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.

[Paul Anthony Johnson]

I have a Peugeot 206 which is playing up at the moment, runs then cuts out. I spoke with the Peugeot Helpline who stated I must take car to a Peugeot Main Dealer to have a diagnostic check done at the cost of £65. I spoke with a main dealer who said to me have you changed the spark plugs and the coil as they are the most common faults on Peugeots. I would appreciate any advice as I have already renewed several conponents already including a brand new accelerator cable. Car starts but the moment you put any pressure on accelerator car loses power. Have checked for fuel blockage and fuel running freely.

Edited July 13, 2011 by Paul Anthony Johnson

[Harlevie]

Hello! I have a peugeot 206 1.4 lx, i only bought my car about a month ago, it was fine when i first got it, everything seemed fine! then not long back i went shopping, come back to my car and started it, was waiting in a que of traffic and my car revved slightly on its own, thats when i first thought something could be wrong but i was being told it could be the fan kicking in or something simple, anyway not long after i turned my car on and it would start revving up to 2000 and then the car would start juddering and id just switch it off, this is my second car and i only passed my test in february the only thing i know about cars is how to drive them and im a girl so i just panicked! i tried to explain to my dad what was happening but he didnt understand what i meant and typically it would NEVER happen when i turned it on infront of him even if it had just been playing up before i set off to go to his house! it went on for the while that alot of the time it would start normally and drive fine and then occasionally it would have that problem when i turned it on, it happened infront of one of my friends once who knows abit about cars and he seemed to think it wasnt anything serious and it wouldnt happen when i was driving, well just minutes after he told me it wouldnt happen when i was driving, i was on my way home and the car started revving WHILE DRIVING, causing the car to pull me along the road, so i just panicked and swiched the car off, and then it wouldnt start so im just stuck in the middle of a busy road! i think it was only the next day it started pulling me along again so i pulled over and turned my car off, then it wouldnt start again but this time it wouldnt even start after leaving it for 5 minutes, luckily i was right by my dads so he came down and forced it to start by pushing the accelerator while turning it on, it was revving and juddering and my partner said every time it juddered it puffed black smoke out :/ my dad forced it to drive up his hill and parked it out his house, when he made it drive it smoked black smoke and stunk of egg! This is when he knew it needed to be seen, he took it to a mechanic who replaced the stepper motor, got it back, drove it until it heated up, then it wouldnt start again! my dad managed to get it to start the next day but when he drove it home he said every time he took his foot off the accelerator it would cut out! so he got it back to the mechanic, the mechanic checked the ecu and replaced it, drove it around, still wasnt fixed! so he tried replacing the starter coil pack, still wasnt fixed, then he plugged it in to the diagnostic thing when it was actually playing up and it come up with a fault, im really not good with cars but he said something like, when the car heats up a sensor or spark plug, one of them anyway, was running open circuit, (that might be wrong but basically it was doing something it shouldnt be when heating up) he replaced that and its been driving ok for me for 2 days, but still sometimes it wont turn on it just revs like it would when u normally turn it on but the revs drop straight back down and it cuts out, i can get it to start if i push the accelerator at the same time when its playing up and hold the accelerator in for a minute then it will stay on, and drive ok with no cut outs, but after reading some other forums today im worrying that its only a matter of time before the problem comes back, has anyone had the same experience and the cars been ok or has it broke again? Ive read this problem can be very dangerous and i only passed in february im 18 driving around with my 1 year old daughter in the back i just have no confidence at all constantly worrying the cars going to cut out or rev up and i could be on a dual carraige way or a busy road :/

[scaniaman]

In my experience the Peugeot / Citroen diagnostic checks are a complete waste of money. These computers are not set up in a way to reveal many engine problems----OR the PSA group know about these faults and try to fob customers off. My problem was with a Citroen heavy fuel consumption---diagnostic checked and result was "There is nothing wrong with your car", time and time again.NOW, here's the rub. When i asked that the car be checked by a diesel specialist (even at my expense), Citroen would not have it and said that all warranty work must be by main dealer----but NO MAIN DEALERS have the specialist equipment to test the engines in full, and dare i say, i doubt if their staff have the training to operate this equipment or even understand it.

[cam.rox]

Hi iv had my 206 for 6 weeks now and its been an absolute nightmare!!! Firstly I had to change the front drivers side wheelbearing, which I knew needed doing when I bought the car, I just didnt expect that it would cost me £90 for it pressing in and to be told that it was dangerous for me to even be driving the car! especially with my child in tow! But thats just 1 of the problems iv had. first of all the car just started guddering and loosing power. took it to the garage and had the coil pack changed. about a week after this the diagnostic light would come on for a second but as it did the car would lose power but then carry on. then it got more regular and the car finally cut out, arranged for pick up to come get it but as they did the car typically started up again. they run diagnostic on it and i had fuel pump changed. then when i picked my car back up as i was driving home the diagnostic light was still coming on and would lose power as before, as soon as i got into my drive the car cut out completely! then few days ago it started guddering again so iv had it back to garage and they have changed the coil pack for the second time plus put new spark plugs in. Then today went to pick it back and drove approx 1 mile away and all was fine, diagnostic light never came on, only thing i noticed was that it was a bit louder than usual. Then parked up ect! 15 mins later gets back in and the stupid thing wont start at all now! Can someone please shed some light on this because i really am in despair over it and i cant afford to keep taking it back for parts. my only other option is to take the piece of junk to the scrap yard, PLEASE HELP!!!!

[Conniff]

An engine needs three things to run, fuel, air and a spark, take any one away and it won't run.

 

Start by diagnosing your self. Remove the air filter, is there a fuel filter, bypass it. Is there a spark at the plug, if no, is there a spark coming out of the coil, if no, is there power going into the coil etc; work you way through, it's not that difficult.

[unhappychap]

I had the same issues with my old 306 in 1999 so I don't think this is a new issue.

[sam1986]

has anyone experienced a problem with the ecu on 207's .... iv got an 2008 which has recently gone due to water getting through the wiring and no one can understand how this has happened ! Peugeot want around £2000 to replace it and finding a used part is impossible

[Diamond Dave]

Sam1986, I just the exact same problem with my 207....three months after warranty expired. Dead ecu caused by water finding its way up the wiring loom. Not cheap.