[Corsa C 2000-2006] Coding? Automatic gearbox

[zuluman]

I am looking at a Corsa C for sale and the guy has had an automatic gearbox fitted.

He says it wont start as the car/gearbox/? has to be decoded.

Any idea what he could be talking about?

was there not something about corsas not starting with auto boxes??

[Taurus]

To be honest unless you really need an automatic I'd steer clear. There are a number of issues why auto boxes can go wrong that can be something simple, like the inhibitor switch or in some cases blown rear bulbs (no idea why - but it's happened a few times). But when they go wrong with the module or the selector then fixing them gets expensive very quickly. You see quite a few even quite new ones for sale spares or repair due to auto box problems.

When you say he had an auto box fitted - do you mean it was originally manual and he's fitted the autobox? Odd thing to do, simpler just to buy an auto to begin with, but if that was the case are you thinking of converting it back again, or breaking it for parts?

In terms of 'decoding' - it depends what he's referring to. Some components need to be coded to the car to work, some modules can fail due to software issues and can be reflashed, it's a bit of a 'how long is a piece of string' question. We'd need to know what he's actually referring to to know what he's on about.

[zuluman]

2003 Corsa C

Thanks.

I haven't actually been talking to the guy yet.

Initial correspondence via advertisement via e-mail and I am waiting to hear back.

It states in the ad though: " 'I' changed the gearbox "

"... needs decoding to start the engine"

" ...garage will charge xxxx euro to do it"

So why he changed it???

Maybe he has the manual box still .

I don't think it is that easy to f** up a manual gearbox (i.e as reason for swapout) - there isn't any known issues are there with manual gearboxes are there?

If I got it for right money, I would have a tinker with it and if it does not go, I would out a manual box back in it ( and then take the automatic apart for fun )

[Taurus]

I'll bet it was originally an auto and he's put a new auto in it and now can't get it going. If it's just a case of something simple he'd have done it and sold it as a runner. I'd forget it.