Car Broken Gearbox

I know there are some knowledgeable people on here so hoping for a bit of advice/guidance.

My car gearbox appears to be dead and needs replacing, the garage are quoting £1700 for new clutch and gearbox (Sounds expensive to me but I know next to nothing about cars and i haven’t spoken to them myself, the wife took the car in)

Now, the car is a 12 year old peugeot 207, the repair cost is probably the same as the car is worth. So a few questions:

  • Is it worth replacing the gearbox in an (otherwise mechanically sound) old car like mine. Seems like it might be getting into money pit territory but at least the gearbox/clutch shouldn’t be likely to go wrong again

  • Does £1700 seem the right ballpark for replacing the gearbox/clutch? I guess I’ll ring around some local places tomorrow for quotes.

  • If I decide to sack it off and just get a new car, is anyone likely to want to buy the old one to repair or would it likely just be scrap?

First question: what’s the mileage?

Second question: how broken is current gearbox?
No gears at all or just missing certain ones?

About 75,000 miles.

The gearbox is working but very, very stiff to change gear when cold. 3rd gear also feels a bit ‘misaligned’ in that it doesn’t really go smoothly from neutral into 3rd, i dropped it into first by mistake driving it to the garage yesterday, definitely worse than when i last drove it a week or so ago.

I haven’t spoken to the garage but they said to my wife it needs a new gearbox

When was the gearbox oil last changed?

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Christ knows, i’ve only owned it for a couple of years. Not in that time.
I can check the service records i have, probably have another 4 years of them.

Linkages could need lubing or replacing as the bushes seize or slop creating stiff/ poor gear selection

Depends if they are putting a NEW gearbox in or recon or one off ebay .

Clutch kit is circa £135 .
Labour time is about 5.2 hours if all goes smoothly
(But its a pug so no it won’t )

If its just a tide you over car find a cheap 2nd hand gearbox with a 60day+ warranty and ask them to fit that .

£1700 is more than car is worth in my opinion so dont go mad …

Also clutch slave cylinder seals are renowned to leak and give a poor clutch action which gives a poor selection when first used and after a few pumps improves .

If rear lower engine mount has alot of play ( when pulling away you tend to feel the engine flex/thud)
This can put pressure on the selecting rods/cables

Depends on where you are if scrapping get a quote from ASM recycling

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Thanks Tim.

I’m starting to come down on the side of scrapping the car and putting a few quid into getting something a bit bigger/newer/nicer.

I rarely drive it but once i’m spending £1700 to rescue my car, i may as well spend a few grand more to get something that i won’t want to get rid of in a year and hopefully recover a bit in scrap.

Consider other major service items too such as cam chain/belt. If they’ve not been changed there’s another £500-£700 repair bill waiting. Scrap it, you’ll get around £300 if scrappy collects, maybe more if you drive it in. That gives you £2,000 for your next car and with 8,371 sub £2000 cars on AutoTrader you’ll be spoilt for choice.

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Personally I’d scrap it, 12 year old 207 with 75K miles ain’t worth it.
For £1700, you could get another banger for less than that and use it till it goes pop.

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Thanks guys, i think i’ll probably scrap it and use it as an excuse to get something newer and bigger (we’ve sort of outgrown the 207 but my wife is very resistant to driving anything bigger)

Put it on Fb market place, you’ll likely get more than scrap value for it. Sold my mum’s old Mazda 3 with a knackered gearbox within 45 minutes of posting it

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Thanks for the tip, the garage are dropping it off later today so i’ll give that a go.

its fuked do the right thing

Succintly put Wise :smile:

Another vote for FB marketplace, plenty of cheap shitters sell on there.

But I agree, check the clutch fluid first.

Yes I’d throw it up on facebook or ebay and see what happens first. There might be someone in the trade who can fix it and the used car market is still very strong.

Scrapping is very convenient though. Or see what you can get part exchange. They’ll offer you less but you can negotiate things that won’t cost the dealer up front like a 2nd years warranty.

Thanks all. The 207 is back on the drive now as a temporary measure while i get a new car.

Currently looking at medium hatchback Golf/Focus/Leon type things. Including this which can’t make its mind up what it is :smiley:

What is the general opinion on previously written off cars? i’m a bit wary of cat S but cat N/D seems like it might save me a few quid.

If it has been repaied to a good standard it should be fine. It’s very easy to write off a car. Replacing the rear bumper would write my car off.

Driving a previously written off car has an impact on insurance and resale value if that matters to you. If you don’t plan on ever selling it before it’s scrapped then resale value isn’t important.

Take it around a couple of gearbox specialists for alternative quotes before you scrap it.

A friend of mine paid £400 to have his ‘05 Scenic’s auto-box completely rebuilt. I thought he was mad spending that much on a car worth £1k max. But he went ahead and the rebuild was perfect. It gave the car five more years’ of life, and would be running still if some drunk scrote hadn’t ploughed into it in the middle of the night.