V8 Vantage Gearbox Pump issue?

[Damianos]

Hi everyone,

I've noticed that the gearbox oil pump on my Sportshift 4.7 Vantage doesn't activate when I open the door. Normally, there's the distinct noise from the pump when the door opens, but that noise is gone.

Interestingly, I can sometimes hear the pump operating when the car is stopped and locked, such as when I walk past it in the garage to get to my daily. I can also hear it when starting the car with the slower process: inserting the ECU, waiting for all dash lights to go out, and then pressing the brake pedal to start.

I've upgraded to a lightweight clutch, and it worked fine for several months after installation. The issue began after a dead battery incident. I replaced the battery, and the pump started working again temporarily, but then it stopped once more.

There are no error messages, and the door switch seems to be functioning correctly since the window drops when I open the door.

I'm not sure if this is a problem or if anyone else has experienced it. Any opinions or advice would be appreciated.

[Damianos]

Hi all,

I'm revisiting this again as it has been bugging me quite a bit

I just want to confirm if this is really something to worry about. If anyone would be willing to take a moment to check and let me know if you hear the distinct pump noise in your cars when you open the driver’s door, especially when the car’s cold, I’d really appreciate it!

As mentioned above, the pump used to activate every time I opened the door, but now it seems to do it randomly—even when the car is off and locked. It's like it’s constantly maintaining pressure in the system.

Maybe it’s not a big deal, but it’s odd that it behaved one way before and now it’s different.

Thanks a lot for any input!

[LTP]

Damianos said:

If anyone would be willing to take a moment to check and let me know if you hear the distinct pump noise in your cars when you open the driver’s door, especially when the car’s cold, I’d really appreciate it!

Absolutely every time I open the driver's door when the car is in the garage I hear the pump. When outside not so sure due to background noise, depending where I park.

I'd be inclined to get that checked: no pump = no hydraulic pressure = no gears. I doubt the twin-plate clutch (which is what I assume you mean by "lightweight") would make any difference

[johns355]

Yes my ss2 pump activates every time I open the door. I had issues with it operating sporadically, right pita! Then I came across a thread recommending to swap the asm relay in the boot fusebox, it worked, faulty relay. I then bought and replaced 4 relays in the same fusebox as a preventative measure was only about £20, cheapest fix ever! My engineer friend took the faulty relay apart and observed the contacts were deteriorated hence sometimes it worked sometimes it didn’t. It might not be the same fault but worth a shot probably

[Go60 Jay]

Does your window drop every time you open the door? I’m just wondering if there’s a micro switch issue, so the pump isn’t always aware the door handle has been pulled?

Kind regards,
John

[Damianos]

Thank for the replies guys!

Will try replacing the fuses and revert - hope this is it

@John yes the window drops, it was one of the first things i thought as well