Driving home from work the other day the autobox decided it would do a harsh change from 1st to 2nd, never had this before and box has always been really smooth. 3rd, 4th & 5th all seemed fine. Stop at traffic lights and box changed down fine, lights go green, pull away and this time box goes 1st hard into 2nd then straight back into 1st up to 3,000 RPM snatch into 2nd and back to smooth for the rest. Now the rest of my journey got worse, eventually I wasn't getting the box change down, then I had no forward gears at all (not much fun when doing 50 on a dual carriageway) took my foot off the gas and waited then gently pushed the gas pedal again and after some jerking around it found a gear and I carried on. Next time I stopped it felt like I was pulling away in 3rd gear then I got a message telling me I had a transmission fault (no, really, as if I hadn't noticed) then a message telling me the HDC was switched off and another telling me I had limited gears available. I pulled over as soon as I could, switched off, waited a bit, started up and drove off in 1st, snatch back into 2nd and the whole sorry mess started all over again and this time it gave me the EML. I managed to get home, parked up and left it. I called my local indy and asked if I could drop it off the next day for them to look at. Next morning I got in the car and found I had no forward gears at all, only reverse. Called AA who sent a nice chap round, he lifted the bonnet and had me select a forward gear and would you believe it, it selected 1st and I could drive forward. He had me drive up the road a short distance and turn the car round and drive back and it didn't fault itself once. He agreed though that something didn't sound right, a bit like when the power steering fluid is low, and we agreed to have it lifted to the indy garage. Today I am waiting to hear what they find, I suspect they will say the whole gearbox needs replacing, and as the car is a 2007 model I am so far out of any warranty. I have read other cases where 07 - 08 models have suffered gearbox failure but they have all been at lower miles, I'm at 94,500. I suspect this is another issue caused by the desire to call everything "Sealed for life" these days. I will report back with what the garage have to say, and for what it's worth this is one of the few garages that I trust so I can take some comfort in that.

fingers crossed you could be lucky and a fluid and filter change may fix it.

good luck..

OK so indy has got back to me, reckons to supply and fit replacement gearbox is £4,500

That's more than half the price of what the car is worth

Take it to a gearbox specialist - they'll fix it rather than just replace it.

Most mechanics know little of the working of an autobox so they just replace them rather than attempt to repair them. It could be something straightforward which someone who knows what they're doing can sort relatively easily.

Yes I have to agree, will have to arrange to collect the car and find a gearbox specialist next

Could you please tell us the car's manufacture year and the mileage?
Did you changed the autobox oil somewhere along the line?
Thanks!

Hi Alex

It's a model year 2007 and has covered 94,500 miles, I've only had the car 4 months but suspect that the fluid has never been changed since it left the factory

I know its only a TV show but remember the Wheeler Dealers episode where he bought a Porsche Boxster with a knackered gearbox, slipping badly etc ??

A simple change of auto box fluid and filter fixed it.

I know not quite the same scenario as you but sometimes the simple solution is the one that works. and for a couple hundred quid its got to be worth a shot. All depending on what the gearbox specialist says of course,

I have to agree Rog, I did watch the episode of wheeler dealers you mention. I originally suspected it might need fluid & filter change as it's around the 10 year mark now and was hopeful that would sort the issue out. Will be calling the gearbox specialist later today to arrange a date for them to take the car. All priced up I can get a rebuilt box with 2 year 24,000 mile guarantee supplied and fitted with new torque converter for £2,495 add the cost of having the car lifted to their site (sadly not local) and the bill still only comes to £2,591. They did ask all the right questions when I called them and didn't dismiss the box as past it, they advised that before they carried out any work they would have to run a full diagnostic on the box rather than just swap it out.

fingers crossed then matey, but after 4 months of ownership I would also be looking to the dealership to contribute, and if they don't play ball if its got finance speak to the finance company. There are new timeframes in which the supplying dealer can still be held responsible for failures and has to prove the car was fit for purpose when purchased.

I had to go through all this several years ago with a Disco 2 auto, resulting in an Ashcroft reconditioned gearbox being fitted at a garage of my choice at the expense of the supplying dealer.

Interesting, yes it is on finance, there was a warranty (for what it was worth) but this only pays up to £250.00 of the repair. Who did you speak to the finance company or the supplying dealer?

Car was purchased from a Peugeot main dealer as it had been used as a trade in against a new car there

The dealer had 3 attempts to fix the box with his mechanics, but just made it worse each time then refused to help saying it was my fault it kept failing. I contacted the finance company general number to raise a complaint, they assigned an account manager who, after a couple of letters and phone calls, set up a meeting with me, the dealer and the account manager.
Deal was thrashed out, although the dealer was far from happy, and the box changed out by my local LR specialist.

from purchase to getting the box changed was about 8 months. Even if your car was a part ex trade in, the dealer has a responsibility under the consumer rights supply of goods act, and the finance company (who technically own all or part of the car) also have a legal responsibility to prove the car was fit for purpose when it was sold, not for you to prove otherwise.

Time to get the paperwork out and make a few more phone calls then, thanks for the heads up Rog, much appreciated

As expected, supplying dealer said there was nothing they could do, I quoted "Consumer Rights Act 2015" and mentioned I had spoken with the finance company who would issue a merchandise complaint if I wasn't happy with the supplying dealers response. Needless to say the supplying dealer now want's the car to inspect and report back. I can see that this is going to drag on for a bit but hopefully it'll be worth it.

For the sake of a couple of phone calls, and getting the car back to them to at least check it over mate it will be worth it in the end as you will then know for sure one way or the other

at least the dealer is willing to take it back to inspect, although I bet they didn't like it when you quoted the consumer rights act

it may well be that they were genuinely unaware of any issues, however the consumer is better protected than ever before now even if you do have to escalate it a bit and they should take more care in the cars they sell.