Citroen C4 Grand Picasso - Citroen c4 grand picasso tiptronic gearbox problem | Technical matters | Back Room Forum

Sun 31 Aug 2014 23:00

Citroen C4 Grand Picasso - Citroen c4 grand picasso tiptronic gearbox problem - linz1978

Hi there, I am having issues with my semi automatic transmission,when starting the car and putting the transmission into auto it shows on the ecu screen as manual only and drives only up to 3rd gear initially and after 10 mins or so when warmed up, it suddenly changes to auto and then intermittently changes to manual again. This is an intermittent fault and does not happen every time I start the car, only first thing in the morning. Citroen have had it in for a diagnosis and said it needs further investigation, about 2 hours worth, and quite possible will need a new gearbox, which is going to be a 10 hour job and luckily it's under a dealer warranty, but was wondering if this has happened to anyone else?

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Sun 31 Aug 2014 23:06

Citroen C4 Grand Picasso - Citroen c4 grand picasso tiptronic gearbox problem - gordonbennet

Lots of these types of awful boxes go wrong, usually out of warranty and at eye watering costs to fix....if Citroen are prepared to put a new box in for free under warranty, rip their arm off...be thankful its under warranty because they most likely won't have the foggiest idea how to fix the thing, so new box it is.

Is the warranty a proper makers warranty (incl approved used vehicle), if its an aftermarket insurance warranty tread very carefully.

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Mon 1 Sep 2014 08:21

Citroen C4 Grand Picasso - Citroen c4 grand picasso tiptronic gearbox problem - linz1978

Thanks, it's a car that I purchased through Ford, it's an 09 exclusive model. I only purchased the car 2 weeks ago with a crystal clear warranty, the cost is going to be somewhere in the region is 2k I believe. However because the dealer has to give their own warranty with the car, I could either return the car or get the repair done (under the sale of goods act). Fords have agreed to pay for the diagnosis and will await their reaction when they are quoted on the new box. Its annoying, because the car drives ok other than that and after warming up. I thought it could be something simple, but these gearboxes seem to be so problematic. However I was warned!!

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Mon 1 Sep 2014 11:06

Citroen C4 Grand Picasso - Citroen c4 grand picasso tiptronic gearbox problem - Railroad.

The gearbox itself virtually identical to the manual version, and isn't likely to be the problem. What is though is the vastly complicated electronic systems that control it. That's what makes something that was previously pretty reliable pretty unreliable. The French are very good at that.

Try one thing first. Disconnect the vehicle battery and join the positive and negative leads together with a suitable piece of wire and leave for 10 minutes. This will ground all the capacitors in the control units and allow them to reboot. Reconnect the battery and see if it's fixed the problem. It may not have, but you have nothing to lose, and many strange electrical faults on Citroen's have been fixed this way.

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Tue 2 Sep 2014 00:02

Citroen C4 Grand Picasso - Citroen c4 grand picasso tiptronic gearbox problem - linz1978

Thanks for this. Very helpful. It's def worth a try. What wire should I use railroad? I will ask my colleagues at work to help me, being a typical woman I am clueless with this sorta stuff, but the guys at work should be able to guide me. I haven't looked under the car bonnet yet but will have a look tomorrow! I kinda feel it's not the gearbox as it drives fine it seems to be confused on what selection to make at the start..other than that it's not a bad car to drive, compared to my previous Zafira I prefer it.

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