Peugeot 406 - C U L8R 406

[paulscavalier]

Best not mention the wheel bolts on the Zafira. Just say it was misaligned lower drop link causing a fluctuating resonance. Works for me.

[beko1987]

I said I'd forgotten to clip a pipe back in...

[Lacquer Peel]

The strut bearings can be really bad and not fail the test.

Are the ball joints on these those awful ones that are threaded into the hub?

[beko1987]

The strut top was an advisory last year, and you can feel it sometimes but I was going to leave it as an advisory again for now...

 

Ball joint is threaded in! £20 for the tools, another £20 for the ball joints and maybe some scaffold bar...

[beko1987]

So... more of a list for myself but feel free to chip in!

 

To Do:

 

Lower ball joints

Strut top bearings

ABS Issue

Bleed the brakes

Fix the horn (fucking horns)

Find Mr Moog!

Wash it!

 

Not too bad tbh, and I'm almost confident! I was going to ignore the strut top mounts, but by the time ive got the bottom ball joint popped out, im a drop link and the 3 top bolts away from having it off the car! Then I can brace my foot against it on the kurb and crack the lower balljoint off!

 

Costs:

 

ECP - £75 with todays discount

EBay - £44.98

 

I'll need a special tool (unless anyone can lend me one?) to remove the balljoint - £22

 

Then a day to fit it.

 

ABS I'm going to get a can of brake cleaner, small brass brush and clean them all up and hope!

 

Horn - It does work if you smash your palm on the lion so hard you nearly set the airbags off, although I apparently dont need to remove the bumper to get at the connectors, so I'm mega up for giving that a go!

 

Bleeding the brakes, hopefully pep them up a bit, and sort the rears out, need to remove the rust from the disc.

 

Oooh, MOT question, can I use BFO cable ties to secure my battery into place? Otherwise it's £25 for a used clamp...

[hairnet]

ratchet strap like this

 

ties = PHAT PHAIL

 

find some threaded bar attach to tray and a piece of angle threaded thru those would be ok

 

 

 

 

[Ben_O]

Sounds like the horn issue is in the steering wheel rather than at the horn if it works when you push it hard?

 

As for the cable ties, I believe that the battery just has to be secure so should be fine however they may mention it on the advisories

[beko1987]

Sounds like the horn issue is in the steering wheel rather than at the horn if it works when you push it hard?

 

Yea I've been ignoring that option... Cos if it is, I'll have to add £8 to that list and do the indicator stalk dav comm common issue, because I'd need to airbag out anyway and I only want to do that once!

 

SiC, can you write an Oh No Peugeot please?

[Ben_O]

Hopefully just dirty contacts/connections?

[scdan4]

I’ve got a ball joint spanner kit for one of these somewhere.

 

Will have a look tomorrow.

 

Ps. They’re a right cunt to get out. Consider paying a man.

 

Expansion...

 

They screw into the base of the strut. Mine were seized solid.

You can tighten the tool onto the joint so it won’t slip, but you’ve then got to unwind it, and it’s twisting against the strut, which is wobbling around getting fucked, and you are upside down , working upwards on a low bit. Needs a ramp really.

 

I really struggled (had a pit , but no impact gun), which resulted in the struts rattling like buggery afterwards. As you’re doing the strut tops as well I’d research if it might be easier to remove the strut and do it on a bench somewhere.

[beko1987]

Mmm I don't have a bench... And yes, it looks like a cunt of a job, but the split gaitor will be a fail (as in its fully split right around the whole thing) so it needs to be changed.

 

Might ask around, I stuck a post up on the local Facebook group asking if anyone has a code reader and a guy who works for a garage in the industrial estate said to pop round and he'll read it for me foc... Might ask him to quote the ball joints and do the strut tops myself, and quote for both and see if it's not too horrific... Knowing the utter fail of a bastard job the Zafira struts were...

 

3rd option if he's open weekends is to have the struts off and whip them round, need to work out if he would fit supplied parts though, but I'll get many quote options and mull it over.

 

Need the abs issue knocking on the head really, as the above is just nuts and bolts, this is French electrics...

[beko1987]

And the horn, bloody horn!

[sierraman]

Probably wouldn’t cost the earth for a garage to swap the strut tops and ball joint. Beats scrabbling about on the floor in this weather.

[paulscavalier]

As long as the car has a horn wouldn’t it pass.? Maybe run another feed for the horn to a different switch/ button you could mount on the dash somewhere and mark it as horn? Just a thought?

[scdan4]

Is the multi plug in the drivers footwell side dry? That’s a known 406 electrical issue causer.

[scdan4]

 

Ta da.

 

Socket for drive shaft if you do need to drop the strut out.

Bonus random engine mount that may as well live in your shed not mine.

