Vauxhall Corsa Automatic Sport light comes on on It's Own?

Thanks so much everyone! Had this same problem, flashing 's' light, no auto transmission, no speedo-problem-fuse! Thought this was going to be a very costly gearbox strip! Thanks again!

jade
March 2014

hiya i am having this problem at the min with the damn s light it wont go off and i have to drive my car manual way 1 to 2 which fuse do i change theres like six 10MP FUSES arrrrr lol please someone help me

Alan87
April 2012

Burn it

Jason
February 2012

hi when i come to a junction and stop still in my corsa 1996 automatic when i go to pull of there it doesnt want to go but ok once upto speed my sport light doesnt come on anymore what could it be thanks

peter
January 2012

Hi sorry I am probably in wrong place but I need some help - I have a 1996 auto corsa the problem is I have no light on the gear selector, so makes driving at night impossable. Can someone tell me if I need to change a fuse/bulb and where it would be located thanks.

lucy
February 2011

hi Karen
excellent advice thanks I brought a ciggerette lighter from poundland yesterday which didn't work and after driving my son to school with s flashing there and back i stumbled across this website and then clicked about the ciggerette lighter CHANGED THE fuse and its back to normal. I have saved time and money with your helful advice
THANKS

HELEN
November 2010

household vaseline will do the job just fine

dave s
August 2010

can anyone tell me what is the name of the silicon greese as I had been to maplin and they said they don't have a right one for selector switches thanks

hs
May 2010

I too have a Vauxhall Corsa automatic reg 05. It is worrying me like mad as the fault light keeps coming on and off but no fault can be found. However, there is a fault because the light, if it is going to come on, comes when you accelerate and the gear just won't change up quickly enough. I now tell you that I am female, sixty, still need to work and know nothing about cars. Car mechanics see me coming, or think they do! A local garage carried out diagnostic tests on the gear box, checked for poor connections to actuator all good. That cost £57.50 and I was given the wonderful advice to always make sure I put the gear stick in automatic mode!!!!I then bit the bullet and went to the dealership to see if they could find the fault. They ran diagnostic tests and charged me NOTHING! However, they could not find the fault and told me they would have to strip the engine down which would cost £180 plus vat. I asked if they started with the gear box and found the fault without having to 'strip' everything down would the amount be less, or can some of that money go towards the repair cost. No, I was informed this is purely diagnostic costs. Needless to say I took my car away. This leaves me not knowing what to do, because I don't know of anyone in the area who specializes in Vauxhalls or automatics. To frustrate me more after this spell of bad weather when I couldn't use the car I went back to her and she drove perfectly for 3 days, then the dreaded light returned to flash on and then off again at regular intervals.
So do you think it is the 'selector switch' that is the problem? If so I would happily go and tell a mechanic that this needs looking at. Am I likely to need a new one or like Superman/Dave could I expect a mechanic to clean it? I will really welcome ANY HELP you can give me, this site has given me hope that I don't have to be ripped off.

Helen
February 2010

Hi
I have a M reg auto vauhall corsa, the other day my ( S ) sport light would not go off and kept flashing, it would not pulled away easy either had trouble running through gears, took it to car car place they could not get the dignoistic ( sorry for spelling ) to talk to my car as its to old, took it to some one else and well all it was , was a fuse the cig lighter had blown it and cause its a 20 amp fuse . Now its running great . I hope this may help someone.
Karen 6/1/2010

Karen
January 2010

Sorry, meant January 2009. :-)

Derek
December 2009

Hi Hannah, what year is the corsa? does it only do it when mostly from cold starts? If so, take a look at my November 2009 post on here, most likely the same problem with the selector switch!
Derek.

Derek
December 2009

I have the same flashing 's' light on my corsa. Can someone please help me? This is the first automatic ive had. :)

Hannah
November 2009

driving along in my automatic corsa yesterday the s lights comes up flashing on and off speedo stops working and automatic gears but fine in manual and lighter stopped working aswell. any idea wat to do????//

David moloney
October 2009

Thank you all so much! I fixed the same fault on my old Astra merit by changing the Ciggy lighter fuse as suggested

Ta everso
August 2009

i had the same fault and just was the fuse in the end nice easy fix!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

joe
August 2009

ive got an s reg corsa and me s lights is flashing all the time not only that but today the engine fault lights comes on and stays on my cig lighter dunt work is this all conceted to the gearbox what would happen if i change a fuse please sumone HHHHHHHHHHEEEEEEEEEEEELLLLLLLLLPPPPPPPPPPP o n me speedo stop working

