The Joy of 306. 200k? Completed it m8

[loserone]

One of our neighbours gave me them last year as a housewarming present.

 

 

I'm not even kidding, he saw the cars outside and said "I've got loads of pug bits, do you want them?"

[RoadworkUK]

That's mental! I remember a kid at school's Nan bought him "a book about cars" one Christmas. It was a Haynes manual for a Nissan Bluebird. He was ten.

[loserone]

Here's the replacement to the car they came off

 

[Jon]

On 7/13/2021 at 9:05 AM, loserone said:

These?

I have a full set, tell me how to get the to you or come to the northern meet.

30 minutes to resolve the situation of missing obsolete car bits: faster next time, please!

 

[RoadworkUK]

This post is sponsored by @loserone and @320touring (see above). Cheers dudes!

Right now, all is go for FOTU... although there was a HNNNNG moment on Tuesday night, when it suddenly became obvious that the 306 had nom nom nommed its way through its front pads, partly thanks to a seized O/S caliper.

A very nice man in a garage currently has it. The brakes are sorted, though (I've been too busy with work to do it myself), and a fresh pair of Falkens are going on tomorrow morning.

Other than that, No Sleep Til Grimsthorpe.

[RoadworkUK]

Grimsthorpe was achieved! And better still, when we got there we found that all kinds of other humdrum machinery had gathered in the same spot.

We joined the queue, which when we arrived at about 09:30 was rather slow-moving, although I gather it was flowing like molasses or container ship bunker fuel a bit later in the day. The queue seemed to be a 50/50 split between cars that were obviously arriving with a view to being shown, and more nondescript stuff carrying people who just wanted to gawp at old rammle. It seemed that the parking attendants had the job of either recognising one from the other or passing a spot judgement.

Consequently, we were assigned parking in The Car Park. With all the Nissan Jukes, Vauxhall Mokkas and whatever other dreck people have the misfortune of using for transport in the modern era.

Presumably the car park filled up a little later on, but the poor old pug did feel a bit like it had been sent to sit in the corner. I was quite surprised that the W124 in the bay next to us was in the same boat.

It seemed, though, that the parking director people had been getting their sums wrong a bit. Soon after we arrived, a gang of Peugeot 205s who had also ended up in the overflow car park of despair upped sticks, making me think that words were being had. Similarly, a chap in an utterly immaculate late Rover 416 was a little aggreived at being separated from the show and tell side of the party, particularly as he had actually paid for a ticket (mine, as with many on here, was from the "come and get 'em" giveaway earlier in the year). When he returned with a satisfied grin, I thought I might see if I could promote the 306 to the main stage, too.

Fortunately, just as I was approaching the most senior-looking person at the gate, a much later, tidier 306 was waved through to the display area.

"Hi, I don't want to kick up a fuss, but I was a bit surprised and disappointed that we'd been put into the non-display parking"

"Oh, okay... well, what are you driving?"

"A 306 that's about four years older and markedly more shite than the one you just waved through".

"Ah, okay, no problem. Pull up back here and we'll push you through".

 

Victory.

I mean, I felt like a bit of a petulant child, and it really did go against my nature to whinge so pathetically, but I actually felt that I owed it to the car. And also to my wife, who owns the damn thing. Not really knowing how FOTU worked, with the 306 being a 1995 car, I thought it my key to participating. And, truly, the high-mileage, base-spec, category N-marked, primer-adorned 306 XN i1.4 is by some margine the most unexceptional car in our domestic fleet.

Especially with a missing wheel trim.

However. As has been documented above, an initial act of extreme generosity from @loserone was underwritten by selfless effort on the part of @320touring, leading to what are possibly the world's last four remaining Peugeot 306 XN wheeltrims — unique to that model and probably either NLA or £££££ from Peugeot — being relayed 320 miles plus from beyond Glasgow to the middle of Lincolnshire, and gifted to us.

There is a part of the 306 forever dedicated to you. Cheers, guys.

In fact, having just returned from the Harwich Beer Festival in an agreeably well lubricated state, the Scottish touch was applied.

That's a very happy Mrs RoadworkUK, with a fully trimmed 306 XN, and three more spares should the worst happen again.

We were interviewed yesterday by a Hagarty journalist, asking probing questions about the car and why we have it and that kind of thing, and Mrs RWUK was a bit baffled as to how to answer. See, when she was 18, she needed a car and this one was better than the black Fiesta that was at the same used car dealership in Colchester. Sixteen years later, she still has it.

