A French fancy - At the metal clinic

[The Moog]

So today I did a collection.

I left Accrington in the yawn mobile and travelled 70 odd miles into the land that speaks funny.

Get to the guy and his opening words were "Do you like old cars" barely had I yes before I was ushered round the back to his latest car, nice un messed with DS.

He buys French classics, ships them over here and sell them on. Even missus moog expresses admiration for the DS.

Behind it was a few campers including ex race motorhome which had full workshop in back.

After finishing perving it was back to the pug in hand. Keys handed over along with massive history file and we were off.

Obligatory dizzler filling up shot

So car inside is mint. Got AC that works plus original pug stereo and steering wheel control that works. History file that documents everything including belts, water pump and new rad 6 months ago.

Downside is that it is Lucas pump (should have checked that). Wishbone bushes need doing as it wanders and it is epically slow compared to my blue one. Got lacquer peel on roof and bonnet.

[The Moog]

Some more

 

For some reason they have put an immobiliser keypad in the storage bin.

 

On way out of the guys place missus moog decided to modify the yawn mobile by rubbing it on a wall. 3rd car in a row she has tastefully adjusted

 

Other thing I noticed on the way home is that temp sat at 90 and would increase going up hills. Is this right?

 

The blue one is 10 degrees cooler normally

[Lacquer Peel]

Temperature doesn't sound right, all my 405 TDs sat at just below 80C normally and would go up to 90C up steep hills etc. before the fans kicked in.

Shame about the Lucas pump, these late run 405 TDs are fitted with them, but at least you have a donor Bosch pump.

[r.welfare]

New Civic door in Orleans Blue required!

 

85deg is about right when the thermostat has opened up in my experience, it should go a bit higher than this before the stat opens - I changed the stat on all of mine and think I got the 88deg version although 82 was also an option from memory. That said, it should not go higher than that under any circumstances. So a bit odd given the new water pump and rad (the fact the latter has been changed is a good thing). How much higher does it go? Is it losing any coolant?

 

Edit: are fans kicking in - didn't you have relay issues on your last one?

[The Moog]

Yep fans kick in. First thing I checked after last time 😊

 

For me something is up, not sure it should be running that hot. Coolant it up to top, only done the trip home so didn't spot any leaking.

 

Masses of history last owner was a mechanic. Had new head gasket, rad, thermostat last August. Got the receipts as well to support the work.

 

I lack a hose so cant back flush the system. Tempted to give it to tame mechanic to get wishbone bushes done and sort the cooling.

[Bucketeer]

Top bombing there Will. It looks almost too nice for the dogs.

Is that a stuck-on LX badge from something else? Seems out of place.

[HMC]

Lovely! Had a GLX Dturbo estate myself on a 'n'.  What year is yours? That looks a really late one- what with the high level rear brake light and the LX trim- the  RUG 'cherished' plate makes it hard to be sure exactly.

 

I agree with the above commments re the temp- mine only ever got up to that when a fan relay blew on a long climb.

[The Moog]

The numberplate was a personal one as one of previous owners had a carpet shop. We are moving house in a month so might see if I can swap it for some carpets 😊

[320touring]

Just refrr to it as 'muncher'

 

Looks good-enjoy!

[The Moog]

So this was pushed into service today after the blue decided to give up the ghost.

 

Still running hot so a thermostat is on order. Radiator feels warm all across it, the top hose is squishy with no pressure in it. Hoping it is just a duff thermostat. For now I am making do with AC on to keep rad fans running.

 

Poking under the bonnet after dark there was a random relay. Any ideas? Seems to be feeding the starter I think

[The Moog]

Another question - aside from veg what are benefits of converting from Lucas to Bosch?

[Lacquer Peel]

The Bosch pump is easier to modify and tune.

[Farmerpug]

Do the 405s have an xud7 or xud9 in them?

[320touring]

Another question - aside from veg what are benefits of converting from Lucas to Bosch?

Less bad smoke, and more good smoke

[The Moog]

I have put 600 miles on this now and got a few issues.

 

First one is this overheating. Its had new rad recently and I changed the thermostat today and it made no difference.

 

I pulled the hose off the thermostat housing that goes to the radiator and water was just trickling through. Radiator itself is cold at bottom and only warm at the top.

 

Eliminated thermostat and rad. It had new water pump 12 months ago but I think it might have failed. Would that make sense?

 

Second one is that the drivers side suspension is lower than passengers side. Between top of tyre and wheel arch on pass side i can get 5 fingers, drivers I can only squeeze 3. Felt the spring but couldn't feel any breakage.

 

Any ideas on this?

 

At moment it is too cold to crawl around on freezing floor to have a look.

