Peugeot Partner semi-automatic gearbox issues and more - please help

[nampramos]

Hi, new member here, hailing from Sweden.

Nearly two years ago I bought a used Peugeot Partner with a bit over 140,000 Km on the clock. VIN VF3**************[VIN obfuscated, can be read by forum staff]

Upon initial inspection and test drive, all seemed fine and I went ahead with the purchase. A few months later, an alert for the Diesel Particle Filter came up and had to cough up a significant amount of money to have a new one installed. No fun when all I was looking for was a small van to drive to the country side with the dog a couple times per month (soon two years of ownership and I have done less than 10,000 Km) and have only oil and air filter to change.

Fast forward a few more months, and the first alerts for "Gearbox fault" start to show up on the dashboard with the yellow exclamation mark sign also turning on. These would last only a few minute and then would clear up. Sometimes months passing without an alert until a new one would come up, once again clearing after a few minutes.

This week the gearbox issue started to become a bit more severe, where the automatic part of the gearbox stopped working and only manually shifting via the steering wheel pads would make the gear go up or down. The "AUTO" above the gear number indicator started blinking when the issue started. After several minutes of driving, it went back to normal again and the "AUTO" no longer blinking. This repeated several times during the drive, with the automatic gearing stopping (but able to automatically bring it back to gear 1 when stopping, but no upshifting). Again after a while it would go back to shifting automatically.

Also relevant to mention, the shifting up is rather slow and clunky. Feels like the clutch gets engaged, and then it takes time to find the next higher gear, and when it engages, it does so in not a very smooth way. When starting from a standstill it is also rather abrupt, both forward and reverse. Feels like there is no engagement with the gear and then all of a sudden it connects and the car moves forward or backwards faster than it should (not great when reversing into a very tight garage door).

Perhaps related or not, there seems to be some sort of electrical issue going as well (nightmare), where sometimes the cruise control does not engage or stops working when engaged (at this point the -- sign on the dashboard starts blinking instead of solid). Coincidence or not, a few times when using the window button to open/close it, the cruise control disengaged at the exact time I pressed the button.

Furthermore, the start/stop function (eco) no longer engages but the eco light blinks for a while when coming to a standstill and then turns off. This used to work when I purchased the car.

Since mechanic work does not come cheap in Sweden and I already spent more on this car than I ever expected (and use it so little) I was hoping the experts here could point me towards the right direction on what the issue might be, so that at least I am prepared when taking it to the mechanic and avoid potentially being overcharged.

Thank you for your help and time, much appreciated.

[Arkis]

Hello, did the electrical problems started all together? All french cars are quite sensitive to battery quality. If the battery starts to fail the electrical system goes mayham and starts throwing all sorts of problems. Get the battery tested (not just measuring voltage, but rather getting it tested under load).

[nampramos]

I would not say they all started at the same time. Battery should not be old at all and car starts just fine, even when dead cold outside (overnights in warm garage).

[nampramos]

Was hoping for a little bit more support than this. Anyone keen on sharing their experience? Thank you and have a great weekend.

[PaulC5]

Charge the battery up and see what happens. With the car not being used much likely its voltage is down. You could check it first thing before starting, should be 12.7 volts if fully charged but below about 12.5 volts and it needs charging. The age of the battery is not really relevant, just its voltage but if it has been low voltage for some time it will lose capacity and could need replacing.

I do not have any experience of the semi auto boxes so I would have to go to a Peugeot dealer to get it sorted.

[shchepetov]

i would personally recommend 2 things - do the gearbox adaptation (using diagbox or any Launch type scanner) and clean the connectors with good contact cleaner (not WD).
Ive seen several times whatever Christmas tree like lights on the dashboard and other problems because CAN communication between ECUs becomes bad (dropping data packets) and after connectors cleaning - all is back to normal.