And it's not through any particular interest in 306s — she really couldn't give a toss about cars per se, let alone specific ones. However, the 306 was her car. She used it, enjoyed it, and started gathering memories in it. And then it became a kind of running joke. Her friends would have new stuff on finance, and she "still had the Heinz Beans-coloured 306". And now, frankly, she wouldn't be without it. To the extent that some mechanical operations (such as a new rear axle we had fitted two years back) don't make any kind of financial sense. But who cares? Its her car and she loves it.

It is the very definition of unexeptional. Which makes it pretty exceptional.

[320touring]

Yaaaaaassssss! Great to see it fitted, and Mrs_RoadworkUK looking happy:-)

 

It was all really @loserone - he had the hubcaps, and arranged the meet that Gave me the excuse to head to greater Durhamshire* to grab them.

I just slung them in the boot and took the glory🤣

 

I've had folks on here do similar for me - good to keep old tubs rolling along!

[loserone]

Only thing I did was put them in the garden for six months 🤣

 

Glad they fit!

[RoadworkUK]

Problem is Mrs RWUK now fears this might be the first step on a slippery slope. With a full complement of wheel trims, and having appeared at "a car show", next thing we know we'll be making cosmetic repairs and regularly cleaning it. Who knows where it could lead. Terrifying.

[loserone]

Have been sent a few pictures of the cars the trims came from

[RoadworkUK]

A light dusting, there. Who needs a Land Rover!

[Brodders]

A shame that it was initially relegated to the modern car park, but at least you were able to get it onto the show field, where it belonged, later on in the day.

These have disappeared very quickly, especially the pre-facelift ones, so it was nice to see one again. Unfortunately didn't get to speak to you in person, but very pleased to have seen it (not that you'd be able to miss it in such a bright and undeniably 90s colour.)

[RoadworkUK]

Rather pleasingly, it seems we've made the final cut for Hagerty's  Unexceptional Stories! 

https://www.hagerty.co.uk/articles/events-articles/festival-of-the-unexceptional/my-unexceptional-story/

You know... I'm not going to lie, I got ever so slightly emotional when I saw that pic and read the story to myself. 

Cheers, Pug.

[BorniteIdentity]

1 hour ago, RoadworkUK said:

Rather pleasingly, it seems we've made the final cut for Hagerty's  Unexceptional Stories! 

https://www.hagerty.co.uk/articles/events-articles/festival-of-the-unexceptional/my-unexceptional-story/

You know... I'm not going to lie, I got ever so slightly emotional when I saw that pic and read the story to myself. 

Cheers, Pug.

Quote

Very soon after my wife and I got together we made a 4000 mile trip across Europe, sleeping and eating in the car – partially because we enjoy the car, and partially because I don’t like spending any money. 

Brilliant. Bravo.

[wesacosa]

great Story.  Bet you are glad you stood your ground and got into the appropriate car park

[JeeExEll]

On 8/1/2021 at 6:31 PM, RoadworkUK said:

Grimsthorpe was achieved! And better still, when we got there we found that all kinds of other humdrum machinery had gathered in the same spot.

We joined the queue, which when we arrived at about 09:30 was rather slow-moving, although I gather it was flowing like molasses or container ship bunker fuel a bit later in the day. The queue seemed to be a 50/50 split between cars that were obviously arriving with a view to being shown, and more nondescript stuff carrying people who just wanted to gawp at old rammle. It seemed that the parking attendants had the job of either recognising one from the other or passing a spot judgement.

Consequently, we were assigned parking in The Car Park. With all the Nissan Jukes, Vauxhall Mokkas and whatever other dreck people have the misfortune of using for transport in the modern era.

Presumably the car park filled up a little later on, but the poor old pug did feel a bit like it had been sent to sit in the corner. I was quite surprised that the W124 in the bay next to us was in the same boat.

It seemed, though, that the parking director people had been getting their sums wrong a bit. Soon after we arrived, a gang of Peugeot 205s who had also ended up in the overflow car park of despair upped sticks, making me think that words were being had. Similarly, a chap in an utterly immaculate late Rover 416 was a little aggreived at being separated from the show and tell side of the party, particularly as he had actually paid for a ticket (mine, as with many on here, was from the "come and get 'em" giveaway earlier in the year). When he returned with a satisfied grin, I thought I might see if I could promote the 306 to the main stage, too.

Fortunately, just as I was approaching the most senior-looking person at the gate, a much later, tidier 306 was waved through to the display area.

"Hi, I don't want to kick up a fuss, but I was a bit surprised and disappointed that we'd been put into the non-display parking"

"Oh, okay... well, what are you driving?"