SAMMY
April 2009

Looks like this flashing "s" light problem is more than likely to be the gear selector switch, I,ve had two auto corsa,s the first didn,t do it that often, but the latest one I have is flashing up the light more often and feels like it,s moving away in traction mode or permanent drive.
Ask yourself this: if it ony does it now and then it,s unlikely to be a serious gearbox fault.
I,ve stripped down the selector switch and degreased the innards, please note if you do this it,s not just cleaning that it may need, ie: I noticed that with the spring loaded contacts, the upper one that does the furthest travel is slightly more worn than the other two, I found it best to swap the top one with the bottom contact, also turn it upside down as it has a tendency to wear a bit wider on the top contact. If you inspect them closely you will see what I mean.
One last helpful hint is when trying to seperate the wiring connector is to completely remove the battery and also remove the battery tray, only 4 short bolts to undo the tray, couple of minutes work, gives complete access to connector and saves a lot of time and hassle to undo the connector, not to say also saving you grazed knuckles and a lot of swearing!

derek
January 2009

check that your cig lighter/reverse lights fuse is ok, as mine had blown, which resukted in the flashing S of doom. So I now have a spare selector switch for a 97 Astra 1.6 that I bought in error.

Gee
May 2008

check that your cig lighter/reverse lights fuse is ok, as mine had blown, which resukted in the flashing S of doom. So I now have a spare selector switch for a 97 Astra 1.6 that I bought in error.

Gee
May 2008

not sure if this will show pictures so if not shown go to the following link (this sorted out many a gearbox problem/ it also did for me) it took me 1 hour total to do, very easy!

http://sirbendy.jemjabella.co.uk/autoswitch/



What the funk is the Flashing "S" of Doom?

Well..heh. This car has been a stunner, but in the colder/wetter days it had a minor sulk. It starts fine, but the minute you move the Selector to Drive or Reverse, the "Sports" indicator on the dashboard starts to flash, and the gearbox computer goes into "limp" mode so you have to change up and down gears by hand as it sits in 3rd if left in Drive. Plus it's harsh on the changes in this mode.

It's been doing this on and off for about 8 months. Usually, a "Switch car off, shift repeatedly from "P" to "1" and back, restart" cycle clears it. It quickly gets tedious.

You can still drive it fine by hand, but it's not why I bought an automatic. Sometimes it takes a few miles of manual shifting before the "turn off" cycle works.

Anyway, I'm sat here one bank holiday Monday, and I decide to say "stuff to it" and remove the gearbox selector switch.
It's usually this that seems to give the problem. Loads of money from vauxhall, and apparently "not serviceable".


I've seen people remove them and I've seen another guide to cleaning and regreasing one..plus the Volvo owner club seem to have a recurring problem with these, and they use very similar gearboxes. So, armed with both sites and my Haynes book of innaccuracies (and believe me, for the Astra-F facelift model, it IS innacurate), I decided the time had come to do a guide from experience.

So, without further ado, lets get the bugger off, shall we?


Removing the selector switch
Tools Needed:
12mm Spanner/Socket
13mm Spanner/socket
Cable tie clippers
Adjustable wrench
Flatblade Screwdriver(Broad)
Switch Cleaner (Maplins is good)
Nonconductive Grease(again, Maplins is good)
Flat blade screwdriver (Jewellers), or toothpick or similar
An old stiff bristled toothbrush
First, open your bonnet and familiarise yourself with the bay. Mine is an X16SZR 8v engine, and the AF13 autobox.


The autobox selector switch is this lump, here:


The selector switch is held in with the marked bolts, that you will be removing (You may also wish to remove the negative off the battery..i did.):


Now, Haynes says to put the box in Neutral. However, it also tells us that the autobox dipstick is in need of removal as it is attached to one of those bolts.
It's bunk, at least on this engine/box. However, neutral is as good as anything, so do that. Looks like I did mine in Park.

Break out your 13mm Socket or spanner. Then, carefully undo the nut marked "1" in the pic, and lift that selector link off the pivot. Leaving you with this:


Now, time for the adjustable wrench, i have no idea what size this nut is. Remove (gently) the nut marked "3". You'll need to unbend the locking tabs. recover the nut, the lockplate and the rubber washer. Leaving you with this:


Now, disconnect the switch wiring. You may need to cut a cable tie that bundles all the wires together to enable removal. Follow the wires from the switch, and unplug them at their connector by levering the red bit of the connector out sideways to release the plug. it's also clipped to the bracket..a sod to remove, but keep trying.


