Serious gear problems in a 2003 Peugeot 206cc automatic

[greenby334]

Hey,

First of all sorry for the long post, I'm pretty concerned about my old car and have some conclusion I've formed up until now. Hopefully all this info will be of some help.

Well, in the past week my old yet reliable car went from a great vehicle to a very shitty one.

The problems I'm experiencing -
getting in the car starting driving, the gear box feels a little confused when shifting. Meaning it's either stretching the gear or shifting too early. For everyday throughout the week, I got in the car and withing 2-3 minutes was on the highway, I drive rather carefully and so I was doing about 70km/h because the engine was still cold.

Still, after about 4 minutes in instead of shifting gears (I guess, when trying to shift from 3rd to 4th) I hear a very strong "BOOM" and feel like the car hit or ran over something. A strong recoil sort of feel. The car then can't utilize 4th gear and is stuck on 3rd or below up until I restart the engine. This happened 3 or 4 times in a week, and never before (maybe one single time a year ago, still less severely).

Pretty hard to describe, but I actually know this phenomenon from my mom's old Citroen. I was wondering if this sort of problem has a name, even just for the sake of Googling it. Of course I also wonder what should cause this and how can I fix it.

I've peeked under the car to find what appears to be a very mild oil leak from the gearbox area. I may be completely wrong. But the upper right region of the car, at the bottom of course, is all oily and wet. Some oil drops at the floor below.

I've also started experiencing a frequent yet momentary loss of power to the dashboard, meaning I see the dials on my dashboard suddenly drop completely, then rise again. Had it before occasionaly and though it must be some rusty connector but this recent week I started experiencing it FAR more often.


Probable cause - unfortunately there are different factors to take into consideration:
1. Last weekend I took the car to a pretty long journy up and down my country, all in all it was 1.5 hours of constant driving, then another 1.5 which is not really a lot, I often drive my car for an hour in the morning, then 40 minutes in the evening on my commute.

2. Recently, parking arrangements were changed and so for everyday in the past two weeks I've parked my car on the pavement, sometimes I felt the upper bottom scratching the pavement edge when climbing on - maybe nothing, maybe very bad?

3. It got cold pretty quick and started raining in my region, when about two weeks ago it was considerably warmer.

[IanL]

The gearbox problem could certainly be due to low fluid level. See here for checking level. Use only the specified LT 71141 fluid.

For rectifying fluid leak, see here.

The electrical problem could be as simple as a bad earth. The earthing strap to the gearbox is notorious, so check that first. You need bright metal corrosion-free contact.

[Capncol]

Add to that a failing battery, or if all else fails, gearbox solonoids

[Luditus]

The "Boom", with the recoil that knocks your teeth out, is very symptomatic of electrovalve failure. It's not the end of the world, and is worth having them replaced. You can get a good idea of what's involved from this Citroen AL4 transmission. https://www.citroenc3owners.com/tips-fo ... t1254.html

[greenby334]

Thank you everyone, I'll be taking the car to a garage tomorrow and will suggest all the above.

[GrandadMonkey]

I'd take it to an auto-transmission specialist.

[greenby334]

Well I took it to the official garage and they replaced the electrovalve and a switch in the gear. The car seems to have gotten better.

[IanL]

Good to hear

[GrandadMonkey]

Well done. Thanks for feeding back the outcome. Hope it wasn't too expensive.