Electronic Diagnostics

Transmission Parts - Fault Finding

Since the introduction and ever increasing popularity of electronic control units (ECU) fitted to modern commercial vehicles, HL SMITH transmissions Ltd have invested very heavily into diagnostic equipment. The diagnostic equipment we have includes, VOLVO V-CAD system, ZF TESTMAN PRO and the TEXA system. These systems allow us to do more onsite diagnostic work to pinpoint the location and nature of the failure so the customer is better informed on which direction to take as opposed to the old way of just removing the transmission because they thought that was the problem.

We can now look at the vehicles CAN system to see if there are any other components that are creating a problem for the transmission e.g.wiring harnesses, switches, or clutch booster packs.
These other components or ECU’S if they are faulty can have a direct impact on how the gearbox behaves. Some vehicles do a self check when the ignition is turned on and if a fault is reported the gearbox ECU will not allow the vehicle to start.
The gearbox ECU also looks at other components or ECU’S to select the correct gear for the current driving conditions e.g. vehicle load weight, current road speed, engine speed or if a PTO is engaged or not.
The dedicated systems we have also allow us to interrogate the ECU within the workshop environment, this gives us fault codes that we can translate and make a more informed diagnosis as to the nature of the failure, and possible causes.

These systems together with our dedicated trained staff allow us to perform full gearshift operation within our test facility that houses custom-built, electronically controlled test rigs that allow us to test the very latest gearboxes from EATON, ZF, SCANIA, VOLVO & MERCEDES

If the vehicle can be driven or recovered to our premises we can, with our modern facility and experienced staff offer in-house diagnostics, where if the fault is deemed to be mechanical we can remove, repair and re-fit the transmission.

We would recommend that if a customer does get a fault with an automated gearbox he first looks at all of the connectors and electronic plugs fitted to the gearbox to make sure that all the connection are clean and not damaged in any way, if he find faults with the wiring system get these fixed first as they will have a influence on how the gearbox performs.
When these checks have been done and there is still a fault then this would be the time to call us so we can send out our mobile engineer who will be able to do an in-depth check on the transmission while it is still fitted to the vehicle, this saves time, and unnecessary costs.

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