2003 Peugeot 307, AL4 Transmission

[vaewest]

I am thinking of purchasing a 2003 peugeot 307 with an AL4 transmission, the vehicle has currently 80,000 miles. The previous owner has had the vehicle since new and has only had to change the solenoids. After testing the car both cold and hot there doesnt seem to be any tranny issues. However after researching online all i see are horror stories.

is this transmission really unfixable and guaranteed to fail?

[avamotor]

the horror stories are more reality in some vehicles!

I have a Citroen Xantia 1.9 TD complete with AL4 gearbox, only managed to get 147,000 and the box is "goosed" which is a polite as i can put on this forum. tried plugging it up to Lexia to hope for something simple and obvious but apart from a report of multifunction switch error.

My AL4 woes started some time ago, when the car set off from cold there would be a jolt and snow and sport would then flash on the dashboard and it would drop into "limp home" mode, after switching off and switching back on again, the car would be fine and continue whilst the engine was warm!!!!

Gradually got to the point where trying to drive out of junction on any gradient in either first or reverse, the clutch bands must be worn as it would slip and the revs although limited to about 2500 revs wouldn't let me move anywhere. Apart from being embarrassing, there was also the scary sight of lorries hurtling towards you and the car just not moving anywhere.

You may be very fortunate that your gearbox in this vehicle has led an easy life and regularly serviced, the gearboxes are supposed to be "sealed for life" and not require any maintenance according to PSA but I learnt fairly fast that this is rubbish, loads of info on the "tinternet" about how to service and check the boxes.

A local auto gearbox repair specialist near me wanted £35 for just hooking it up to talk to it, if it were the valve block that needed exchange it would be £400 plus vat and fitting and if this repair did'nt fix it, then a reconditioned box would be required at a cost of £1400 plus vat.

I recollect saying "thank you" at least.

This does'nt mean to say that this happens to all cars with this gearbox on, but I understand that their are some modifications that are made during reconstruction of a gearbox/valveblock/electrovalve etc.

Good luck in your choice.

[addo]

Up to about 2003, they were built with the inferior solenoids and programming.

People who didn't upograde them ASAP, or racked up large mileages before the factory revised these details, suffered issues with/from the two solenoids in question. I assume the solenoid coils overheat and "grip" the plunging pin.

If the 307 in question was promptly attended to, it should be fine. My impression is that with light duties the box is good for 200K miles; if you tow hard (1000+kg) or thrash it in a heavier car like the Xantia, it doesn't do so well.

Use of a suitable fluid is essential; the other piece of "impression" I have gained from personal experience is that the fluid viscosity has a big impact on trans performance.

[spider]

I think its best to read "sealed for life" as "sealed for warranty life" , ie its expected to outlive the mechanical warranty.