AAAAAAARGH, 306 Gearbox Woes

Pleiades · Unread post by **Pleiades** » 17 Aug 2008, 21:12

Well it had to happen, I took my daughter to the local Peugeot dealer to part ex her 306 1.4 as the have some cracking deals on some 1 - 2 year old 206 cars and to top it all a good mate of mine works in the sales dept so we are assured of an even better deal.

Well after looking over her car he asked her to move the thing out of the way, she got in it and aaaaargh..... no 1st or 2nd gear, it drove in fine but decided to pack up right on the dealers forecourt.

3rd 4th and rev are all fine, so I drove home.

Looking at it, the linkages are all fine, so the gearbox is now out and on the floor and the poor old girl is looking rather sad.

The question is to the gearbox guru's here. Is there any point in stripping it or would I be better off going for a £40 second hand box, as in my experience they are quite a reliable unit, I have never known one fail before, although I have known the links to break and that's what I thought had happened.

She needs the car for work but has Mums car for monday only, so I would guess that a second hand box would have the job finished by Mon evening, or is there a quick common fix inside the box??

I want to fix as although it's going as soon as she has made up her mind on colour trim etc it has to get her about until the end of the month and at least it will still be exchangable.

Opinions allways welcome.

Regards
Martin.

Unread post by **CitroJim** » 18 Aug 2008, 10:14

That's unusual Martin, so often the problem is linkages...

I's go directly for the £40 scrapyard option. Theres no guarantee if you strip your 'box that you can do a fix on it for £40.

Mind you, I'd love to know what failed in it though...

Pleiades · Unread post by **Pleiades** » 18 Aug 2008, 17:58

Hi Jim.

Well I went for the £40 second hand box as it was the quick option, took one out of an older car this morning and popped it in hers this afternoon, all well and working now.

The cost, £30 this time as I took the old box with me and left it for scrap.

So I guess that we never will know what it was that failed, I would have liked to strip it and check the problem but I know that if my wife caught me stripping an old gearbox for fun, she would assume that I had too much time on my hands and task me some decorating to do. So to remove the temptation I left the old box at the scrappy.

Regards.
Martin.

Breedsey · Unread post by **Breedsey** » 20 Aug 2008, 07:10

Sorry to hijack your thread but i my 1.9 Dturbo 306 has just developed a gearbox problem too, it's decided to start jumping out of 5th, at first it was just when i came off the throttle then went back on but now i have to push the stick forward as hard as i can to keep it in gear.

Could this be the linkage or do you guys think the sincro has gone?

Unread post by **CitroJim** » 20 Aug 2008, 07:32

I reckon it'll be linkages Breedsey. It's worth checking the lower engine mount has not failed, allowing the engine and gearbox to tip. That can cause selection problems by changing the linkage relationships.

5th gear problems are easy to resolve as all the 5th gear pinions and synchro hub are easily accessible under the tin cover on the end of the gearbox. No need to strip the 'box or even remove it from the car.

The problems, given the linkages and mounts are good, is a worn or damaged selector fork (again accessible under the tin cover) or a broken synchro hub spring.

I just wish 3rd and 4th gear problems were as easy to resolve

Breedsey · Unread post by **Breedsey** » 20 Aug 2008, 07:56

Thanks for the quick reply, i might have a look at it at the weekend now then, the problem seemed to start, and get quite bad quite quickly, soon after i had a new injector pump fitted (veg oil friendly bosch one

)
I cant see why he'd need to touch it but could the mechanic have done something with the engine mount??
i.e. loosened it and not tightened it back up properly?

Oh, and where will i get the sinchro fork and sinchro from??

Pleiades · Unread post by **Pleiades** » 21 Aug 2008, 14:27

5th gear can be a problem as it is, as in most cars, stuck out on it's own at the end of the box, but fear not, as Jim says, quite an easy job to work on.

Drain the gearbox, remove the cover in the wheel arch and you will see a gold coulered fork and a pair of cogs, thats all there is to it realy.

If you pull this apart you will see the worn out bits and these can be got from the local scrappys for a few quid.

Regards
Martin.

Breedsey · Unread post by **Breedsey** » 28 Aug 2008, 18:06

Right, i bought a 2nd hand box from the local friendly scrappy (£80!!!

)
Instead of replacing the whole thing i stripped the 5th gear synchro and swapped it with the wron one in mine, and........... i now have 2 4th gears

My next question is, if i put the synchro back into my 2nd hand box and put the whole box in, will the final ratios be the same as it is with the synchro in my box.
By the way, the new box had 306 2.0 painted on the cover by whoever took the box out i presume. Should i try the box in there or take it back and tell him its wrong and get another, i'd rather the gears were longer for better fuel economy then shorter for better acceleration.