I was out with my 3 young children last Saturday and broke down in a car park. The automatic transmission would not go into reverse or drive and seemed stuck. I had to get a breakdown truck out to take us home and then onward to our garage. The car is just over 5 years old and has only done 55,000 miles and following diagnostic checks I have been told the gearbox is stuck and will need replacing. Chrysler have said you have to purchase a new gearbox along with all the electronic controls and basically I have been quoted over £5300 for this. Has anyone else ever had this issue as the car and engine have always been serviced regularly there has never been any signs or issues before and to suddenly seize up like this does not seem normal. Any advice would be much appreciated.

 

£5300! what a load of rubbish!

The first thing to do is check the fluid level and condition. Assuming that the garage has done that and it's OK then the gearbox may well have failed. That it wont go into drive or reverse means it is not likely to be an electrical fault but rather the mechanical side of it.

The diagnostic codes from the gearbox are quite comprehensive and should aid in determining what is really wrong.

There are plenty of automatic transmission specialists who can repair or rebuild it. I would guess somewhere in the region of £500-£1000 or get a 2nd hand gearbox from about £50 to £200.

Regards
Richard