Hi All,OK, I know the topic of the ECG Box has been beaten to death on here and there have been all sorts of conspiracy theories about all sorts of issues drivability etc etc.
And I've read the majority of the comments that forum members have written, and it appears that no two gearboxes are the same, or are they. And are they a disaster waiting to happen?
As some of you are aware, we collected said vehicle on Friday, at present I'm running it for a month to give it a shake down and hopefully if anything is going to fall off it will do at the end of 4-5 weeks when it will have done approx 3-4k miles.
As we have only had it a few days, I thought its time to strike whilst the iron is hot and visit my dealer for the low down on this EGC Box. I rang the service desk explained who I was and they took some details and said that the technical dept!! would get back to me. Sure enough they rang back within 30 mins. Browny Point No1. for a prompt reply. They knew who I was and that we had only had the car a few days. Browny Point No2 for doing their homework.
I explained the issues I was having sluggish gear change bags of hesitation when it comes to changing gear. They asked would I be willing to bring it in and the workshop supervisor would go out with me on a test drive, and could I be there this evening. It was now 3.00pm, could I ever. Browny Point No3 for prompt action, at no cost.
On arrival I was met promptly by a friendly face who as it turned out had been working on Peugeot's for the last 28 yrs. I explained the issues I had and he asked me to drive and show me what was happening. I won't bore you with the details but suffice to say when I dropped him off after an hour and a half, I was pleased with the outcome. Not with the box but pleased I now have an understanding of how the things works.
So these are the questions I had written down and as I asked him the question, I wrote some notes alongside them as he answered. Browny Point No4 for patience.
Guys make up your own minds about it. For me I will stick into Manual and drive it on the paddles as I cannot cope with it in the morning trying to make its mind up which gear it wants to be in.
Edited by: uncletone
And I've read the majority of the comments that forum members have written, and it appears that no two gearboxes are the same, or are they. And are they a disaster waiting to happen?
As some of you are aware, we collected said vehicle on Friday, at present I'm running it for a month to give it a shake down and hopefully if anything is going to fall off it will do at the end of 4-5 weeks when it will have done approx 3-4k miles.
As we have only had it a few days, I thought its time to strike whilst the iron is hot and visit my dealer for the low down on this EGC Box. I rang the service desk explained who I was and they took some details and said that the technical dept!! would get back to me. Sure enough they rang back within 30 mins. Browny Point No1. for a prompt reply. They knew who I was and that we had only had the car a few days. Browny Point No2 for doing their homework.
I explained the issues I was having sluggish gear change bags of hesitation when it comes to changing gear. They asked would I be willing to bring it in and the workshop supervisor would go out with me on a test drive, and could I be there this evening. It was now 3.00pm, could I ever. Browny Point No3 for prompt action, at no cost.
On arrival I was met promptly by a friendly face who as it turned out had been working on Peugeot's for the last 28 yrs. I explained the issues I had and he asked me to drive and show me what was happening. I won't bore you with the details but suffice to say when I dropped him off after an hour and a half, I was pleased with the outcome. Not with the box but pleased I now have an understanding of how the things works.
So these are the questions I had written down and as I asked him the question, I wrote some notes alongside them as he answered. Browny Point No4 for patience.
- why did Peugeot build it
basically the market requested an automatic version to compliment the manuals and also they needed to meet the
emissionlevels
- why call it an Automatic when it clearly isn't they didn't, marketing did, it was never actually listed as an automatic it was an EGC 6 Speed
- why do I nut the steering wheel every time it changes gear
basically when you are driving along, shall we say rather briskly, not hammering it, just briskly, when the gear box decides its time to change gear it monitors throttle position speed etc. The ECU then cuts the engine speed, similar to lifting off the throttle. This prevents the engine revs suddenly hitting the red line because you have your foot down when the clutch disengages. The gear change is made and the ECU returns the fuel ignition back to where it was. With the VAG DSG / S Tronic Box this happens in a blink of an eye. With the
PeugeotBox it happens in a fortnight, or so it seems. obviously the lighter the throttle the less severity the change, and if you lift your foot off the pedal just as it changes you hardly notice the gear change at all as you would with a proper automatic.
<i style="color: rgb204, 0, 0; line-height: 16.7999992370605px;">Also it has the ability to learn your driving style, to a degree and after 500 miles he said I should notice an improvement.[/i] - is there a software updateyes there is, although anything from March 2014 will possibly already have it in place. By the way the hardware has virtually never changed since the launch in the 3008.
- is it meant to creep when you put it in
drive(F or R)
Early models no, later models yes. The software was changed to bring this in, to make it feel like an automatic. I asked if it was now putting undue wear on the clutch. He said if I was to stop at traffic lights or I was in slow moving traffic for a few minutes, the advice is to put it in
neutral. Just the same as if you had a manual car with a clutch pedal. The clutch is a heavy duty type, and is built to take abuse. He id say that when it came out Peugeot were showing Technicians how the thing could be abused, he said he even winced at what they were doing, but it stayed together. He also stated that the software can detect if you are abusing it and will shut down with no drive. (Guys could this be you with a box of neutrals possibly. I'm not saying you abused it, but was the software being a little too enthusiastic when it came to shuffling whilst around parking. I don't know, just a thought)If you were going to move off again within a few seconds then its fine to leave it in gear with your foot on the brake.
- how reliable is it, will it self implode in terms of numbers built and faults reported, the percentage is small and the box is a good strong box. My dealer has not had to replace any bearings on input shafts. they have had an actuator go though.
- what about the issue of ending up with a box full of neutralsagain its not too common but the latest software should eradicate this. See above.
- what do the technicians think about it in everyday use and servicing.
as a whole the box is crap!! his words not mine.
Apparentlywhen it was first released in the 3008 it was an absolute dog. He said if you think my gear change is bad you should have driven a 3008. Over the years they modified the software etc to overcome this, and as a whole it is a lot better now than it used to be. The gearbox mechanically is fine the electronics, (my pet hate) are well tried and tested. That doesn't say they won't let you down, but as a rule they are very
reliable. Its easy to service, he said they would recommend changing the gearbox oil around the 50k mark. It takes 1.9lts approx of 75w -80 Semi Synthetic Gear oil. The H
ydraulicGear Change and
Actuator, is a different story. It needs changing at 150k miles and costs £60 for a litre. Out of 10 forreliability9, out of 10 for execution and drivabilty minus 8. And its still crap, his words not mine. He said they've spoke to Peugeot about this and they say the French Market thinks its great and are happy to drive it as it is. They don't understand what the "roast beouffs" are complaining about. Mind you anybody who will drive a 2CV can't have muchtaste.
- how do
Peugeotmonitor the performance of the box etc in relation to the previous question then?.
everytime they get a vehicle into the workshop
theyplug it onto the diagnostics, it then connects directly to Peugeot. The ECU has stored all the details of the car and how its been driven. In my case they can read how the
gearboxhas been used, whether in auto or manual mode, which gear its been driven in the most at what revs its been driven to etc etc. From this information over a number of vehicles they can determine a pattern and this gives them an opportunity to
tweak/ update the software.
- I understand they've dropped this now why? Euro 6 emissions, this gearbox can't make the the levels required, hence why they've been developing a fully automatic for the last 2 years. Browny Point No4 for taking the time and not fobbing me off.
Guys make up your own minds about it. For me I will stick into Manual and drive it on the paddles as I cannot cope with it in the morning trying to make its mind up which gear it wants to be in.
Edited by: uncletone