2003 HDi 406 HDi Automatic Estate

[muti]

Hi

Never owned a Peugeot before so don't know what to expect from the automatic box., or the car for that matter. I recently test drove a 2003 HDi 110 auto estate with comprehensive independent service history. It's clearly been looked after and is clean and tidy throughout. It seems to be a bit of sluggish drive though and although it changes through the gears cleanly and smoothly, it does not appear to kick-down from 4th to 3rd. If I manually down shift, it revs at 4k but not beyond and when I manually up-shift it takes a few seconds before it goes back into 4th. There are no diagnostic lights on the dash and the sport and winter modes seem to activate when pressed and are lit on the dash to confirm. There is nothing in the service history to show any gearbox work or fluid changes. The car has done 113000 miles and aside from the gearbox anomaly appears to be a sweet drive...just a bit slow. Are these gearbox symptoms a likely need of new solenoids or is this just how the automatics are. Is it possible that a software upgrade and resetting of adaptive driving might help? Any thoughts or advice welcome.

thank you

[citroenxm]

the hdi 110 8v uses the AL4 siemans controlled autobox. It is fully electronically controlled box. Ive got the same setup in a C5 2.0 8v hdi and its not sluggish at all. The kickdown is ECU controlled also, and so there is no cable to adjust.
Sluggishness Id sugest would be the turbo wastegate not working at a guess, which is controlled by a vaccum via an Electrovalve. Theres two mounted on the bulkhead at the back of the engine bay, one for EGR the other for turbo. The turbo wastegate defaults to open, and when engine started and vacuum applied it closes.. Take the vaccuum pipes off the valves but be carefull the spigots can and do break off, and check for vaccum with the engine running. You will need to trace the vac pipe from the back of the engine that comes from the wastegate. Make sure theres a good vaccum. The electrovalve are known for packing up and they will either prevent a vac going to the wastegate or will always keep it on, this will then result in overboost and the EML on and limp mode, which will though self reset after the key is turned off. No boost wont put the EML light on.

The useual solinoid to play up in the gearbox is the Lockup Clutch solinoid. This will just result in "Clutch Slipping" effect when accellerating, and can also cause slight sluggishness, but it will also display and record a Gearbox fault too.

[strapkass]

Thanks for the info...would the turbo affect the kickdown and cause the manual downshift to 3rd to rev limit at 4k revs?

[citroenxm]

Not 100% certain, I didnt experiance a lack of power. Be aware that an AL4 or ZFHP20 at anything over 100k is on borrowed time, and a box rebuild would be expected in the future. Nature of the box being a claimed "Sealed for Life" rubbish. NOTHING is sealed for life.