Peugeot 208 Automatic Gearbox Problems

The Peugeot 208 is a reliable supermini produced in two generations from 2012 to the present day. The vast majority of first generation (2012-2019) Peugeot 208s on the market were sold with a five or six speed manual transmission. There was, however, an automatic gearbox option which was effectively an EGC automated manual – in effect, a manual gearbox but with the clutch and gears operated by a robot. 

The second generation Peugeot 208 is sold with an EAT 6 or 8 speed torque converter automatic gearbox which is much less prone to problems than the auto gearbox on the old Peugeot 208, and in this article we’re going to look through some of the most common Peugeot 208 automatic gearbox problems and what might be causing them.

Firstly – know which type of gearbox you have

Generally if you have an old Peugeot 208 you’ll have the older style automated manual gearbox that was fitted to a number of different Peugeot and Citroen cars prior to 2016. Some of the later model first generation 208s (2018/2019) did get fitted with an EAT6 torque converter gearbox which is much better than the older EGC automated manual.

All second generation Peugeot 208s are fitted with a torque converter automatic that is very smooth and reliable, and so most of the problems we address in this article refer to the older, automated manual gearbox.

Jerky gear changes

This is one of the most common issues reported on the EGC automatic gearboxes. Just for a bit of background – I’ve worked on plenty of Peugeots in my time and these gearboxes were renowned for not being particularly good.

They were marketed as automatic gearboxes, but they really aren’t – they’re a manual with a computer that changes the gears. This means that people coming from other, proper automatic gearboxes (either torque converter or dual clutch) expect them to behave a certain way, and they don’t.

Often people complain of jerky shifting especially when making swift progress, and there is a specific reason for this due to the way the gearbox software has been programmed. What happens is that when the gearbox decides to change gear, it takes note of the throttle position. What happens is that the computer then cuts power to the engine – exactly the same as if you took your foot off the gas in a manual. It then changes gear and applies power again.

The act of the power being cut and the clutch being brought up can sometimes cause a jerk to be felt throughout the car. 

The reason it does this again is exactly the same as if you change gears in a manual. If you have your foot down on the gas and prepare to change gear, you would ease off the throttle as you dip the clutch. If you don’t do this, the car will rev up to the maximum. The ECU senses this and this is why it cuts the throttle.

Of course, this is less of an issue in a manual because you can control the speed at which you bring up the clutch, and slip the clutch a little longer for a smoother change. 

The only thing I can advise to prevent this is lifting your foot slightly before the car changes gear which should lessen the jerk somewhat.

Noises when changing gear

This again is characteristic of the EGC box and the way it works. There are two very common noises on the Peugeot 208 EGC automatic when changing gear – one of them is almost like a squeak which you may notice particularly when changing from gears 2 to 3, 3 to 4 or down from 4 to 3 and down from 3 to 2.

It’s difficult to describe this noise but as I mentioned it’s more like a squeak or a gentle thud which comes from the general gearbox area. 

This seems to be a common issue on all versions of the first generation Peugeot 208 – even on the manuals I have noticed this (and I’ve fixed enough of them and used to own one which did exactly the same.) I’d say this is more pronounced on the diesel versions, but it is something you will have to live with as it just seems to be characteristic of this gearbox. 

You may want to get the gearbox drained and re-filled with gearbox oil (Peugeot say this gearbox is sealed for life but I’ve personally seen higher mileage examples of this gearbox and the oil was like sludge so it’s definitely worth getting the oil changed every 50k) which may quieten down the gearbox.

You could also try using a slightly thicker oil – these gearboxes can usually take 75W-80 or 75W-90, so you may try dropping down to the oil with higher viscosity and see if this makes a difference.

The other noise you might experience is a thud or a bang when the drive engages – this is as a result of the clutch being brought up quickly. As we’ve mentioned this is a manual gearbox with actuators, and the clutch actuator in particular is very quick at bringing the clutch up – so much so that it can actually cause an audible thud in the cabin.

This again is exactly the same as if you brought the clutch up too quickly in a manual car – although with a manual you have the option to slip the clutch a little more in order to smooth out the gear change. This noise generally isn’t anything to worry about but if you’re getting a really audible thump combined with jerky shifting, you may want to ask Peugeot to take a look.

Difficulty picking up speed

There’s two aspects of this – one when you’re already rolling (say accelerating from a crawl out into traffic) or when you’ve stopped and are starting to move. We’ll address both in this section.

Firstly, a common issue with the 208 EGC gearbox (or indeed any semi-automatic gearbox) is that it draws a lot of power. The clutch and gear actuators (or robots) use extremely high powered motors to do their job, and if they are down on power, or can’t draw enough power from the battery, you will likely experience difficulty moving off from stationary – almost like a bad manual driver releasing the clutch too soon and nearly stalling the car. 

Often this happens in stop-start traffic, where the stop start (or ECO mode) is enabled. You might find that if the engine stays off for long enough, and you’re running the air conditioning, using the radio, etc, you may find that you don’t actually have enough power left in the battery for the clutch and gear actuators to work properly, and you will get either a “gearbox failure” or a “service” message on the dashboard. 

If you get this message you may find that just letting the battery charge up properly fixes the problem, which you should be able to do just by letting the engine run for a bit. You should, however, do a code read with an OBD reader and see what comes back. 

Additionally you may experience problems accelerating from a crawl – say you’re at a queue of traffic at a roundabout, creeping forward and a gap opens. You push the throttle but nothing happens. Sometimes this is an issue with the gearbox not dropping into first gear and keeping it in second – and even in a manual if you’re trying to pull out with too high a gear you will struggle to accelerate.

In these situations it’s worth putting the gearbox into manual mode and forcing a change down to 1st gear.

Sometimes there are issues with the clutch calibration on the car, and the actuator may not be bringing the clutch up enough to facilitate swift progress. This is less of an issue at speed but will be very pronounced in the change between gears 1 and 2.

What you can do to reset this is take your car somewhere quiet and come to a full stop. Put the gearbox into automatic mode and put your foot to the floor. When you reach third gear, you can ease off the throttle. This is supposed to reset the gearbox and calibrate the clutch so the car should be a little bit livelier moving off.

What you should remember is that the Peugeot EGC gearbox is not a true automatic and you can’t treat it as such – it’s an automated manual, and therefore all the physical and mechanical aspects of a manual gearbox are still there, just without the required input from you as the driver.

Therefore you shouldn’t expect the EGC gearbox in the Peugeot 208 to behave as a true torque converter gearbox would – it will have its little quirks and sometimes this is something you just need to get used to. That being said, if you really can’t get on with it, it’s worth talking to Peugeot just so they can test that it’s working properly.

Car rolling back on hills

This is an easier one to explain as it’s just the way an automated manual gearbox works. With a torque converter automatic, when you release the foot brake the car will start to creep forward irrespective of whether you’re on an incline or not. However with the EGC gearbox your Peugeot 208 may roll back slightly if you are not using the handbrake.

Some 208s with the EGC were fitted with hill hold assist and an automatic handbrake. If you have the auto handbrake you shouldn’t experience rolling back on hills, and if you do, your handbrake is faulty.

The reason the car rolls back is exactly why a manual car would roll back if you hadn’t used the handbrake – there’s nothing stopping the car rolling back until the clutch is brought up to the biting point. 

To mitigate this – keep hill hold assist on, which should hold the car for two or three seconds after the footbrake has been released, or use the handbrake when you’re stopped on an incline. 

I’ve written a comprehensive set of articles on common problems with the Peugeot 208, which you can check out below.