Vanquish II put in neutral without starting engine?

[GG33]

Is it possible? Doesn't seem to want to go into N without engine running. Would like to move car by rolling it.

GG

[ganz67]

At least in my vantage ASM, before turning off the engine, if I pull both my paddles simultaneously twice in succession the car goes into neutral and stays there.

[pschlute]

GG33 said:

Is it possible? Doesn't seem to want to go into N without engine running. Would like to move car by rolling it.

GG

Never even been in your model, but if it is anything like my 2005 DB9,.... unless you start the engine, the only way to disengage the transmission is to pull the disengage lever

[anonymous-user]

GG33 said:

Is it possible? Doesn't seem to want to go into N without engine running. Would like to move car by rolling it.

GG

Unfortunately not, the ZF box - unlike the Sportshift box, doesn't allow for a neutral selection when turned off. I looked into it for a similar reason (wanting to move the Vanquish away from the property before starting it up following noise complaints). No such luck unfortunately.

[GG33]

So what happens if it needed to be winched onto a tow truck??

[anonymous-user]

GG33 said:

So what happens if it needed to be winched onto a tow truck??

My understanding of the way the ZF box works - when the car's not switched on or has broken down, it'll default switch into 'P' and engage the parklock. That's not something the owner can change AFAIK. The user handbook merely advises to contact Aston Martin Assistance. They might have a sequence they can guide you through on the phone perhaps.

One thing I've never been able to suss was whether turning off the tilt sensor (to stop the alarm activating when it detects the car being loaded onto a ramp) would disengage the transmission. I expect it's not that clever though.

[pschlute]

GG33 said:

So what happens if it needed to be winched onto a tow truck??

There is a mechanical lever under the rear passenger seat which when pulled disengages the transmission. At least that is how it works on my 2005 DB9

[SHIFTY]

Found this video for a Rapide should be similar.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E_-XbA8krdY

[andrewspencer200]

If its the 6 speed box, there's is a lever under the back seat, you will need to remove the seat cover. pulling this lever will remove the park-lock (Effectivley the handbrake)

if its the 8 speed box, you need to get underneath the car and insert a bolt (either M8 or M6, cant quite recall) into a threaded hole in the box, this will push up onto a lever and allow the car to be pushed/towed around, removing the bolt will re-apply the mechanical park-lock.

[GG33]

Thanks for the answers, I'll just start it to move it in the garage :-)

[Jon39]

If your car is perhaps out of use at present, my own practice is always avoid starting an engine during winter lay-ups.
I do push the car at intervals, so that weight is on a different portion of the tyres (maybe that is what you want to do) and I do turn the engine over occasionally, without starting it (accelerator pedal held down, although I don't think that procedure is applicable to all AM models).

[GG33]

I don't lay it up over the winter, preferring to have it available for the occasional sunny day drive. If I do start it up, I will take it for a drive to get it warmed up. Not tried turning it over with foot on the gas, will see what happens.

GG

[Jon39]

GG33 said:

Not tried turning it over with foot on the gas, will see what happens.

GG

Please refer to you Owner Manual before trying that Greg.
That technique is certainly applicable to (some or all) Vantage models, but we don't want you to risk flying through your garage door.

[moveover]

Jon39 said:

Please refer to you Owner Manual before trying that Greg.
That technique is certainly applicable to (some or all) Vantage models, but we don't want you to risk flying through your garage door.


Note the owner manual is incorrect and there is a different procedure for the Vanq 2. If you follow the manual it will fire up at full revs 🙁

See the Bamford Rose YouTube video for correct cranking procedure

[GreasyHands]

I have a MY19 AM Vantage ( ZF 8HP) and have been wondering about the issue of getting it into neutral if it can't start. I haven't needed to yet but the last thing I want is to call for a tow and deal with some guy fumbling around, trying to get this car on a flatbed and screwing things up because he doesn't know what to do.

I asked my Aston dealer and there response was, " You can't put it in neutral" The tow guys need to put the car on a dolly to move it onto a flatbed. Personally, that wasn't much of a satisfying answer so I went online and was brought here.

I saw @andrewspencer200 response and it looked viable. I searched online and it seems the BMW guys with the same transmission do as stated, i.e. screw in the bolt to put car in neutral. I wouldn't expect Aston to be any different if it uses the same transmission. Maybe next week I'll put my car up on a lift and take a look. It's too low to the ground for me to belly under easily and get a view. Not sure, but the transmission may also have a plate over it that could be a pain if the car is on the ground. ( So maybe it is just easier for the tow trucks to dolly it?)

In any event, can anybody confirm the Aston actually uses a bolt to disengage park like the BMW version? From @andrewspencer200 answer it wasn't clear to me if he was answering was from a generic ZF 8HP transmission perspective or specific to Aston.

If I don't hear back I'll try to post what I find out in a week or two when I get a good look under the car.

Thanks

Edited by GreasyHands on Thursday 23 September 15:44

[Dewi 2]

My DD auto became stuck in P last year.
Did not know how to deal with that, so called M-B assistance.
An RAC man arrived, who pointed to a small gap to the rear of the base under the central auto selector lever.
Push a Bic pen down through the gap and hey presto, can then move the gear selector out of P into N or D.
Brilliantly simple (if you know about it).

No help to OP, but thought you might be interested, in how it is done with a different torque shift gearbox.
Crawling underneath to screw in a bolt is not very good, unless you happen to be wearing mechanics overalls.

[GTRene]

here the same sort as in the rapide, but then the DB9

[GreasyHands]

So I finally got under my MY19 Vantage to check out getting the car into neutral without starting the car. As related on the BMW pages/videos regarding the ZF 8HP transmission, there is a parking release lever that is tripped by screwing in a bolt.

There is a place on the left side of the transmission to insert an M6 bolt. Unlike the BMW, there is not a bolt provided in the fitting. However, there seems to be what appears to be an M6 bolt with an H5 head next to it in a holder. ( I couldn;t see that bolt doing anything but hanging out) The bolt in the holder was screwed in pretty tight and seemed like overkill for a holder. The head started to strip as I was tying to remove it. The hell with that, I just threw an M6 bolt in my tire repair kit so I would have one, in case I needed it when I was on the road.

[AlexT]

For BMWs with the ZF 8-speed: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CjKguJx1AuM

Apparently there is an electronic way to do this also but not sure if this applies to Astons:

1: Push start button or attempt to start the car (even if it doesn't turn over, just push it down anyway)
2: Push the lever twice in to N
3: Push the lever to N and hold for 5 seconds
4: Transmission is now disengaged for 15 minutes after which it will re-lock itself.

From here: https://e84.xbimmers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1... . See the PDF files from BMW there.