Hi Jane, and welcome to the forum. Sorry to hear your car is giving you problems.
This is the first time I've seen this suggested. My first thought is that it probably won't help much - even in manual mode, you'll still be relying on the actuator to perform the actual gear changes. And if you're saying that when it failed in traffic, selecting manual mode wouldn't get you moving again, that doesn't bode well for relying on manual mode as a workaround alternative to fixing it.
But seeing as the car is probably otherwise scrap in view of the likely repair cost, you've little to lose by trying.
He also mentioned that it would probably be ok if we only drove it in manual mode. Does anyone know if this is the case? Will the transmission be ok if we only drive it in manual?
This is the first time I've seen this suggested. My first thought is that it probably won't help much - even in manual mode, you'll still be relying on the actuator to perform the actual gear changes. And if you're saying that when it failed in traffic, selecting manual mode wouldn't get you moving again, that doesn't bode well for relying on manual mode as a workaround alternative to fixing it.
But seeing as the car is probably otherwise scrap in view of the likely repair cost, you've little to lose by trying.