Automatic Gear Fault

Discussion in 'General Motoring' started by Sooty, Jun 28, 2005.

  1. Sooty

    Sooty Guest

    I have a 406 Estate GLX Automatic - late 2002.

    3 times over the last week or so it has come up with 'Automatic Gear
    Fault' - at the same time the 'Sport' light and 'Snow' light start
    flashing - it feels as though it's stuck in 3rd gear, i.e. little
    acceleration from standing. If I stop, turn off, then start again, all seems
    ok for the rest of the day.

    Also, and probably unconnected, I will hear the central locking operate
    while I'm driving - and find that the doors are locked! On a couple of
    occasions the doors have dead-locked as I've started up the car.

    The car is going back to the main dealer on Friday - inevitably it won't
    show any symptoms while it's there! Has anyone else experience of this so I
    can make intelligent noises when they tell me how many hundreds of ££££s it
    will cost?

    The only reference I could find to 'Automatic Gear Fault' in the Archives
    was in Dutch...

    Thanks

    Sooty
     
    Sooty, Jun 28, 2005
    #1
  2. Sooty

    TAB Guest

    I've got an identical car from may 2002. This is what happened to mine.

    Driving along M6 Toll the gearbox went bang and dropped into 3rd with
    both the sport and snow lights flashing. I pulled into services and
    checked things over visually. When I started the car again it ran fine
    for another 100 miles until I got home.

    A couple of months later it happened again on the A1 so stopped and
    restarted the engine. I booked it into the dealer when I got back home.
    The dealer took it in and performed a software update saying that this
    would fix it. Next time I drove up the A1 it did it again several times.
    Any time I would be driving up a hill and using the accelerator to
    maintain speed it would go bang.

    So, I took it back to the dealer the following week. This time they
    decided a switch (multifunction) needed to be replaced. Needless to say
    this didn't work. I drove the car for another week and it switched to
    third a couple more times. Also, the normal gear changes were getting
    increasingly erratic. Typically I'd get a thump from the box when I
    pulled up at a junction then a pause as I put my foot down to pull away.

    On the third visit to the dealer they replaced a pair of control valves
    within the gearbox. This finally sorted it out, almost. The gearbox
    behaves perfectly now but they bust the switch they installed during the
    second visit. When it was in Drive it would say it was in neutral and
    there would be a few seconds pause before it went into Drive.

    That got sorted out on the last visit (4th). The whole business took
    about six weeks. So if you've still got any warranty don't hang around.
    If there is any sign of the gearbox misbehaving get it back to the
    dealer asap.

    Being supplied at the end of May 2002 I only just got this all done
    under the extended warranty. So, I can't tell you how much it would
    cost. I found an Australian website some time ago which described this
    problem and it suggested that the remedy is almost always the
    replacement of these valves.

    Haven't had any other problems with the car, so far.

    I hope this saves you a couple of trips to the dealer.

    Regards, Tom.
     
    TAB, Jun 28, 2005
    #2
  3. Sooty

    Sooty Guest

    Thanks Tom.

    It sounds very familiar, though mine has not yet got as bad as you describe.
    I sometimes think the gear changing is a bit erratic, particularly going up
    hills. I haven't had an automatic before so am not sure what to expect. In
    nearly every other respect this car is exactly what I want and is a pleasure
    to drive after my old diesel Mondeo.

    I have actually got some warranty left - so will give them grief until I'm
    satisfied; particularly as we will be driving to Spain in it later in the
    summer!

    Thanks again,
    Sooty
     
    Sooty, Jun 29, 2005
    #3
Ask a Question

Want to reply to this thread or ask your own question?

You'll need to choose a username for the site, which only take a couple of moments (here). After that, you can post your question and our members will help you out.