Vantage Sportshift Gearbox ECU Problem

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I SORN'd my 2008 4.7 Vantage Roadster in October and apart from a few trips "around the block" it hasn't moved much. The battery has been connected to an Optimate 3.

At the beginning of April I put it back on the road and had a few 10-15 mile drives with no problems. I did a minor service on the car and fitted some EBC Blue Stuff pads. The front valance needed tidying up so I removed it and took it to a sprayer friend. He got ill for a week and so the valance was refitted 2.5 weeks later.

When I come to start the car, the Optimate had been off for about 3 weeks, the ignition lights came on and the starter slowly cranked the engine but not enough to start it. I should have stopped here as I had intended replacing the battery as it has not been replaced in the 6 years I've had the car, but I thought leave it a minute and try again. When I did it sprang forward on the starter motor which was a bit daunting as I was in my garage with not that much space.

I noticed then a number of messages on the dash came up, D button not available, R button not available, N button not available, Paddles not available, Paddles only available. The car was stuck in first gear and would not move.

I recharged the battery and when I put the ignition on I had all the same faults.
I'd had the clutch upgrade fitted at Bamford Rose some time ago and phoned Mike for some advice. As usual he was very helpful with a few things to try. He reckoned due to a discharged battery the gearbox ECU had thrown a wobbly. It was probably going to need the AMDS software to diagnose/reset the faults. I tried the following,

1. Disconnect battery, wait a while, reconnect. This did not work.

2. Check fuse F15 5 Amp located in the roadster boot, LHS behind the carpet, this was ok. This I believe is for the gearbox ECU

3. Check fuse F12 20 Amp, again in the boot, this is for the clutch fluid pump, the whirring you hear when you open the car door. This was ok.

4. I checked the wiring to the g/b solenoids, the ones I could access , no obvious faults.

Next day I replaced the battery but still the fault was still present. Leeds and Nottingham AM were looking at at least £600 to send out a tech to attempt the reset but having spoken to Mike I wanted to get the car there as the clutch upgrade involves a software upgrade too which AM may not want to get involved with.

I got a couple of local mechanics to come try to reset the fault, Dan from Swinton MOT centre came with a Autel scanner. This picked up all the faults, 9 in total, G/B Solenoid 1 open, etc but would not reset the faults. Joe from Perry's at Barnsley came with a snap-on scanner, this just recognised a non-specific G/B fault but would not reset it either.

So I stared looking for a transporter to get the car to Bamford Rose. Then I thought I wonder if I could just remove the G/B ECU and take that to Mike and he could maybe plug it into another car and reset it. This would just be an ECU reset and I might plug it back into my car and all the faults could be on the car and not the ECU. I decided to locate the ECU and see how easy it is to remove. Turns out very easy, in the roadster boot RHS behind the tyre compressor kit. I removed the battery, removed the compressor, 8mm socket to remove the ECU and two multi-plugs. The EUC all looked ok so I refitted it.

On some of the videos I'd watched on ECU problems one of them said reconnect the battery with all doors and windows shut so I did this, a challenge due to the battery position, and waited a good couple of minutes before trying. UNBELIEVABLY the fault had cleared. I don't know if there was a connection fault to the ECU (likely) or if the reconnection procedure worked (unlikely) or whatever.

The car runs lovely though all the gears in auto and paddle mode.