[dollywobbler]

Failed water pump unlikely. That would do stuff like stopping the heaters working. Could be a mammoth airlock, especially if someone has replaced the rad. Get it parked so the expansion bottle is the highest point of the system (I find uneven ground handy for this, or jack it up) then go around 'burping' all of the hoses.

 

 

Do the 405s have an xud7 or xud9 in them?

 

Either, depending on age. 

[Station]

Might be headgasket - if it doesn't overheat, I wouldn't worry at the moment.

My Astra (diesel) does the same when it's worked (on the motorway or uphills).

[Shep Shepherd]

Great number plate if, like me, you are a big fan of The Big Lebowski. Really ties the car together

[Noel Tidybeard]

90* sounds like a normal temp to me

[dollywobbler]

90* sounds like a normal temp to me

 

Going above that doesn't sound normal though. Pretty sure my 306DTurbo used to run at 85-90 and never went higher. XM seems a little cool - 75-80 rising to near 90 when pushed.

[r.welfare]

Jack it up high, drop the coolant, remove all the bleed screws (there are at least four but I can't remember where they are, thermostat housing, rad and heater pipes IIRC), get a 2 litre pop bottle and cut in half, put the neck in the rad cap spout to get yourself some more height.

[UltraWomble]

Other thing I noticed on the way home is that temp sat at 90 and would increase going up hills. Is this right?

You have an earlier thermostat - however Im a bit puzzled as I thought the intercooler on the 405 was front mounted not top mounted like the BX

 

EDIT  - ignore me on the intercooler that was the ZX/306

 

Edit 2 - Ignore the thermostat thing as I have just re read and missed the water flow issue - I only mentioned it as early stats did sit at just below 90, later ones ran cooler, not sure if that was to try and stop OMGHGF

[Station]

Think you can enter the code in the keypad - then unplug it and forget about it.

[The Moog]

Will try the coolant at the weekend. I can never find all the bleed nipples 😊

 

Temp wise it sits at 90 then under load or boost or even on motorway will creep towards 100 no problem.

 

Old one ran at 80 ish and only got up to 90 in traffic.

 

Heater is warm and thermostat is definitely fine.

[UltraWomble]

 

Temp wise it sits at 90 then under load or boost or even on motorway will creep towards 100 no problem.

 

 

Yes, I had a BX that did that till I swapped the stat, the Xantia sits at 80, the C8 sits at about 90 once warmed up, but it takes an ice age to warm up to that. I'll let you know about the Picasserole diesel if I end up buying it....

[The Moog]

Had a play today with 405. First off change coolant, like an idiot I managed to shear one of the thermostat housing bolts.

 

Whipped off hoses and managed to cut a slot in top of head so could unscrew it. All back together I hunted for bleed screws and I couldn't find any. I have got one on top of rad and cant find rest. Any pointers?

 

Temp is still doing its thing. Sits at 90 any load it climbs to over 100.

 

Swapped the wheels off old pug and onto new one. Ball joints and wishbone bushes need doing.

 

Measured the front heights and the drivers side has 8cm difference between top of tyre and bottom of wheel arch, passengers is 10cm.

 

Wheel off and spring looks fine. No obvious cause, very confused.

 

Also took the time to sort out fuelling issue. TADT air bubbles in fuel meaning housing was leaking. It has been replace with inline filter plus clear pipe and proper hose clamps. Seems to have cured it.

 

I think I am going to give it to tame mechanic to bleed coolant, sort front drivers side drop, change ball joints and wishbone bushes as I have run out of ideas.

[twosmoke300]

Is 100% bled correctly ?

[The Moog]

No it cant be as I can't find the bleed screws. Xantia ones were obvious, not so on pug

[r.welfare]

I just did a quick Google search on XUD bleed screw location and one of the links was a thread I posted on the Club Peugeot forum several years back. Funnily enough on that car it seems I could only find one bleed screw like you, however on another one I had (I ended up having four of the buggers, all '94 model year 1.9TDs with Bosch pumps) I am sure I found three bleed screws; the rad one, one on the top heater pipe just before it enters the bulkhead, and one on a plastic hose stub going into the fuel filter or thermostat.

[Andrew353w]

The bleeding is critical! Look hard for those bleed nipples-there are 2 of them & it takes ages to get it properly bled. I have an old anti-freeze bottle that fits exactly into the expansion bottle & use it to keep the level up as I run the engine & bleed the system. There could be problems with the obvious, such as blocked hoses etc. but if the previous owner was a mechanic & says he'd recently done a new pump I can't imagine it would fail quite so quickly.

 

Good luck-a lovely car (& a great plate, too!)