Peugeot 208 - 2018 Peugeot 208 won't go into reverse

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Fri 4 Jan 2019 15:05
Peugeot 208 - 2018 Peugeot 208 won't go into reverse - markjross2

Hi All,

Just joined the forum in the hope of a little advice for my daughter, none of our family are that clued up on cars so I apologies in advance if I'm asking a daft question so please be lenient in any chastisement!

She recently bought a brand new Peugeot 208 1.2L Petrol with a manual gearbox. She's been having a few problems getting it into reverse, which I've now experienced myself. Basically intermittently it's not possible to get the car into reverse gear, it gets half way into the gear slot and stops and won't go any further. This doesn't happen all the time and I can't say it happens it exactly the same circumstance each time (sometimes it happens on starting the car and reversing straight away, others it happens having driven forward for a number of miles first).

I've raised this with the dealership where she bought the vehicle and they've told us it's expected behaviour in the vehicle and it's due to the gearbox not being synchronised so she needs to double declutch to synchronise the gearbox to get it into reverse gear. I've queried why this feature wasn't described to us at point of sale or why it doesn't appear in the car's handbook and am waiting for a response. I feel a bit like I'm being fobbed off but given my lack of knowledge on the subject I was hoping someone could give me a bit of advice.

Kind Regards,

Mark

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Fri 4 Jan 2019 15:37
Peugeot 208 - 2018 Peugeot 208 won't go into reverse - Avant

You're definitely being fobbed off by the dealer so don't accept it. If necessary try another dealer, but no way is that acceptable in a new car.

For the moment, you could try what I used to do with my Austin Maxi 45 years ago (whein it really was a feature of the car) - clutch down...engage second....keep clutch down and now try reverse.

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Fri 4 Jan 2019 16:16
Peugeot 208 - 2018 Peugeot 208 won't go into reverse - Lee Power

If its the MA gearbox ( & it certainly sounds like it is ) then this is perfectly normal behaviour as its a mid 1980's design.

Clutch pedal down, attempt to select reverse, if it wont go in return the gear lever to neutral, fully release the clutch pedal for a second then press the clutch pedal down & try again - it should then go in fine.

Ask your Peugeot main dealer which gearbox it has OR ask someone with Peugeot Service Box access to have a look via the cars VIN number ( I have access if you wish me to look )

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Tue 8 Jan 2019 19:38
Peugeot 208 - 2018 Peugeot 208 won't go into reverse - Tester

I pretty much always had to do that trick of returning to neutral and releasing the clutch briefly before reverse would engage on my old Citroen, which I guess had a similar design of gearbox. It always worked then, so perhaps the dealer is telling the truth and it really is a feature of the OP's Peugeot! A strange and very mildly annoying feature but there it is. The Citroen went on for 16 years so, as others have said, probably not a serious problem.

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Fri 4 Jan 2019 23:08
Peugeot 208 - 2018 Peugeot 208 won't go into reverse - Andrew-T

Synchronise the gearbox? It took a long time for makers to put synchro on bottom gear, have they put it on reverse?

Sounds to me as if the built-in stop to prevent accidental selection of reverse may be a bit maladjusted. I always find that reverse on a Peugeot box goes in best just before the car stops rolling - if it has been moving forwards. With a stationary car you may well need to dip the clutch more than once, especially if the car is new and everything is still tight. In any case I don't think it indicates a serious fault.

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