New Automatic Duetto owner

Hi Folks -05 Duetto owner - First year in Transit AS Duetto - but one with a difference. One of the rare AUTOMATIC transits with the push-button auto-manual gear change mounted on the dashboard. Would like to chat to owners of similar transmission vehicles. Have tried ASOC - no help! Am I the only one! Great to drive - allows maximum cab floor space - holds good mpg/litre consumption. Currently I have added 6000 miles - uk travel - in this first year of motorhoming. Love the site - very useful and full of of information - easyclix.

Hello Easyclix

to our forum

We have one or two Duetto owners on the forum, but as you suggest your automatic transit with the push-button change mounted on the dashboard probably is quite rare

Regards

Admin.

Welcome from me (Paul) and my wife Carol from North Wales. Not driven many autos myself but I like the idea of a button push system.

Hello and Welcome to the forum, I will keep my eyes open this weekend for you (likely to see a few Duettos). I did see one of these push button ones a few years ago at Spinney so I dont think you have the only one. If I come accross one or more! will pm you if I cant presuade them to join the forum

Hi easyclix, welcome to the forum from sunny Somerset
I had one of the previous Duettos - great van.

Good to meet you.
Am liking the idea of the dash mounted system, am intrigued.
But then I like the manual gearbox for the upper body workout
Hope you enjoy the forum.

BB

Just bringing this thread back to the top. Our Duetto is the push button 'automatic' variety.

I qualify use of the term 'automatic', as the gearbox itself, we have subsequently learned, is a bog standard manual gearbox and clutch, not an automatic transmission. It is a special 'box of tricks'  - the 'Auto Shift Manual (ASM)' unit - that changes the gears 'automatically'.

Unfortunately, our ASM had a catastrophic failure after 29,000 miles (we bought the vehicle with 20,000 miles on the clock from Brownhills and it was still under warranty at the time of the failure).

It began to look as if we had a real disaster on our hands, not least because the Brownhills warranty turned out not to be worth the paper it was written on. (That is a story for another time - we have turned out to be truly disgusted with Brownhills!)

Part of the problem initially was the huge difficulty of finding anyone to even entertain looking at the vehicle. The ASM is so unusual we really struggled finding anyone who knew anything about it. So many garages had no idea how it worked.

The second major potential problem (again learnt the hard way) is that the ASM unit is claimed to have no serviceable parts. Failure of the unit is supposed to mean a new replacement. 2014 quoted cost of a replacement unit is £3,400 and that is without labour (a gearbox out job, etc). A replacement unit, because of its rarity, may also be difficult to procure. We were told it involved ordering from Germany.

From internet research, when an ASM fails, some people resort to converting the vehicle to manual.

Fortunately, our story has a happy ending. Our brilliant local garage (SJ Autos Withernsea, East Yorkshire, 01964 613131) agreed to have a go (never having come across such a transmission), simply because we were so desparate. Owner Simon Jackson, originally a hyrdraulics specialist - which turned out to be extremely fortuitous - found a way of 'breaking' into the ASM box (and subsequently re-sealing it) and fathoming out how it worked.

Simon says it is mainly conventional hydraulics and the actual hyrdaulic parts are conventional parts that can be ordered and replaced. Our problem turned out to be nothing more than some corroded wiring. Simon replaced the wiring and, when put back together, the vehicle drives as good as new! We are just back from a trip to France to fully test things out.

We have since learned (we think correctly) that the ASM was fitted by Ford to a fleet of Post Office vans in both UK and Australia, but turned out to be prone to problems and thus Ford dropped the design. Perhaps someone can verify this?

We have to say, that we absolutely love the way an ASM drives. It is really clever the way it seems to know how to change up and down on ascents and descents (even seeming to double declutch when appropriate) and, uniquely, it does not creep at traffic lights and in stationery traffic, so there is no need to keep a foot on the brake. It is great on fuel, too. We average about 35mpg.

The only minor challenge we do regularly experience is putting the vehicle up on chocks on sloping sites. There is no clutch control, and it is a bit of an art getting the vehicle to nudge up the ramps under control.

We will keep the forum posted as to whether or not we experience more problems with the ASM unit as we do hope to keep the van - we love our Auto Sleeper Duetto!

It would be good to know whether anyone else in the forum is driving an Auto Shift Manual Duetto, so we can compare experiences.

And most importantly, I wanted anyone in need of help (who might feel as desparate as we did at the time) to know that Simon Jackson possibly now knows as much as anyone as to how an ASM can be fixed without breaking the bank. SJ Autos has been our local garage for years, the best garage I have ever come across: absolutely fantastic on quality of work, efficiency (quick to book in and sort things out) and also price. We owe Simon a big 'thank you' for getting our van up and running again when all seemed lost.

(The only reason SJ Autos did not originally want to take us on, was the mistaken belief that the vehicle had an automatic gearbox. SJ Autos refers all auto gearbox work to another specialist).

Thanks for that post and how the problem was resolved and we have no problem with you naming your garage as they did it to resolve your problem which again could help our members.
I remember seeing one of these "autos" in Spinney a few years ago so AS must have made a few,possibly around the same time as they never bulk bought transits

Hi and welcome to the forum from a very damp morning in Bridlington .
Boaby