Hey I just got ralliart (4000km on the clock so practically brand new). I've never owned one before so I dont even know if these are problems:

If I accelerate, break heavily, gear down (its the auto) and then accelerate quickly- I get what can only be described as a false neutral. I sat there with it revving away before it actually engaged the gear. Its happened twice and both at the worst possible moment (ie I'm accelerating, a car pulls in front of me - I break heavily - sees that I'm going fairly fast - damn these cars are quick! - I gear down to try and accelerate again...but it just revs away for about 2 secs before it engages again..... is that normal?

The other issue is the guage shows empty when I've only used 50litres. Are these things calibrated so that theres really 25 litres left?

Hey - i know what you mean!! they are meant to have a 71L tank (same as my TH) but it shows empty much quicker than that!!

As for the auto - i have a feeling it is the comp in the auto trying to determine which gear to go into - I have a manual though so i can't comment - but I would say it is normal - though 2 seconds is a long time!!

Manual

Welcome...No the gear change is NOT normal. I have a 2002 VRX tiptronic and there is NO where near that delay of 2 sec's. i would strongly recommoned taking it back to the dealer for a check.

The fuel thing yes there is a 15 Litre reserve and the warning light comes on when less than 10 litres above the reserve - 25 litres - so yes anoying !! but you get used it to !

Dude get it checked cuz my TJ sportz gets a flogging and it still doesnt do that when i drive it in tiptronic. You will find that when you use tiptronic to slow the car down or drop a gear it will go searchin a little but its no where near 2 sec. Once you learn how to master the tiptronic box you will unstoppable :D

as for the gearing delay- I was going by the theory that maybe coz I braked suddenly, the car was automatically gearing down (well, it goes into 1st by itself when I stop) so maybe the computer was still trying to gear down while I was accelerating and it just got mixed up..... and that delay with the false neutral is it actually trying to sort itself out.
I've only had this false neutral happen twice and both were under very heavy braking and heavy acceleration (and both on the same day!)

I'm going to see if I can consitently recreate the problem (nothing worse than saying it does something and when you take it there all seems fine)

Also, when you use the manual gearing is there a small delay when you change gears? (I'm talking about .25 to .5 second) it feels longer when you're actually doing it. (or is it just me playing way too much grand tourismo on the ps2?). I'm assuming thats the normal delay that everyones talking about.

Hey whats the fuel consumption on these things? The dealer says 7l/100km highway for the manual. granted the auto will use more, but still, I'm only getting 9l/100 highway. It was a demo so it may have been pushed and over the 4 weeks I've had it, it has dropped from 11 to 9. Will it just keep tuning itself to my driving style?

as for the gearing delay- I was going by the theory that maybe coz I braked suddenly, the car was automatically gearing down (well, it goes into 1st by itself when I stop) so maybe the computer was still trying to gear down while I was accelerating and it just got mixed up..... and that delay with the false neutral is it actually trying to sort itself out.
I've only had this false neutral happen twice and both were under very heavy braking and heavy acceleration (and both on the same day!)

I'm going to see if I can consitently recreate the problem (nothing worse than saying it does something and when you take it there all seems fine)

Also, when you use the manual gearing is there a small delay when you change gears? (I'm talking about .25 to .5 second) it feels longer when you're actually doing it. (or is it just me playing way too much grand tourismo on the ps2?). I'm assuming thats the normal delay that everyones talking about.

Hey whats the fuel consumption on these things? The dealer says 7l/100km highway for the manual. granted the auto will use more, but still, I'm only getting 9l/100 highway. It was a demo so it may have been pushed and over the 4 weeks I've had it, it has dropped from 11 to 9. Will it just keep tuning itself to my driving style?

The delay of .5 sec is normal. The tiptronic is actually engineered to change quicker on the Ralliart: on my vr-x, it is slower..

The car stays in the gear you select, if you push the tip lever over to the left to the +/- area.. it holds that gear. Until you tell it to do something else. Or you stop and it has to start off again in 1st. The computer getting confused might happen if:
- you brake hard while still in D, then, as you push the tip lever over and pull back one notch, or two.. you accelerate too early, and the auto box computer thinks you are still driving in 'Auto', it may get confused.

Just whack the tip lever over to the manual zone (the +/- ) before you brake!!! whack the gear back one hit as you brake, maybe two, or watch your speedo if you are going down from 100 to 40 say, and hit the lever at the points you think you should change down.. and
then hammer it again once you have slowed down, and you are already in the right gear. my theory anyway! :)

as for the gearing delay- I was going by the theory that maybe coz I braked suddenly, the car was automatically gearing down (well, it goes into 1st by itself when I stop) so maybe the computer was still trying to gear down while I was accelerating and it just got mixed up..... and that delay with the false neutral is it actually trying to sort itself out.
I've only had this false neutral happen twice and both were under very heavy braking and heavy acceleration (and both on the same day!)

I'm going to see if I can consitently recreate the problem (nothing worse than saying it does something and when you take it there all seems fine)

Also, when you use the manual gearing is there a small delay when you change gears? (I'm talking about .25 to .5 second) it feels longer when you're actually doing it. (or is it just me playing way too much grand tourismo on the ps2?). I'm assuming thats the normal delay that everyones talking about.