"A 306 that's about four years older and markedly more shite than the one you just waved through".

"Ah, okay, no problem. Pull up back here and we'll push you through".

 

Victory.

I mean, I felt like a bit of a petulant child, and it really did go against my nature to whinge so pathetically, but I actually felt that I owed it to the car. And also to my wife, who owns the damn thing. Not really knowing how FOTU worked, with the 306 being a 1995 car, I thought it my key to participating. And, truly, the high-mileage, base-spec, category N-marked, primer-adorned 306 XN i1.4 is by some margine the most unexceptional car in our domestic fleet.

Especially with a missing wheel trim.

However. As has been documented above, an initial act of extreme generosity from @loserone was underwritten by selfless effort on the part of @320touring, leading to what are possibly the world's last four remaining Peugeot 306 XN wheeltrims — unique to that model and probably either NLA or £££££ from Peugeot — being relayed 320 miles plus from beyond Glasgow to the middle of Lincolnshire, and gifted to us.

There is a part of the 306 forever dedicated to you. Cheers, guys.

In fact, having just returned from the Harwich Beer Festival in an agreeably well lubricated state, the Scottish touch was applied.

That's a very happy Mrs RoadworkUK, with a fully trimmed 306 XN, and three more spares should the worst happen again.

We were interviewed yesterday by a Hagarty journalist, asking probing questions about the car and why we have it and that kind of thing, and Mrs RWUK was a bit baffled as to how to answer. See, when she was 18, she needed a car and this one was better than the black Fiesta that was at the same used car dealership in Colchester. Sixteen years later, she still has it.

And it's not through any particular interest in 306s — she really couldn't give a toss about cars per se, let alone specific ones. However, the 306 was her car. She used it, enjoyed it, and started gathering memories in it. And then it became a kind of running joke. Her friends would have new stuff on finance, and she "still had the Heinz Beans-coloured 306". And now, frankly, she wouldn't be without it. To the extent that some mechanical operations (such as a new rear axle we had fitted two years back) don't make any kind of financial sense. But who cares? Its her car and she loves it.

It is the very definition of unexeptional. Which makes it pretty exceptional.

A local country-estate owner in Scotland had a new N- reg 4 (5) door diesel 306 in this exact colour and used it as his everyday (and only) car for about 10 years.  I did a lot of work for them over the years.  Nice old bloke was in his 70s at the time and probably worth something like 15 or 20 £million, maybe more.

[RoadworkUK]

Hello all.

On Sunday I completed a project that I'd inexplicably not got around to in 12 years.

As you know, we took the Pug around Europe in 2009. I got a reasonable photographic record of it, but neglected to take a decent video camera. Nevertheless, I recorded bursts of video using a really awful Samsung point 'n shoot, and basically forgot I had ever bothered. Until Sunday.

Having unearthed this precious* archive, I stitched the snippets together using the worlds most basic video editor (Windows Movie Maker) and a bare minimum of skill, to produce a tedious 50min epic.

Basically, it's a montage of moving views of spectacular (but grainily captured) scenery framed by the windows and dashboard of a Peugeot 306, with occasional outbreaks of innane chatter from my wife and I.

Should anybody want to subject themeselves to it, I've uploaded it onto Youtube, for which I apologise.

Thank you.

 

[RoadworkUK]

I'm not particularly active on here when it comes to shite updates; this thread's been dead since 2021... and, frankly, it's all the car's fault.

There's not much entertainment to be found in a thread that just repeatedly says "Hey, it's still alright!"

Nope, basically since being written off  in 2016, and put back on the road by yours truly in the most field expedient of ways, my wife's Peugeot 306 (AKA The Donkey) hasn't given me a great deal to discuss. Having reached a significant milestone this weekend, though, I figured it time to bring this thread up to date.

Late last spring, the symptoms that I had optimistically thrown a thermostat and coolant replacement at turned out to be — inevitably — rather more sinister. When the 306 became extremely reluctant to start, eventually catching on two cylinders and more grumpily than my wife on a Monday morning, I had to admit to myself that it had finally lunched its head gasket.

I have to admit that I'm increasingly keen on sending jobs off to "a proper person" these day. The last few jobs on the 825 have been tendered out for two reasons: A) I don't have a huge amount of spare time these days, and 2) I want it done properly. With a warranty. Okay, I still do oil changes, and I'll continue to do so with the 825, but I suspect I'll even tender those out when it comes to the 540i.