Once that's free, Break out the 12mm socket/spanner and remove the bolts marked "2". They are stiff, and go with a crack sometimes. Mine did!
Once those are out, use your fingers and gently wiggle, persuade and lift the entire switch upwards to get it off the selector shaft. Remove it from under the bonnet. Leaving you with this:


Now, this is important. Refit all bolts loosely into their locations on the box, so you know where they went. It's just easier.


OK, it's out. Now what?

This is where you'll have to excuse me. I brought the switch indoors to an easy clean place..the bathroom. So, once i'd evicted the cat and grabbed some cardboard, lets see whats what:
One switch


One switch upside down.


See that? in the upside down shot, there are 6 philips screws holding this switch together. Remember - "non serviceable". More like "want your money".

Remove the 6 screws. You *may* have to bend the bracket at the wiring end to enable you to split the switch open..it seems to clamp it shut. Bit of a bugger, but done carefully it won't hurt.

Now CAREFULLY open up the switch. The selector "arm" inside has 3 spring loaded contacts..don't lose them! Mine were gummed in place.


There we go, all opened. Note the seemingly tiny amount of yellowed grease in there! Those copper strips are your gearbox contacts..it's a simple unit.

Some closeups of the manky grease and muck in there:



you can just see the rubber switch gasket stuck to the base..remove it carefully and put it to the side


That groove is where the gasket should sit on reassembly.

Now, break out an old cloth and some switch cleaner, and get all that old grease out. The grease seems to carbonise and solidify between the copper strip contacts, so you may need to use that jewellers flat blade and the toothbrush along with the switch cleaner to dig it all out of there.


To clean the "arm", I gently removed the copper contacts and toothbrushed the rest using lots of switch cleaner, followed by a wipe down with the rag. Don't snag the springs in the process!

It may not be needed, but after it was cleaned up, I gently polished up the copper strips and the arm contacts with some fine sandpaper, which we keep in the loo. (doesn't everyone?)


The results!

One degunked, scraped and scrubbed switch contact set, after polishing with sandpaper. Nice and clean!


One degunked, scraped and scrubbed switch arm, after polishing with sandpaper. Nice and clean too!


Once cleaned to your satisfaction, break out the lube and lube it all back up! It needs to be high temperature, nonconducting grease..this stuff from maplin is like silicone sealer..thick, sticky, slippery, and should be fine.

I used my fingers to lube up the contact strip..spreading loads on and pushing it into all the valleys between the contacts, and smearing it over the copper. On the top half of the switch, I put 4 large blobs of it and spread it about evenly to cover the whole inner surface.

I also used my fingers to lube up the contact arm..the grease holds those copper bits in place when you reassemble the switch.

Once everything is greased up to your satisfaction, push the arm back into the switch housing, refit the gasket to the groove in the top cover (i used a dab of grease to hold it there) then manipulate the top cover back into place, making sure the arm, contacts and gasket stay put.

Now refit and tighten up the screws again.


There you go, switch done. Now refit to the car in the reverse way you removed it. You may need to move the switch positioning bit around using your fingers to get it to slide over the spindle on the box, but it's easy. Make sure you bolt it up with the bolts in their original place or as close as you can to that. I used the dirt to see where the bolts had sat before!

Once back on, tighten up the bolts and reconnect the wiring. If the selector lever isn't in the right position for refitting on the switch, move the selector in the car until it is, and refit.

Post installation operation check

Now this is important.
Reconnect the battery, if disconnected
Handbrake firmly on.
Put the selector in Park
Turn the key to position 2, but DO NOT start the engine.
Move the selector slowly through all gears..does the flashing "S" light come on? If it does, the switch may not be your issue. Mine doesn't anymore. Hurrah!
Now put the selector into reverse.
Get out and check your reversing lights have come on.
Shift to any other gear/neutral/park
Get out and check your reversing lights have gone off.
Check again, to be sure.
Stick it into park, and start it up
Check you can also start it in neutral, but not in any other gear (pick somewhere with space!)
With the engine running, try shifting through from P to 1 and back a few times - should be no fault light.
All good? Hopefully so. If so, congratulations..you should now have some respite from the "S" of doom..we'll see how it goes on cold mornings! Fingers crossed.

Note:When you took the upper section of the switch off during disassembly, did you see the small "blocked off" tube hidden in the wiring channel, and the small hole inside the switch that it leads to?



