Hello Aston Forum !

I finally purchased my (new to me) 2009 Aston Martin v8 Vantage ASM 30k miles. Been lurking around here some time reading and really taking in a lot of information from this awesome community. Absolutely love her and a blast to drive ! Heres a pic of my baby !!




I recently started having some issues with my ASM in this order:

1. Car popped ASM Pump Fuse (Multiple Time)
2. Changed ASM Fluid w/ OEM Fluid @ Local Indy Shop
3. Car drove fine for period of time.
4. Pops ASM Pump Fuse again 2 months later (After 2 hour drive)
5. Take to dealership to get diagnostic sheet of codes from ASM.
6. Dealership checked and did not find any ASM Leaks from cracked or damaged lines. (They are recommending a clutch job)

Attached is the DTCs from the car.

ASM DTC Codes

I was reading through other threads and saw members mentioned changing the relay as they would fail and result in keeping the pump either closed or open.
Makes sense now that if the relay is malfunctioning resulting in the pump staying on = over heating or not allowing pump to turn on = stalled in spot.

Does anyone know the location of the ASM Pump Relay ? This is my last attempt to try and remedy the issue before having to replace the clutch.

The boot fuse box in the diagram doesn't specifically label it. Can anyone help ? Heres a photo of the rear boot fuse. Any help would be appreciated !


Boot Fuse Box v8 Vantage (Google Pic)


Cheers !

 

Can't you just use an ohm meter from the fuse to figure out which relay?

 

There is a recent post with the workshop manuals - you may want to download and use for reference. I have 3 pedals.. so can't offer much help here.

 

Sounds like a bad clutch to me 🤷‍♂️

 

So from my understanding the problem would have to be there for this to work? The car enters the limp mode in random times. For instance:
- Drove the car for entire day no issues. NYC to NJ and back nothing.
- Drove car 10 mins locally and got stuck with "No gear selection available" sign comes up.

I never used an ohm reader, ill read up about it for future reference now knowing you can test a relay with it.

I just saw that and downloaded both versions. Thank You !

AWESOME Thank you Sir ! I will hopefully get the car back this week and change it right at the dealership and drive it home. Keeping fingers crossed !

Anything specific that stands out to you, to think that?
The car shifts fine with no hesitation. No gear slippage at normal shifting or WOT. Doesn't hesitate when selecting gears under normal or spirited driving conditions.
It's a very intermittent problem. Ive driven the car for 3 hours with no issue or 10 mins locally and it starts acting up.....

 

Congrats, you have a nice Aston!!

 

Its acting up on you during local driving, aka when the car is shifting more & pumping is working more. On the highway the car will be in high gear so its not under stress under normal driving. Everything ive seen on here when the "No gear selection available" was related to low clutch life. Good luck with it, curious to see what the cure is!

 

Hi...before you go nuts and change the clutch. EVERY Aston Martin Dealership can check how much life is left on ASM1 - Sport Shift models....manual shift is not possible
for dealers to check. I hope they told you how much wear on the clutch was left before telling you - bad clutch.
Good Luck with your car and welcome to the forum!

 

Double post edit

 

So NotanM & ALDV your point is exactly what the dealership stated and in theory I agree. The pump is compensating for the low clutch and causing it to overheat. The thing that keeps bothering me how intermittent the problem is. So this problem has been happening over the course of the last few months (I've still been driving the car). The issue comes and goes like it has a mind of its own. One day I can drive 30-40 mins locally into Manhattan with moderate traffic and no issues. The next day 10 mins i get stuck, followed by longer trips no issues.

Is the possibility of my clutch being low after 30k (18k in florida and 12k in NYC) miles? Deff. I just would expect to see a common occurrence or clutch slippage of some sort. But instead it just goes into safety mode whenever it feels like. Will keep you fellas posted.

ALDV - They stated above ^ but never gave me the clutch reading despite me asking. I'll email the rep and see if they still have it on file. They just stated it needs a clutch when they read the codes and the story i gave them.

Thank you for this. Did not know that was an extra. I ended up picking up 2 extra relays to keep along side my bag of fuses LOL.


UPDATE 03/30/20 - Picked up car from Aston Martin and changed the relay out immediately. Doubled checked to make sure the pump did not turn on when relay was removed by touching the door handle. Drove the car roughly 40 miles (mixed) and nothing. Will update everyone in a few days.

Never thought i would be asking for traffic in NYC. Now i can't find it lol.

 

I would suspect the relay, of course, or the pump itself. It may be getting tired, resulting in it having to run more often causing it to overheat with subsequent issues with gear selection.

 

Update 04/08/20 - I have driven the car 5x roughly 130 miles mix (highway+local) since changing the relay with no issues at all. The car stopped kicking me out of neutral at the redlights as it would randomly do before. Car shifts fine and doesn't show any clutch slippage during spirited, highway or slow local traffic. (It did not show slippage before either, just a note)

The problem would usually have presented itself within 5 drives putting the car in safe mode and ASM not allowing me to shift, limited to 1st gear only, or stalled somewhere. Will do a final update hopefully putting this issue to rest. (Keeping fingers crossed still)

- Vicky

 

Kind of alarming the P0946 was overlooked when diagnosed initially.

The position #1 ASM Relay in boot fusebox was diagnosed by ASM/TCU as stuck closed (P0946), which caused the ASM pump to stay on and overheat and storing the other associated codes, which caused to much resistance and popped fuse power supply to ASM pump relay.

Good to hear it's been sorted out with new relay! 👍

 

Yes exactly. I'm still shocked they would overlook such a simple code during diagnosis. Flipside was a complete clutch job, so ........




Final Update - Have driven the car over 220 miles and the issue has not come back once. I think it's safe to say the issue has been resolved. Thank you to everyone who chimed in to help.
Hope this helps someone in the future resolve this issue with a 8$ fuse vs a $8000 clutch job @ Aston.

-Vicky

 

Hi all. I've just joined this forum specifically to thank all who contributed to this thread. Biiiiig thanks guys.
I was broken down yesterday in Cornwall, England with no gears, (exactly the same problem as above), It was just getting dark, freezing cold and misty/raining. No phone signal without pacing around like an idiot but eventually I found you guys, this post.
I swapped the relay, pulled all of my fuses to visually inspect and found a blown 30 amp. Called a friend who came out with fuses and hey presto, drove home faultlessly.
So, thanks again guys, a godsend.