The 306, though.... well, that's a labour of love. I enjoy the challenge of keeping it going. Several months prior to the HGF, I'd broken the socket set out and replaced the cambelt (a breeze of a job compared with my old A4), and — armed with my increasingly oil-stained and thumb-marked HBOL, I freed the Halfords Advanced once again.

So, I got stuck in and made myself familar with intimate bits of the old 1360cc TU that I'd never seen before.

The whole thing was a learning process. All fairly simple, as it happens, but I was foxed a few times by hidden vacuum lines (one directly below the throttle body that I'd totally missed), and some of them really didn't want to let go without a fight. Presumably, they'd never been off before.

So I kept on going.

Eventually, I was looking into the very guts of the beast. So, what did we find?

Well, a bit of a mess. The HG was kippered, inevitably, and there was evidence that it had been letting go around cyls 3 and 4 for some time. Plenty of coke and crap in there, too. So I got to work.

Slightly amazingly though, once I'd got busy with a combination of various cleansing agents (WD40 really does do everything), I was pretty happy with how things looked.

I'll take that for a 29 year-old, 185k piston, frankly. My face is in much worse condition than that.

I found an old Safeways Greenbox to be an absolutely jig for holding a TU cylinder head in place while I got busy cleaning it up.

Once I'd finished, I took a straight edge to it, and found it to be almost perfect.

Almost.

Sigh.

It was here that I made a decision, and probably the wrong one. What I should have done was send the head off to have a bit shaved off it. I didn't, though. I figured that, with a new gasket, new head bolts and the right amount of torque applied, it would probably be okay. Right? Right?

So, with everything looking all clean and shiny, I plopped the new gasket on...

... and put it all back together.

There eventually came, of course, the nerve-wracking moment of turning the engine over for the first time since pulling it apart, but...

My first ever DIY head gasket was basically successful. Result.

And so it went to pass. The 306 went back into daily service, I continued monitoring vital fluids. A few weeks later, the coolant warning came on, so I administered another litre of the good stuff, but the light's not been on since then, so I suspect it was an airlock in the system somewhere. I do find the cooling system a bit of a PITA to bleed.

Anyway. The months went on. The 306 continued to merrily trundle along. Yes, it does burn a bit of oil, but not in an apocalyptic-blue-clouds-following-us-around kind of way.  Far from disastrous. Far from "knackered old Pinto" status.

Fast forward to February 2025. "Chris, I'm sure my brakes feel quite a lot more crap than they used to"

That would be because there was brake fluid pissing out of the N/S/R line. I don't like working with brake fluid very much, and I haven't really got time to teach myself how to make and fit brake lines (corroded brake lines had been picked up in the previous MOT, to be fair).

So... off it went to a Proper Person.

It was mended in pretty short order, for a reasonable sum. Which is just as well, because Nicola had swapped into the 540i for a few weeks of commuting, and was finding its 4.4 rather less economical around town than the 306's 1.4.

Anyway. To bring you right up to date, on Saturday, this happened:

We actually took a trip out specifically so we could capture the moment it happened.

And, on our return, we celebrated the way that is right and proper.

So, the Donkey continues to live. And it puts more of a smile on my face on a country road than the 540i does.

At some point, family need will dictate that the 306 has to find another home. But not today. And not tomorrow.

 

[bramz7]

That colour with the 3 door body is nigh on perfection IMO. Amazing it's done 200k, and fabulous too. 

[RobT]

Great car this, a cornerstone of AS.

I did my first head gasket job a couple of years ago and it's satisfying when you get it right.  Or learn from your mistakes as I did (should've skimmed but didn't on the first attempt).

[RoadworkUK]

Cheers @bramz7 and @RobT. When Nicola originally found it, on that fateful day in 2005 at a dealership on the outskirts of Colchester, she had initially gone there to see a black Fiesta advertised in the local rag – but it was being prepped and wasn't available to view. The 306 was, though. And when she, at 18, phoned around for an insurance quote, the 306 was about half the cost of the Fiesta, and that made her mind up. 

That was a good day.

[worldofceri]

Fantastic.

[cms206]

Sorry if I come across all lightbulbfun - any idea who supplied it new? Glasgow plate would suggest Melvins but they were also Johnston Peugeot on the go around the same time.

[RoadworkUK]

32 minutes ago, cms206 said:

Sorry if I come across all lightbulbfun - any idea who supplied it new? Glasgow plate would suggest Melvins but they were also Johnston Peugeot on the go around the same time.

Couldn't say with 100% certainty who supplied it new (although there might be some indication in the paperwork – which I'm 117 miles away from right now), but it was certainly sold by Arnold Clark at some point very early in its life. The manuals are all in an "Arnold Clark Vehicle Documents" binder that could easily be the age of the car. There were Arnie Shark window stickers originally, too. 

