Replacement transmission shift module Clio RS

[Adey.]

Awesome @GtirHil do you remember or have a link for the capacitor you bought? I can find 2200uf axial capacitors just need to to know the peak voltage. But a link to the one you have would be great 👌🏻

 

[GtirHil]

I'll have to try to cut my old one out and get a better look. I tried to lever it out and that was not a great success.

ClioRS200T bought a new one, so they have the specs if they see this. But I'll try to get mine out.

 

[Adey.]

So.... I've driven the car to London this morning 🤦🏻‍♂️ 3 times it had the gearbox issue, i think I've figured if you ask it to shift quickly it does it and faults. But light throttle and slow changes it's seemingly OK....

It did also, on 5 occasions hit me with a quick flash of the stop for a charging issue.

So currently my thought is, the smart charging module thing is failing or the alternator...

Got a 130mile drive back yet to ponder on it.

Wish me luck

 

[GtirHil]

So.... I've driven the car to London this morning 🤦🏻‍♂️ 3 times it had the gearbox issue, i think I've figured if you ask it to shift quickly it does it and faults. But light throttle and slow changes it's seemingly OK....

It did also, on 5 occasions hit me with a quick flash of the stop for a charging issue.

So currently my thought is, the smart charging module thing is failing or the alternator...

Got a 130mile drive back yet to ponder on it.

Wish me luck

 

[GtirHil]

Sorry - wrong button!

A lot of people have partly cured the issue with a new battery or other things to do with the charging system. I'm not sure what the capacitor does. It may smooth current drain or it may help to provide extra juice to trigger gear shifts etc. Or both. The thing is that putting in a new battery or similar may largely mask a failing capacitor. A lot of times a new battery only makes the problem go away for a while.

I'm probably talking rubbish. And I'm sure that the failures are not always the same cause. If it's only one gear train, then probably it's not the capacitor. Though when a system becomes marginal, the weakest component fails first ...

And I think that the fuel (or horse power) saving from the battery management system is ridiculous when compared with the cost (and environmental impact) of batteries. Lead acid accumulators like to be kept fully charged.

 

[GtirHil]

This seems to be the correct capacitor, from Amazon.

 

[GtirHil]

Note the polarity from the ridges around the case in the images higher up.

 

[Adey.]

Indeed found similar hen looking, for ref the oem items are made by Epcos

40v 2200uf b41694s5228

 

[RustyRS]

If anyone is interested I've found a seller that can supply a programmed TCU for 410 USD shipped, I'll be going with this option if I have no joy

Could you send link please?
And has this worked? Rs?

 

[Adey.]

Just updating here, I purchased a TCU, was programmed but looks to be programmed for a non-RS car. Also didnt work and gave gearbox faults within 100 meters...

So I am now trying my original TCU with a replacement capacitor, wish me luck, I will update here and in my build thread

 

[GtirHil]

Good luck Adey! Your MOSFETs look a bit messy. Is it just the varnish?

Yup, please let us know how it goes.

 

[Adey.]

Just the varnish on them, up close they looked fine to me 🤷

 

[Zingerlockdown]

Just the varnish on them, up close they looked fine to me 🤷

Gday aussie here having the same issue. The unit I bought from China unit came with the incorrect firmware. Have you gotten yours working? I was thinking of just swapping the boards with the firmware and seeing if that fixes it. I also would like to know how you separated the boards?

 

[Adey.]

Didn't work for me, had the incorrect firmware, I threw my toys out of the pram and fitted a tcu from a breaker. Working fine now. Pretty sure you remove 6 screws and the top pcb board pulls off the bottom one.

 

[GtirHil]

My RS TCU is still working fine after replacing the capacitor. We've been driving the car everyday.

Original boards (so correct programming) with new capacitor and servo side. But the servos look foolproof. So it would seem that the new capacitor fixed it, as above.

We just drove about 350 km to the coast and back with no hiccups.

Touch wood ...

Well, for full discluosure, we are showing a "check antipollution system error" but my best OBD2 analysis suggests either cat failure or failure of the lower O2 sensor.