From new, my gearbox has played up when the car is in traffic and gets hot, it clunks into gear and jolts the car, so much my wife doesn't want to go in it.

The main dealer checked it under warranty and said peugeot was aware of the problem and moved an oil pipe away froma hot water pipe. This solved it for a few years but now it has come back with a vengance.

I had it checked by a Peugeot service dealer but not a Peugeot agency and no fault was found andd the oil level was ok.

Less than 40 miles, the problem returned and I took it to a recommended gearbox specialist this morning 26/04/10 and another £40 shelved out just tell me it needed a rebuild or exchange gearbox for around £1,600 plus vat.

The symptoms are like many on the blog, frost and sport lights flashing and warning 'Auto gearbox defective' on warning panel, ignition off and cures it but the gearbox changes like a slipping clutch on a manual gearbox. I was told the plates are slipping.

What is the genuine fault and is it as bad as painted as one blogger shelved out £1,300 on a rebuild with the same fault present.

I'm at my wits end with seemingly being ripped off with no real solutions.

James Hebner, April 2010

Just had my 52 plate -58k miles - 406 auto box problem sorted out. The safe mode of frost and sport flashing needs to be diagnosed for the error code. My auto box specialist told me it would be a pressure regulation error and sure enough the diagnostic said that.

He charged me £200 and did the work in around 4 hours and it now runs fine even when cold and on a gradient.
Apparently the solenoid on pre 2005 cars was 50 hertz and it should be 100 and the later auto boxes have the 100 hertz with no problems.

Mike, August 2010

For reputable specialist www.fedauto.co.uk

mags, April 2010