I do wonder if this is a "grease" point, where more grease can be injected into the switch without need for removal..

Or, it could just be a breather..but why a switch should need one, i don't know.

dave
April 2008

not sure if this will show pictures so if not shown go to the following link (this sorted out many a gearbox problem/ it also did for me) it took me 1 hour total to do, very easy!

http://sirbendy.jemjabella.co.uk/autoswitch/



What the funk is the Flashing "S" of Doom?

Well..heh. This car has been a stunner, but in the colder/wetter days it had a minor sulk. It starts fine, but the minute you move the Selector to Drive or Reverse, the "Sports" indicator on the dashboard starts to flash, and the gearbox computer goes into "limp" mode so you have to change up and down gears by hand as it sits in 3rd if left in Drive. Plus it's harsh on the changes in this mode.

It's been doing this on and off for about 8 months. Usually, a "Switch car off, shift repeatedly from "P" to "1" and back, restart" cycle clears it. It quickly gets tedious.

You can still drive it fine by hand, but it's not why I bought an automatic. Sometimes it takes a few miles of manual shifting before the "turn off" cycle works.

Anyway, I'm sat here one bank holiday Monday, and I decide to say "stuff to it" and remove the gearbox selector switch.
It's usually this that seems to give the problem. Loads of money from vauxhall, and apparently "not serviceable".


I've seen people remove them and I've seen another guide to cleaning and regreasing one..plus the Volvo owner club seem to have a recurring problem with these, and they use very similar gearboxes. So, armed with both sites and my Haynes book of innaccuracies (and believe me, for the Astra-F facelift model, it IS innacurate), I decided the time had come to do a guide from experience.

So, without further ado, lets get the bugger off, shall we?


Removing the selector switch
Tools Needed:
12mm Spanner/Socket
13mm Spanner/socket
Cable tie clippers
Adjustable wrench
Flatblade Screwdriver(Broad)
Switch Cleaner (Maplins is good)
Nonconductive Grease(again, Maplins is good)
Flat blade screwdriver (Jewellers), or toothpick or similar
An old stiff bristled toothbrush
First, open your bonnet and familiarise yourself with the bay. Mine is an X16SZR 8v engine, and the AF13 autobox.


The autobox selector switch is this lump, here:


The selector switch is held in with the marked bolts, that you will be removing (You may also wish to remove the negative off the battery..i did.):


Now, Haynes says to put the box in Neutral. However, it also tells us that the autobox dipstick is in need of removal as it is attached to one of those bolts.
It's bunk, at least on this engine/box. However, neutral is as good as anything, so do that. Looks like I did mine in Park.

Break out your 13mm Socket or spanner. Then, carefully undo the nut marked "1" in the pic, and lift that selector link off the pivot. Leaving you with this:


Now, time for the adjustable wrench, i have no idea what size this nut is. Remove (gently) the nut marked "3". You'll need to unbend the locking tabs. recover the nut, the lockplate and the rubber washer. Leaving you with this:


Now, disconnect the switch wiring. You may need to cut a cable tie that bundles all the wires together to enable removal. Follow the wires from the switch, and unplug them at their connector by levering the red bit of the connector out sideways to release the plug. it's also clipped to the bracket..a sod to remove, but keep trying.


Once that's free, Break out the 12mm socket/spanner and remove the bolts marked "2". They are stiff, and go with a crack sometimes. Mine did!
Once those are out, use your fingers and gently wiggle, persuade and lift the entire switch upwards to get it off the selector shaft. Remove it from under the bonnet. Leaving you with this:


Now, this is important. Refit all bolts loosely into their locations on the box, so you know where they went. It's just easier.


OK, it's out. Now what?

This is where you'll have to excuse me. I brought the switch indoors to an easy clean place..the bathroom. So, once i'd evicted the cat and grabbed some cardboard, lets see whats what:
One switch


One switch upside down.


See that? in the upside down shot, there are 6 philips screws holding this switch together. Remember - "non serviceable". More like "want your money".

Remove the 6 screws. You *may* have to bend the bracket at the wiring end to enable you to split the switch open..it seems to clamp it shut. Bit of a bugger, but done carefully it won't hurt.

Now CAREFULLY open up the switch. The selector "arm" inside has 3 spring loaded contacts..don't lose them! Mine were gummed in place.


There we go, all opened. Note the seemingly tiny amount of yellowed grease in there! Those copper strips are your gearbox contacts..it's a simple unit.

