38th time lucky: New boot (and panties)

[barrett]

5 minutes ago, lesapandre said:

Were the "concerns" I wonder actual MoT failures? If it passed the braking test - it may just have been ass-covering. The flip side of this kind of thing is they are just trying to be helpful - 90% of punters would have no idea.

Seems a win anyway - and you are doing them anyway.

As an aside - are you going to Montlhéry this year? 👍

Yeah, I assume it might have managed to scrape through the brake test this time round, but none of last year's unrecitified minor defects and advisories have been flagged which makes me think it's something else...

Very sadly, last year was the last of the Vintage Revivals at Montlhéry and the organisers have stepped down. I believe a different company is planning to bring the event back in the future but there are no plans yet that I know of.

 

[lesapandre]

Sorry to hear about Montlhéry - never been but I did see a contingent of amazing cars coming back last year amazing a small French town.

I'll follow developments.

[barrett]

Just got the DSuper back from having the big hole in the floor welded and the exhaust blow sorted out. So much nicer now! Which is lucky, because it's going to have to be pressed into daily use as the 206's water pump (I think) has failed so it overheats if it's sat with the engine on for more than a minute or so. Not great in traffic on a hot day...

Not a very interesting picture. I might try and clean it (the car) up a bit more today andf go for a drive later for some pics

[barrett]

Went to my favourite postwar house in Brighton earlier to take some photos, but because I'm very smart I left my phone at home and didn't realise until I got there. So, here's the house, just imagine a rusty blue DS parked outside and you'll get the idea. Also I polished the roof and it's come up okay so I might go to town on it with the rotary polisher and see if the paint can be improved at all.

[barrett]

Had a go at chucking some polish at this turd yesterday. It's not exactly lovely, but you can see the difference here on the corner of the bonnet

Figured it was worth smearing the rotary over the whole thing

I haven't even washed the bootlid to encourage me to actually put a replacement on, but that's more or less what the whole car looked like when I picked it up – completely flat and milky. So even though it still looks shit, the fact that there's the faintest little reflection in it now is quite a big improvement (even if it is just reflecting some bins). Obviously nothing to do about that rear wing except have it painted again but I'll probably wait until I have found some new doors and have them all done at the same time.

[barrett]

Progress, what progress?

[barrett]

I took my 206 to a garage this morning to investigate the overheating, and they reckon it's done the head gasket Now, I'm not 100 per cent convinced about this – what does the AS hivemind think? 

There is no oil in the water, no water in the oil, no loss of power or funny smells and no white smoke. If you wack the heater on full it blows hot for a couple of minute and then gets cold, which to me suggests a blockage or airlock. The mechanic said he didn't think the coolant had ever been changed, which I can believe, and that the cooling system was probably totally full of crud, knackering the thermostat and leading to overheating...

I think I'm going to try flushing the system (I've never done this before but I think I know broadly what to do) and replacing the 'stat, and see if it makes any discernable difference. What do you reckon – worth a punt, or totally barking up the wrong tree? I'd really like to save this car if possible, as it's done me a great turn and I've just spent lots of money on it, so I really hope it's not quite as terminal as it seems...

[loserone]

A dishwasher tablet sounds like a good starting point.  

 

If it's the 1.4 they do seem to have a reputation for it.  

[Sigmund Fraud]

I presume this is a TU engine - is it the 1.4 8v or 1.6 16v ?

I presume your mechanic has done a block test ? If that has shown suspected HGF, I would tend to trust it.

It would have taken some serious neglect for the cooling system to get blocked in such a modern car (yes, I know, modern by AS standards anyway). If you are serious about keeping it, drop the coolant  (handy drain plug at the bottom of the radiator) and see how it looks before you decide on your next steps.

[RoadworkUK]

Sounds like similar symptoms to those exhibited by our 306, but ours did eventually end up with oil in water and eventually lost compression on two cyls.

Assuming that it, too, is a TU, it's a job that even I managed to accomplish. This was back in May and it's acquired another 5K miles since.

[barrett]

1 hour ago, Sigmund Fraud said:

I presume this is a TU engine - is it the 1.4 8v or 1.6 16v ?

I presume your mechanic has done a block test ? If that has shown suspected HGF, I would tend to trust it.

It would have taken some serious neglect for the cooling system to get blocked in such a modern car (yes, I know, modern by AS standards anyway). If you are serious about keeping it, drop the coolant  (handy drain plug at the bottom of the radiator) and see how it looks before you decide on your next steps.

Yeah it's the 16v TU. I don't thinnk they actually did any tests, after examining the coolant and looking at the symptoms they made a call on possible HGF but stopped short of doing anything that would cost money (assuming, correctly, that I wouldn't be paying £1500 for them to change the HG(!)). Let's see what happens.

[Rust Collector]

@barrett, if  you find yourself passing Seaford at some point then you’re welcome to a lend of my compression tester and coolant pressure tester if that’s helpful.

On the subject of crud, my Proton had so much shite in the cooling system at some point that it destroyed the fan switch, which caused overheating on that.

Have you checked the cooling fan runs, and if you suspect the thermostat is bad then is it easy enough to pull it out of a TU engine and inspect it? I’d definitely start with checking the basics and work up from there.

[barrett]

1 hour ago, Rust Collector said:

@barrett, if  you find yourself passing Seaford at some point then you’re welcome to a lend of my compression tester and coolant pressure tester if that’s helpful.

On the subject of crud, my Proton had so much shite in the cooling system at some point that it destroyed the fan switch, which caused overheating on that.

Have you checked the cooling fan runs, and if you suspect the thermostat is bad then is it easy enough to pull it out of a TU engine and inspect it? I’d definitely start with checking the basics and work up from there.

