Automatic gear selection failure, needs off and on again, drives fine afterwards,

[GreenPlasticMan]

Hi. I am hoping someone here has an idea of what this could be.


Model: Citroen C4 Grand Picasso Semi-Automatic eHDI 2013

About three months ago:
- Start up car and select A gear but it quickly changed back to showing N and being in Neutral. Tried a few more times and it gave Gearbox Fault.
- I turned it off and on again and the error went away and it all functioned correctly.
- Issue did not happen again for more than 10 drives.

About two months ago:
- Issue came back and happened more regularly. Once every other drive.
- Car drives fine once the Auto selection registers.

About a month ago:
- Replaced battery. Car drove fine that day.
- Start up and select Auto could take two or more off-and-on to register.

Two weeks ago:
- Now taking up to 4 times off and on again to select Auto and then drive away normally. But other times it would work correctly first try.
- One time, about 1 minute into the drive, the car dropped from A2 back to N. I stopped the car and started it again, selected Auto and it drove fine to destination. Also started fine two hours later on the way home.

Today:
- Start it up, select Auto position but it briefly shows M1 instead and then drop back to N. Turn off and retry gives same thing two more times. On fourth try, it selected M1 and stay there but no way to select Auto anymore. I chose not to drive anywhere. Tried 4 more off-and-on - sometimes it wouldn’t stay in M1 and other times it would drop back to N. Does not seem to be a way to select Auto anymore.


Could it be the selector stalk? Can failure there lead to it briefly showing the gear I chose then changing back?

Could it be Automatic Transmission Fluid needing replacement? I hear it degrades over the years and there might not be enough pressure to successfully change gear at cold start, but can succeed as it gets hotter.

Could it be the Clutch itself? The fact it drives fine once it registers in a gear makes me wonder.

[mickthemaverick]

Your first step is to read through the thread linked below and then you will be in a position to determine your next step:

viewtopic.php?p=401377#p401377

[GreenPlasticMan]

Thanks for the quick reply. There's reference there to a thread listing people with Lexia kits but I can't view it (either it's gone or there's a permissions block).

I'm struggling to determine other next steps.

[mickthemaverick]

This is the link to the thread of lexia members, be sure to read the info at the top: viewtopic.php?p=509922#p509922

[RichardW]

It could be the selector, but the fact that it tries to do something then drops back into neutral suggests probably not. If it's never been replaced, it probably needs a new clutch - fault codes or live data may point to the clutch position sensor, what seems to happen is that over time this gets damaged and sends mis leading info back to the ECU which then throws a wobbler.

[GreenPlasticMan]

Thanks, guys. I should have said the mileage: it's done 89,000 miles and never had clutch replaced.

[RichardW]

Probably time then, I expect you will find codes about clutch jammed or similar.