[MrGTI6]

6 hours ago, RoadworkUK said:

Cheers @bramz7 and @RobT. When Nicola originally found it, on that fateful day in 2005 at a dealership on the outskirts of Colchester, she had initially gone there to see a black Fiesta advertised in the local rag – but it was being prepped and wasn't available to view. The 306 was, though. And when she, at 18, phoned around for an insurance quote, the 306 was about half the cost of the Fiesta, and that made her mind up. 

That was a good day.

In a world where cars tend to be treated as throwaway items, I think it's wonderful to see an old car continuing to provide faithful service way beyond its design life.

The fact the car in question is a poverty-spec phase 1 306 3-door is the icing on the cake!

20 years with the same car is seriously good going, especially one that continues to be used on a regular basis. 

If my maths is correct, she has owned the car for most of her life! If that were me, I'm not sure I could ever bring myself to part with it! 

The car is now a rare survivor and a credit to you both. 

[captain_70s]

The 306 is peak car, from the era of peak Pug.

Those pistons looked brand new!

[RoadworkUK]

Cheers @MrGTI6.  Can't tell you how pleased I am that Nicola would rather keep the 306 going than follow her friends into a continuous cycle of dreary PCPd things.

Can't say I disagree on the peak Pug thing @captain_70s, although I probably wouldn't have ever known or given them much attention had I not met a burd wot drove one...

This was the worst cylinder for bore scoring etc. To be honest, I might actually have added some of those marks during the cleaning process.

[Zelandeth]

306s are bloody great cars in my opinion.  Had things played out slightly different around the absolute train wreck that was 2016 I reckon that it's entirely possible that I'd still have the last one I had now.

Sadly circumstances conspired against the car as a whole lot of crap went sideways in my life in very quick succession that year, so trying to get a car which needed some work that was parked up 450 miles from home when I lost the parking space at my parent's place sorted just wasn't going to happen.  We did look at getting a couple of garages to do the work, and they literally laughed at me for looking to do anything by way of repairs to what they saw as such a low value car.  Eventually after two years of a friend back up north trying to find a home for it (even for free) without even so much as a nibble of interest it ended up getting scrapped when they needed to move to a new business premises so it had to go from their yard.  We both still feel bad about that one, as if things had played out even slightly different it would pretty much definitely still be on the road.

[RoadworkUK]

23 hours ago, Zelandeth said:

Sadly circumstances conspired against the car .

Ah, that's a shame man. Always rather liked the 306 Sedan; I can imagine it was a good deal quieter inside than the hatch, and I quite liked its proportions.
Yeah, fifteen years or so ago, when ours first visited the garage it goes to when it needs work that I can't be arsed to do myself, they called Nicola up expecting a sharp intake of breath, followed by "ahh, okay, I'll take it away / get rid of it." They've since grown sympathetic to our determination to keep it going. If they're not greedy with what they try to charge us, they know they'll probably get the work.

[Zelandeth]

19 minutes ago, RoadworkUK said:

Ah, that's a shame man. Always rather liked the 306 Sedan; I can imagine it was a good deal quieter inside than the hatch, and I quite liked its proportions.
Yeah, fifteen years or so ago, when ours first visited the garage it goes to when it needs work that I can't be arsed to do myself, they called Nicola up expecting a sharp intake of breath, followed by "ahh, okay, I'll take it away / get rid of it." They've since grown sympathetic to our determination to keep it going. If they're not greedy with the prices, they know they'll probably get the work.

Not sure if there was a huge difference in noise, but it was an incredibly rigid feeling shell and felt incredibly planted on the road - especially with those wider tyres that were on it.  Not something I'd usually have done, but it needed tyres and a friend offered those wheels with near new tyres on for a stupidly cheap price - and I reckon they actually really suited the car.

It was no ball of fire with the 1.6 TU under the bonnet, but you could hussle it along plenty fast enough as it handled so well.  Being a facelift car the fit and finish was impeccable as well, I don't remember there being a single squeak or rattle in the cabin.  Only real complaint I remember was that it felt like it could have done with another gear on the motorway as the engine droned a bit at 70.

Still remember the sheer level of WTF that happened in my brain the first time I drove a DTurbo one we had in through the garage - first ever diesel proper hot hatch?  My main memory was that it just felt biblically quick, probably because of the way being a somewhat old school turbo diesel ALL of the torque arrived in one big lump once the turbo spooled up.