Yeah I'm pretty sure the fans have given up the ghost, too, which maybe confirms the 'horrible crud' theory. I am pretty sure the 'stat is right at the top from the top hose into the block and easily removed. I'll let you know about a compression test if we get that far.

[Sigmund Fraud]

2 hours ago, barrett said:

Yeah it's the 16v TU. I don't thinnk they actually did any tests, after examining the coolant and looking at the symptoms they made a call on possible HGF but stopped short of doing anything that would cost money (assuming, correctly, that I wouldn't be paying £1500 for them to change the HG(!)). Let's see what happens.

I'd invest £15 in a cheapo block test... Otherwise you will end up playing a fairly expensive game of parts darts with cooling system components, until the gasket fails completely and you end up with a banana-shaped cylinder head.

[SiC]

Worse case I reckon give a bottle of steelseal a go. 

Before that dishwasher tablet or proper coolant flush. Maybe with the stat out too. 

Airlocks I've always managed to clear now with a proper coolant vacuum kit. 

[Dave_Q]

1 hour ago, SiC said:

Worse case I reckon give a bottle of steelseal a go. 

Before that dishwasher tablet or proper coolant flush. Maybe with the stat out too. 

Airlocks I've always managed to clear now with a proper coolant vacuum kit. 

On the TU they tend to fail by the gasket rusting through so potions are probably not going to help seal it.

I did one on a Berlingo recently and it was pretty straightforward, parts are cheap too. That was an 8v though.

[barrett]

France is good, innit?

Driving back after a very long weekend (which I'll write-up at some point) I was about 100 miles from Dieppe when I saw the unmistakable shape of a DS by the side of the road, followed by another and another and another... cue the screech of brakes as we pulled into a layby

Looks like an interesting place! I popped over the road and found the boss and asked if I could look round. There must've been a dozen out the front and another dozen inside in various stages of restoration, plus a huge field out the back...

Heaven! Anyway, seemed pretty likely he'd have some hubcaps and after a bit of searching he managed to pull out four Pallas trims for me, which he let me have for the grand total of €50. I had to carry two of them in my lap for the rest of the journey as there was no room anywhere else in the car, but I got them home safely.

Just offered that one up when I got home today – nice! Will get the rest on asap and I reckon that car's just finished now.

[Dyslexic Viking]

Is this a 1950s Chevrolet estate? It looks like one.

[RoadworkUK]

19 hours ago, barrett said:

I reckon that car's just finished now.

Couldn't agree more. Looks just like how a sixty-odd year old car that's been respectfully used as a car (not mollycoddled) should look. 

[barrett]

Had a slight mishap yesterday on my way to work – conked out on a busy dual carriageway. Complete user error though: no fuel left. That'll teach me to pay more attention to my filling schedule until/if I get the gauge working. Howver, it's difficult to lose enthusiasm even when sitting by the side of the road in the rain when it looks like this...

It's far and away the coolest car I've ever owned and it gets more attention than any (postwar) car I've driven. Almost everybody stops and looks at it as you drive by and the response is always positive. Annoyingly I can't get the hubcaps on the back wheels as the valves in the posh tyres are at a funny angle and foul the trims. Might have to file away the opening a little to get more clearance as I really want a full set fitted asap.

Currently this is still my only working car, which I'm not really happy about. Relying on a 50+ yr old Citroën seems like a disaster waiting to happen. I'm supposed ot be driving some friends to East Anglia next month and, whilst it would be fun to go in this, I'm not confident about making it there and back unscathed so I really need to think about finding something else short-term.

Anyone know of a big, cheap reliable barge going spare? 406, S80, E39 type vibe but sub-grand...

[loserone]

With or without a working BSI?

[Rust Collector]

10 minutes ago, barrett said:

Anyone know of a big, cheap reliable barge going spare? 406, S80, E39 type vibe but sub-grand...

I know of another big french barge which meets most of those requirements…

[barrett]

14 minutes ago, loserone said:

With or without a working BSI?

ballsack inverter?

[barrett]

10 minutes ago, Rust Collector said:

I know of another big french barge which meets most of those requirements…

Don't tempt me!

[loserone]

2 minutes ago, barrett said:

ballsack inverter?

Pretty sure that's what it means even if it's probably not what it was intended to stand for.

https://autoshite.com/topic/63646-2000-peugeot-406-v6-spears-or-reapers-£350/

[barrett]

Yeah I've been eyeing that one up actually, although it seems like a potential world of pain to sort the issues. Shame as I'd love to try a V6 406

[lesapandre]

Always worth repeating:

Personally I'd drive it until it breaks. Then you know what's wrong with it...😅

A folding bike in the boot and breakdown recovery helps though. 😅 

[Lord Sterling]

On 15/05/2025 at 16:31, barrett said:

Went to my favourite postwar house in Brighton earlier to take some photos, but because I'm very smart I left my phone at home and didn't realise until I got there. So, here's the house...

I was having a browse on Street View around that area when I noticed this interesting garage set-up:

Where the car is backed up to, is what looks to be a double garage, but with a single-car garage entrance on the side. Presumably because to the side of that, the house appears to carry on. So I assume it may be an L-shaped garage or the single garage entrance may just be an elaborate bin storage? The bricks look a little newer than on the garage itself.

[lesapandre]

[mk2_craig]

12 minutes ago, Lord Sterling said:

I was having a browse on Street View around that area when I noticed this interesting garage set-up:

Where the car is backed up to, is what looks to be a double garage, but with a single-car garage entrance on the side. Presumably because to the side of that, the house appears to carry on. So I assume it may be an L-shaped garage or the single garage entrance may just be an elaborate bin storage? The bricks look a little newer than on the garage itself.

That almost looks like it was built for two Morris Minors side by side and later converted to house one Range Rover.