Smart Car Gear Actuator Faults

The SMART car transmission is unlike any ordinary 5 or 6-speed automatic. It is an automated manual gearbox. Which means the vehicle can be driven as a manual or automatic at the flick of a button. The vehicle does not have a clutch pedal and instead operates on sensors and ECU’s.

The system consists of a clutch actuator assembly, a gear shift actuator assembly, and a gearbox ECU. Each of the actuators will also have position sensors. Which sends signals back to the gearbox ECU to determine which gear the vehicle is in or what position the clutch is in. This information along with vehicle speed and other parameters will be used by the gearbox ECU. To calculate the required gear, when the next gear change should take place and when to engage/disengage the clutch.

As many SMART car owners are already aware, this design has many faults and can render the vehicle completely un-drivable.

Common Clutch + Gear Actuator Problems

When the clutch and gear actuators fail on the Mercedes Smart car. It doesn’t always give the same symptom. Below we’ve listed the most common fault symptoms we are aware of so far:

  • 3 Bars / Lines Appearing on Gear Change Box
  • Slipping Out of Gears
  • Getting Stuck in Neutral
  • Failing to Select Gears

If your clutch or gear actuator has failed, then you may already be aware of exactly how much it can cost to replace the unit. Each actuator is coded to the vehicle and can cost upwards of £700+Vat each to replace with coding. Furthermore, the replacement unit will only come with a standard 12-month warranty and being that it is such a common failing part, it doesn’t give much confidence that the problem won’t re-occur.

We receive clutch & gear actuators for repair on a daily basis for the following vehicles:

  • Smart City
  • Smart ForTwo
  • Smart ForFour
  • Smart Roadster

We have also compiled a short list of part numbers associated to the failing clutch & gear actuator units. Note: this is not a complete list of part numbers, only the most common part numbers we frequently see in our workshops are listed.

PartnumbersPartnumbers
000 3226 V01101 3981 007 101
000 3226 V01201 3981 000 022
000 3226 V01401 3981 000 066
000 3226 V01601 3981 000 070
A 451 250 00 62A 454 257 05 79

My Mercedes Smart Car Actuator is Faulty – How Can SINSPEED Help Me?

We specialise in the testing and repair of clutch + gear actuator units, not just for Smart cars but for all vehicle makes and models where the vehicles gearbox is controlled by electronic actuators. We’re able to fully bench test and repair the Smart car clutch actuator and gear actuator units. We use new genuine OEM parts when repairing the actuators to ensure each and every repaired clutch/gear actuator meets and exceeds OE specifications.

The repaired actuators will be returned to you with a Lifetime warranty for complete peace of mind and will not require re-coding when fitting back to the vehicle – simply plug & play!

If you have a Mercedes Smart Car with a clutch or gear actuator fault then give us a call today on 0203 815 9441.

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193 thoughts on “Smart Car Clutch Actuator + Gear Actuator Repairs”

  1. IAN Edwards
    Reply

    Hi
    I have a smart for two. pulse with elec roof. semi auto
    it has suddenly stopped engaging gears when the engine is running.
    you can feel the car trying, then I get the 3 black lines on the dash.
    the car will select when the engine is turned off.???
    IAN

    1. Jason
      Reply

      Hi Ian

      Thanks for the enquiry,

      I have sent you an email with full information and pricing.

      Kind Regards

      Jason
      SINSPEED

  3. eric gerber
    Reply

    got a smart roadster ,sometimes if i revers it start to jump the cluth disengage to fast and the enjin stalls

    1. Jason
      Reply

      Hi Eric

      Thanks for the enquiry,

      I have sent you an email with full information and pricing.

      Kind Regards

      Jason
      SINSPEED

  5. Anthony
    Reply

    i have a brabus 451 year 2010 mileage 47000
    Reverse gear randomly refuses to select ( dash shows”N”
    I have updated software from Mercedes and also new clutch fitted and this has failed to permanently resolve issue
    Can you please advise
    Many thanks
    Anthony

    1. Jason
      Reply

      Hi Anthony

      Thanks for the enquiry,

      I have sent you an email with full information and pricing for the test/repair of the clutch & gear actuators.

      Kind Regards

      Jason
      SINSPEED

  7. Kevin
    Reply

    Hi there.
    My car details are as follows: :-

    Smart Car City Passion 61 Auto Coupe (ForTwo). Petrol.
    Car Reg = LA56***
    Engine capacity = 698cc
    Engine Power = 45 Kw (61hp)
    First Reg date = 31/01/2007 (450 model)

    current clutch actuator part I have states = 01 3981 007 101

    Q1). Not sure where I can locate the Gear Actuator – what can i locate this please?

