
GtirHil said:
I checked my bill. it was actually $2,800 for the TCU. I paid $1,200 for the loom. It goes from the TCU to the two clutch servos. BUT I paid $1,170 in labour to diagnose and install the TCU and the loom. I agree about being unreasonably slow - I originally told them when I was cross that I could physically replace the TCU in under an hour. Without a lift.

I'm curious about how flashing the Chinese TCM goes. I see a real business opportunity!

Thanks Sash. Wow, that is quite the mileage. Did I see that yours is used for learning to drive? As I said to them, when I drilled holes and looked in the bell housing, I was amazed by how good it all looked in there. Touch wood! They only judge the clutch by how it looks using the TCU-based diagnostics. I read somewhere that PWM functions are usually the first to go, and the clutch actuators are PWM. So they are likely asking a madman whether somebody else is sane ... I wonder how many engines have been dropped and the clutches replaced when they were perfectly good?
Click to expand...
Yes, it’s been a learner car for 8 years now. Still on original everything engine and gearbox wise apart from the TCM. This was replaced 4 years ago at 140,000 miles. It took a fair while to diagnose properly as no one else had really experienced this issue yet!

Those that fire the parts cannon will have replaced clutches prematurely for sure.
 
I only got about 135,000 km before the TCM died. I think that the hottest periods here kill them quickly. They just roast on the end of the gearbox. Frankly I see NO reason to think that PCBs will like those temperatures. They should have isolated as much of the electronics as possible.
 
GtirHil said:
I only got about 135,000 km before the TCM died. I think that the hottest periods here kill them quickly. They just roast on the end of the gearbox. Frankly I see NO reason to think that PCBs will like those temperatures. They should have isolated as much of the electronics as possible.
Click to expand...
You’re right.
Mine started to fail in summer but only when the ambient temperature reached over 28° which being England didn’t happen very consistently being that it worked absolutely fine in the cooler temps meant it can’t have been the clutch that almost everyone told me it was!
 
Heat also kills the continental engine ecu on megane 3 rs, coincidence i guess but maybe not as well engineered as sagem etc.

Anybody found out what breaks in the tcm yet?
 
Brigsy said:
Heat also kills the continental engine ecu on megane 3 rs, coincidence i guess but maybe not as well engineered as sagem etc.

Anybody found out what breaks in the tcm yet?
Click to expand...
@Adey. knows I think… capacitor? Don’t hold me to that.
 
Fixed mine for a while but maybe not in hot weather. I looked at the fix for the Ford TCM etc and I remain VERY unconvinced that my PCB would survive that treatment.
 
Chances are that you need a new TCU. Do not let them rush you into replacing the clutches. That is much bigger money because it is engine-out. My TCU repeatedly reported failing clutches but I dig my heels in and told them just to change the TCU. The LUK site says to lock it in a high gear going uphill and floor the accelerator. If the revs don't surge the clutches are probably fine. My clutches seem to be fine, despite having to FIGHT the mechanics to leave them in.

All the diagnostics come through the TCU and the dealers can't test the clutches any other way. If the TCU is naff, then the clutch diagnostics are unreliable. If the clutches ARE bad, then you pay some of the TCU install fee again if you didn't change them. I reckoned that it was worth the risk. Sash's car is pretty high mileage and still on the original clutches (I think). See above.
 
GtirHil said:
Chances are that you need a new TCU. Do not let them rush you into replacing the clutches. That is much bigger money because it is engine-out. My TCU repeatedly reported failing clutches but I dig my heels in and told them just to change the TCU. The LUK site says to lock it in a high gear going uphill and floor the accelerator. If the revs don't surge the clutches are probably fine. My clutches seem to be fine, despite having to FIGHT the mechanics to leave them in.

All the diagnostics come through the TCU and the dealers can't test the clutches any other way. If the TCU is naff, then the clutch diagnostics are unreliable. If the clutches ARE bad, then you pay some of the TCU install fee again if you didn't change them. I reckoned that it was worth the risk. Sash's car is pretty high mileage and still on the original clutches (I think). See above.
Click to expand...
Oh, the clutch motors are controlled and driven by the TCU. So it is possible for the clutches to malfunction when the only problem is in the TCU.
 
Sorry to rat on, but ...

Now it is true that those gears are on one clutch and a total clutch failure could take them out but ... the high gears nearly always go first when clutches wear out. 1st is the last to go because the leverage advantage is best for that gear. So losing them all at once is unlikely to result from plate wear. There could also be a failure for the actuator to engage that gear train. Or to try to engage the clutch.

So the best first guess is still TCU failure. I've read that one of the first TCU functions likely to fail is PWM. It's the PWM signal that controls the clutch motors, which are not apparently steppers.

If people disagree with me - say so. I'm just trying to guard against dealers' insane urge to replace clutches.
:cool:

I think that I've posted before that there's good info here
 
Hi Guys, going to add my experience as well. When mine started i lost 2,4,6,R this only happened on occasion but for me to drive off immediately i needed to clear the codes and then proceed. Also while in the winter it almost never acted up, it would take a considerable time of hard driving to actually get it to do. After swapping the actuators around to see if the lost gears changed (i still failed 2,4,6,R) i started looking for a replacement. Here is South-Africa the dealers are mostly the ones that has the stock they had 1 at a staggering R43000 i refused to pay so eventually after many weeks got one at a Gearbox repair center.

It was a brand new unit, so they only needed my TCU to clone the software and transfer it to the new unit. This took about 1 day to complete, I removed the TCu myself all of about 2 hours work if you remove the battery. the tray and then disconnect the two big connectors and 4 bolts. It would have been quicker but i struggled with one of the connectors as it's mechanism was broken (possibly someone worked on this car before or swapped TCU)

That said new unit went in without any issues and it's been 2 months of happy driving and car feels great, clutches are fine and not slipping but I have noticed driving in 2nd gear slowly it would feel as if there is a slight judder the car does not like very slow driving in 2nd gear at all, this has been the case since I bought the car so not sure if there is something else that needs to be done like clutch adaptions etc.
 
Sash said:
@GtirHil I ended up replacing the clutch last week at 214,880 miles.


Sash’s New Learner Car thread

It’s solved my ‘Clutch 2 Torque Error’ code even though on initial inspection the friction plates don’t look excessively worn but something wasn’t happy inside the pack.
Click to expand...
That is some serious miles on original clutches, goes to show you that if the gearbox mechanisms is happy that these clutches do last.
I firmly believe a faulty TCU will kill your clutches quickly
 
Jacques_RS220 said:
That is some serious miles on original clutches, goes to show you that if the gearbox mechanisms is happy that these clutches do last.
I firmly believe a faulty TCU will kill your clutches quickly
Click to expand...
In some ways the clutches don't lead an easy life. It seems to me a potential weakness that the clutches have to be forced to engage, all the time that you are driving along. With normal clutches they engage passively (springs) when your foot is off the clutch pedal. And the release bearing is unloaded. With these, it is more as though you are pulling the pedal up all the time to engage the clutches.
 
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