Hey whats the fuel consumption on these things? The dealer says 7l/100km highway for the manual. granted the auto will use more, but still, I'm only getting 9l/100 highway. It was a demo so it may have been pushed and over the 4 weeks I've had it, it has dropped from 11 to 9. Will it just keep tuning itself to my driving style?

i just got my vrx and its yellow fuel consumption sticker said 11/100kms before we left the delearship we were told specifically to REMOVE keys when filling up with petrol as the trip computer gets completely confused otherwise. It readjusts usage on the fly and if you scroll thru the trip computer you can see the "active usage" as it updates every few seconds. the other figure is just an average for the current trip which you can reset.

as for the tiptronic yes there is a slight delay try shifting up just before you want it too and if you want even faster changes try shifting up before and taking your foot off the accelerator as much as you would if driving a manual.

seems to work a treat.

hope you have fun in your new toy they are bloody nice cars

Hey whats the fuel consumption on these things? The dealer says 7l/100km highway for the manual. granted the auto will use more, but still, I'm only getting 9l/100 highway. It was a demo so it may have been pushed and over the 4 weeks I've had it, it has dropped from 11 to 9. Will it just keep tuning itself to my driving style?

Clearly you are not driving very hard....I average about 14 /100 in my VRX but I drive it very hard ! althou is quoted by dealer as 8 country and 10 city... :lol:

When I first picked up my TJ Sports the fuel guage would show empty after I'd only used 50L of fuel.. the dealer said that was pretty normal.. so every time after that I intentionally drove it down to 60L before filling up, and the funny thing is that now it doesn't show empty until I've used around 57-60L like it learned how much fuel I like to use.. don't know if they all do that but I found it nifty.

What sh*ts me about the trip computer is that the 'distance to empty' function stops working as soon as the fuel light comes on. grrr. :evil:

do autos move straight from gear to gear using the fluid in the torque convertor as a clutch or do they actually move from a gear into neutral and then into another gear? If its straight from gear to gear I reckon I've got a serious problem......
Anybody else had the symptoms I'm describing?
Thanks, fysh, I'll try the keys thing when filling...

And Canberra, I'm pretty sure I was in tiptronic the whole time. But regardless, even in tiptronic it controls the gears you select to a certain degree so I guess you could be onto something there

Do the VRX's get as much wheelspin on take off? I specifically bought the auto due to the traction control (spinning pirelli's all the time could get expensive). My last car was a vt commodore - so you can imagine I'm still in the habit of flooring it on take off occassionally. (the commodore couldnt spin the wheels unless you turned the wheel hard during cornering)

Autos don't go into neutral. They use a planetary gearbox so all the gears are in permantently in contact with each other. The way you shift the gear ratios is by restricting the motion of different parts of the planetary geartrain.

Thanks MiG, now I'm really really confused how I even get the false neutral.......

Looks like one for the mechanic when it get its first service......

Well the operation of the transmission can still screw up and make it feel like it's in neutral. In fact, I suppose it could even go into neutral. But during normal operation this doesn't happen.

Its happened in my old car auto EL falcon before, I gun it at around 45kph, it shifts into 1st, but the auto slips and comes close to 5000rpm (screaming its tits off) then engages and chirps the tyres.. Its handy but is obviously causing end clutch? wear.

I reckon its an ecu problem on your car as its got INVECSII.. Best Idea would be to get it reset maybe? A few of the peoples at these forums reckon the INVECS controller has a common problem on the TJ autos.

i dunno otherwise.

peace, goodluck

rallinewbie, my mate had that auto problem in his old TF (about 97).... he took it back a few times but as it was not under warranty they did not want to touch it!!! He had it in exact fashion as you are getting, and it happened when i was in the car and is really annoying!!! He didnt end up getting it fixed as he sold the car about a month later (he traded to a ute) so unfortunately i dont know how to fix it....

but it has to be a computer (ECU) problem.... i'd be hounding your dealer about it as it shouldnt happen!
good luck
Al

Rallienewbie: Check your G/box oil... if it's low, when you brake or turn hard your oil can move away from the pickup which can cause this symptom. If it's ok take it to a dealer

The KJ doesnt do it.. but the mothers TF Sports does it all the time and gets pi$$ annoying. It is an ECU problem, all they do is reset the thing and say it should be fine. It still happens to some extent just not as bad anymore. The KJ is sweet as with that, has done it once.. but that was when it was cold and I must've been going *quite fast* and slammed on the brakes light turned green brother next to me droppin gears i just dropped it and it did it. Take it to the dealer and kick up a fuss, once you find out whats up with it, post it up on here just in case someone else has the same problem.
Cheers

SuFz :evil:

there is a known problem regarding fuel guage reading and inconsitencies.

it is a faulty fuel sender unit. mainly the float assembly.

it is a warrantble item, if still valid.

there is a known problem regarding fuel guage reading and inconsitencies.

it is a faulty fuel sender unit. mainly the float assembly.

it is a warrantble item, if still valid.

dude, this thread is 3 years old.... make sure you check thread date before posting and digging up threads unecessarily.

welcome none the less :D

there is a known problem regarding fuel guage reading and inconsitencies.

it is a faulty fuel sender unit. mainly the float assembly.

it is a warrantble item, if still valid.

post up an intro thread in one of the appropriate sections!

and welcome dude!:D