    Problem – basically whilst driving for the past few months, i now and again get the three bars of death. Sometimes i can turn engine off and on again, and it resets itself again. Has been getting worse, over time. When it has happened recently, to reset ti, I now have to discount the battery, wait 10 mins, and reconnect. 80% this sorts it out, temporary.
    Lately though, got worse.
    My mechanic mate then popped round, and attached computer reader to car. Read fault codes, cleared them, lubricated clutch actuator (as was making squeaking noise), and then reset gear settings (electronically). Car then worked ok for a bit. Now though, car seems ok, when i go from gear 1-6 (upwards). Though when i slow down in manual mode (where gears should drop down automatically when i slow), it seems the gears stick, and the gears do not drop down properly (very slow delay, causing three bars of death to come up again). Also, if i try to manually drop down gears, again not very reactive (slow to react).
    Grr hee.
    Q2). Does this look like a Clutch actuator problem, Gear Actuator problem, or both?
    q3). Instead could it be a gear position sensor fault instead?

    Your suggestions, price details would be much appreciated.

    Regards
    KEVIN.

    1. Jason
      Reply

      Hi Kevin

      Thanks for the enquiry,

      The gear actuator location is on the gearbox, if you look around the gearbox you will find the clutch actuator, gear actuator and the transmission ECU mounted to the gearbox housing.

      The fault information you have provided can be caused by either of the actuators and usually when one fails, it will put stress on the other so it’s not uncommon for both actuators to eventually fail. For this reason, we recommend sending them in together so we can test both units and offer repairs where necessary.

      I have sent you an email with full information and pricing. If you have any questions, please respond to the email and we’ll get right back to you!

      Kind Regards

      Jason
      SINSPEED

  9. Natalie Meli
    Reply

    I just changed my smart passion for two 2008 battery and all of a sudden it wont work on automatic! It works fine with gears manually….
    What is the problem? It never gave me Trouble berore changing my battery…im baffled.

    1. Sophie
      Reply

      Hi Natalie

      Thanks for the enquiry,

      We have sent you an email with more information about your query.

      Kind Regards

      Sophie
      SINSPEED

  11. Roy
    Reply

    My 18 yr old daughter has a 2 seater Smart 2009 diesel Auto/Manual. On way back from uni on fri night auto got stuck in 3 so she switched to manual & drove home perfectly OK on manual. drives ok on manual

    1. Sophie
      Reply

      Hi Roy

      Thanks for the enquiry,

      We have sent you an email with more information.

      Kind Regards

      Sophie
      SINSPEED

  13. Jamie
    Reply

    Hi i have 2004 smart roadster
    Intermittently no drive Forward and backwards.
    Sometimes slams in Reverse and then cuts out.
    Majority of time it drive through gears fine

    1. Sophie
      Reply

      Hi Jamie

      Thanks for the enquiry,

      We have sent you an email with more information about your query.

      Kind Regards

      Sophie
      SINSPEED

  15. Neil turley
    Reply

    I have a smart fortwo coupe 0.7 2006 lost all drive going forward and rever switched off engine all working again should i clean the actuator grease it up inside what do you suggest

    1. Sophie
      Reply

      Hello Neil

      Thanks for getting in touch,

      We have sent you an email with more details and pricing.

      Kind Regards

      Sophie
      SINSPEED

  17. David lancaster
    Reply

    I have a smart for two passion on 2003 and this is the third time it will not start three lines on dash it has been reset on dienostic but at 50 pounds a time it is getting to point that i am going to sell car for bits could you give me price on refurbished actuator and delete coding thanks much appreciated

    1. Sophie
      Reply

      Hi David

      Thanks for getting in touch,

      We have sent you an email with full details and pricing.

      Kind Regards

      Sophie
      SINSPEED

  19. Paul finlayson
    Reply

    Hi there , had a problem with my 07 smart car , when using the manual side if the gearbox it didn’t go down the gears and causes 3linrs on dash , and I hear trying to find the gear but nothing switch on and off and lets me gears again, just wondering if you can assign? Thanks in advance

    1. Sophie
      Reply

      Hi Paul

      Thanks for getting in touch,

      We have sent you an email with full details and pricing.

      Kind Regards

      Sophie
      SINSPEED

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