Peugeot 206 ECUs

[Wickerman]

I'm adding this thread purely as help to anyone who owns a Peugeot 206 which has or is behaving in, what can only be described as, a dangerous manner.

Our case begun about 6 months ago where, for no apparent reason, our 206 started to inexplicably lose power whilst travelling at speed, then immediatley pick up again, causing a jerking motion. Sometimes it wouldn't pick up again at all and grind to a halt. This was particularly dangerous when happening in the fast lane of a motorway. Other problems would include massive over revving whilst at a standstill, general stalling and jerking in slow moving traffic. Driving became very stressful (not to mention a bit of a lottery as to whether you made it home in one piece).

The thing is that when it was taken in to the dealer, they hooked it up to the computer which would show absolutely no fault at all, leading to a speculative diagnosis on each visit which invariably cost money (since the car was way out of warranty) for parts changed, which turned out to be unecessary.

To cut a long story short, our car gave out a crack on the way home from work one night, and the following mornign wouldn't start. It turned out that the coil pack had blown and spiked the ecu (the engines central computer). We had it towed to an alternative Peugeot dealer who's service manager told us it would cost about £1100 to fix. He seemed aware of this problem and agreed to fit a non Peugeot ecu if we bought one (for about half the price), which we did and all was and is now well.

Peugeot as a manufacturer still deny to this day that there is an inherent problem with their ecu's and this has lead to an online petition for 206 owners to lsit their cases - the results of which can be seen here - Peugeot 206 Online Petition

If you know of anyone with this problem or you've suffered yourself, take the time, as I did, to add your case to the growing list. Looking at some people's cases, it's only a matter of time before someone's killed.

[con]

Guess what , I never had a 206 but I had a peugeot eurocab. It had an intermittant fault just as you described. Garages diagnosed the fault with the high pressure fuel pump then the low pressure pump etc. As you can imagine it was not only dangerous for us but also and moreso our customers. This had to come off the road. We sued the company we bought it off. It ,under the sale of goods act was 'not fit for its intended purpose'. this i am sure would apply not only for business use but also domestic. Check on your rights, we got paid in full just before setting the court date. We had an independant inspector who does a report ready for if you need to use it at either the negotiating stage or in court. Not cheap, if i remember was approx four hundred, but worth it in the end. He prooved that the problem was with the car before purchase, and it even cut out on his test ride! Although he said it wouldnt matter too much if it hadnt as it was intermittant so you could never anticipate when it was coming. Im hoping this may help some of you. Dont give up, or in!

[Wickerman]

Absolutely. The age of our car was against us with regards Sale of Goods Act, but some of the guys in that petition had only had their Peugeots a matter of hours. Think this issue has been on BBC Watchdog a couple of times in the past as well. Not sure of the outcome though...

[norvernrob]

I had exactly the same problem with a 406 coupe for over 2 years. It's not fun when your car cuts out at 70mph, or everytime you take your foot off the accelerator, or you start it up and the revs are going up and down like a prostitutes knickers. I knew it was something to do with the engine management but all diagnostic tests turned up nothing - and I wasn't going to spend hundreds on parts for no reason. A friend at work wrote off his 306 after it cut out and he hit 2 other cars. I would never buy another Peugeot as long as I live!

I now have another car, the Peugeot is sat on the drive as i'm in dispute with the finance company about voluntary termination. They are asking for the car and £1100 back (i've already paid more than I borrowed back) and I'm saying the car was never fit for the purpose anyway - I have copies of loads of complaint letters I wrote and a receipt for £215 that I had to spend on engine sensors a month after I bought it. Thats not to mention the warranty we were sold that was useless as it only covered cars with less than 100k miles, and the fact the advertisement said the car had service history when we later found out it had none.

[con]

in response to wickerman, i think the outcome of the watchdog investigation was to persist with peugeot and instead of an explanation of the fault they were just dropping another one on your doorstep. I was given the impression from the independant inspector of the courts that it was an electrical fault, which of course wasnt proven but like he said it would take a hell of a long time to go through the electrics and if you put this into peugeot theyd charge a fortune with their hourly rate, not to mention them being responsible for a maufacturing fault so widespread in effect.

[the_freedom_trail]

I am a bit of a petrol head and own a 206cc with the GTI engine. Things to check are the stepper valve - this regulates the idling speed of the car; also check the exhaust system - they are prone to problems and your symptons are consistent with a drop in back pressure. Furthermore, have the cat checked as well. You may also want to address the useful spark plugs to make it's not a misfire problem.

Mike.