Technical Neutral when I take my foot off the brake or accelerator

[f12abarth]

Hi all -

My little Abarth 595 automatic has been giving me a bit of a headache lately.

When I release the foot off the brake or the accelerator for 1.5-2 seconds while the car is in gear, the MPA slots it automatically in Neutral followed by some 'bleeps' from the dashboard (no lights). It is super annoying particularly when still at a roundabout. What I then need to do is slot it back into 1st and she's fine. If I keep my foot on the brake or if I'm accelerating even at the most minimal speed, there is no issue what so ever.

ADDITIONALLY

Sometimes when I switch the car off an on after some 'italian driving', I am faced with "ESP / Hill holder" issue. All I need to do to fix the problem is to switch the car off, wait for a few seconds again and it disappears.

I have followed the advice that is on several forums and youtube videos which is to replace the brake light switch, with no success. I am yet to try the oil top up / replacement of the gearbox

So I have 2 questions for this group:

1. Has this happened to anybody? Any known fixes? Anything else I should have investigated while looking at the oil level?

2. Is it normal that there is no hill assist? I.e., the car behaves as if it's a manual with the clutch depressed if in gear and on a hill, meaning that it would roll backwards if I didn't accelerate with the brake pedal depressed.

Many thanks in advance for any pointers!

 

[f12abarth]

Quick update - I've plugged in the OBD reader and it came out with the following reading: P1215-79

This connects it to the door opening I mentioned on the original post. I have removed the door panel and removed the door switch all together and re-tested and it still causes the same reading

 

[RedAbarthMTA]

I guess it depends on the switch signal it looks for is closed or open? If you have tested it both ways my next port of call would be to check the plug/socket where the door loom goes from the A pillar into the door.

 

[348azeus]

Simply removing the switch will not eliminate the fault. The CANBUS system will still be trying to interact with the switch and if it’s not there it will have the same result as being inoperative. It could be either a component fault or a wiring fault.