Some closeups of the manky grease and muck in there:



you can just see the rubber switch gasket stuck to the base..remove it carefully and put it to the side


That groove is where the gasket should sit on reassembly.

Now, break out an old cloth and some switch cleaner, and get all that old grease out. The grease seems to carbonise and solidify between the copper strip contacts, so you may need to use that jewellers flat blade and the toothbrush along with the switch cleaner to dig it all out of there.


To clean the "arm", I gently removed the copper contacts and toothbrushed the rest using lots of switch cleaner, followed by a wipe down with the rag. Don't snag the springs in the process!

It may not be needed, but after it was cleaned up, I gently polished up the copper strips and the arm contacts with some fine sandpaper, which we keep in the loo. (doesn't everyone?)


The results!

One degunked, scraped and scrubbed switch contact set, after polishing with sandpaper. Nice and clean!


One degunked, scraped and scrubbed switch arm, after polishing with sandpaper. Nice and clean too!


Once cleaned to your satisfaction, break out the lube and lube it all back up! It needs to be high temperature, nonconducting grease..this stuff from maplin is like silicone sealer..thick, sticky, slippery, and should be fine.

I used my fingers to lube up the contact strip..spreading loads on and pushing it into all the valleys between the contacts, and smearing it over the copper. On the top half of the switch, I put 4 large blobs of it and spread it about evenly to cover the whole inner surface.

I also used my fingers to lube up the contact arm..the grease holds those copper bits in place when you reassemble the switch.

Once everything is greased up to your satisfaction, push the arm back into the switch housing, refit the gasket to the groove in the top cover (i used a dab of grease to hold it there) then manipulate the top cover back into place, making sure the arm, contacts and gasket stay put.

Now refit and tighten up the screws again.


There you go, switch done. Now refit to the car in the reverse way you removed it. You may need to move the switch positioning bit around using your fingers to get it to slide over the spindle on the box, but it's easy. Make sure you bolt it up with the bolts in their original place or as close as you can to that. I used the dirt to see where the bolts had sat before!

Once back on, tighten up the bolts and reconnect the wiring. If the selector lever isn't in the right position for refitting on the switch, move the selector in the car until it is, and refit.

Post installation operation check

Now this is important.
Reconnect the battery, if disconnected
Handbrake firmly on.
Put the selector in Park
Turn the key to position 2, but DO NOT start the engine.
Move the selector slowly through all gears..does the flashing "S" light come on? If it does, the switch may not be your issue. Mine doesn't anymore. Hurrah!
Now put the selector into reverse.
Get out and check your reversing lights have come on.
Shift to any other gear/neutral/park
Get out and check your reversing lights have gone off.
Check again, to be sure.
Stick it into park, and start it up
Check you can also start it in neutral, but not in any other gear (pick somewhere with space!)
With the engine running, try shifting through from P to 1 and back a few times - should be no fault light.
All good? Hopefully so. If so, congratulations..you should now have some respite from the "S" of doom..we'll see how it goes on cold mornings! Fingers crossed.

Note:When you took the upper section of the switch off during disassembly, did you see the small "blocked off" tube hidden in the wiring channel, and the small hole inside the switch that it leads to?



I do wonder if this is a "grease" point, where more grease can be injected into the switch without need for removal..

Or, it could just be a breather..but why a switch should need one, i don't know.

dave
April 2008

I've had a few problems like this in the past with Vauxhall Automatics. The garage stripped down he gearbox without finding anything wrong, put it back together and it was OK again. Eventually worked out that all it needed was the oil in the gearbox replacing. Worth a try before anything else anyway.

Ian
December 2007

Hi, FIRST JOB.... check the oil level in the gearbox.. if its low, the light WILL flash - come on. hth , and if so, lot cheaper than a code read ;)

Mike
December 2007

The Sport light also doubles as a 'fault' light. This is shows that the ECU has detected a fault either within the automatic transmission, or within one of the control circuits. You need to have it plugged in and read either by an automatic transmission specialist or a Vauxhall dealer. The cost should be about £40-£50 for a report.
Chris Reid
www.drive4cars.com

Drive 4 Cars
December 2007

The Sport light also doubles as a 'fault' light. This is shows that the ECU has detected a fault either within the automatic transmission, or within one of the control circuits. You need to have it plugged in and read either by an automatic transmission specialist or a Vauxhall dealer. The cost should be about £40-£50 for a report.
Chris Reid
www.drive4cars.com

Drive 4 Cars
December 2007