[scdan4]

 

Ta da.

 

Socket for drive shaft if you do need to drop the strut out.

Bonus random engine mount that may as well live in your shed not mine.

[beko1987]

Thanks for the offer Dan! Will hold for now though because if I can get an alright quote from a garage to turn up with the shocks in my hand I won't need to buy anything!

 

HOWEVER, after a peek behind the drivers wheel this morning, I noticed something I didn't like, so just now, when amy put the kids to bed, I went out

 

 

Wheel off, and look, a twisted brake pipe

 

 

No idea how the fuck it's done that, so I unclipped it and moved the twist to the straight bit behind the shock where it can sit safely

 

 

I went around all 4 corners, checking for anything blatent, loose abs rings etc and found nothing. Gave each sensor a good squirt of brake cleaner for good measure.

 

The rear drivers disc isn't fixing itself though

 

Half of it looks like this

 

 

The other like this

 

 

No idea why it's doing that, hoping to give it a good bleed this weekend, and if that doesn't fix it a set of cheap pads. I can't even drive up the road with the handbrake on as their different shoes! Hope it's not a seized caliper, suppose there's only one way to be sure, can give it a nudge with the rewind tool, they look pretty clean/recent calipers though...

 

And the result? Abs light still comes on when you start the car! Tried to find my Bluetooth obd thing and failed, will message the garage chap about popping over one morning. Not investigated the footwell plug yet, don't even know where it is really! But at least it's nothing urgently serious or owt

[The Moog]

Those rear discs don't look like they are doing anything. If they were then should be smooth and shiny.

 

Normally its the sign of seized calipers. Could get away with cleaning and greasing maybe, otherwise it is replacement calipers time.

 

It will probably have a load sensor so you could try some weight in the back to see if that changes the bias to the back a bit more and get them to do something.

[beko1987]

The passenger side is fine, just the drivers. Wish I'd moved my caliper rewind set from the very very very back of the shed when I had my hands on it last weekend now... Will have it apart and fettled, will get some brake fluid this week.

 

Abs light came on when I started the car, went off for 12 miles after that then back on again... Need to find this multiplug

[beko1987]

I've got the day off today as Amy has training at work this afternoon, and handily, I have a boot full of wheels thanks to Mr Moog and Mr NJLeeds!

 

 

Wasn't too sure of the racing slicks look, until I unwrapped them and found the actual wheels!

 

 

They have tread, I feel spoilt

 

 

 

15 minutes later I had them all swapped round, then put the best one that was on the car in the boot as the spare it had was very perished, with a deep crack running the whole circumference of the tyre!

 

That done, I still had 2 hours before Amy and Charlie came back from toddler group, so...

 

 

 

 

For the first time since Bramz washed it before I collected it, over 5k later, I washed it! Things immediately went a bit silvery when all the paint washed off the front wing, luckily it's not too* noticeable. Going by how easily the paint came off I'm amazed it didnt fly off on the m40...

 

 

Foamed it and did the tightwork, black death ran off all the rubber seals!

 

 

Then washed it

 

 

And it looks much better!

 

 

 

 

That done,  I packed up, and went to the petrol station to even out the pressures in the tyres and stick £28 of diesel in as I'd forgotten my wallet and could only use my phone. I then went and found the garage who offered to read my codes for free, and enquired about repairs to my car. The old boy said he recommended just sticking it in for it's test and seeing what it fails on, which I do agree with, but that could be expensive... But I don't quite fancy tackling the lower ball joint myself, having seen videos of people hanging off 12ft bars to get them off...

 

MOT is up on 20/03, might try and scrape a few hundred quid together by then and just see what happens, might tackle the strut top bearings myself as that seems easy*, and bleed and clean up all the calipers (somethings moved in that back one though as it's been contacting the disc better since i last checked) then all I'll know about is the split ball joint boot. The ABS light has been off all week, the horn works if you push VERY hard on the lion which will hopefully be enough... WCPGW?

 

I ow Mr Moog some money and Mr Moog and Mr Leeds some liquid thanks which I'll get posted ASAP, but it's been a good morning so far!

[The Moog]

Hopefully you will enjoy the wheels.  Which went on the front? 

 

Looking at your pics I assume you dont need any wheel trims? Got 4 sitting here

[beko1987]

I put the winters on the front. Of course now it won't get below 15 degrees for the rest of the year!

 

Its trims are ruined tbh, and I did think about not refitting them as it looks a bit mean without, save them for if Lord Sterling or another of the wheel trim fondlers need them!

 

I got up to 70* on the bypass too and their balanced fine, so put the 4 old wheels on facebook for free to save me a trip to the tip and paperwork, or asm and paperwork and hopefully their being collected on saturday

[beko1987]

 

Scotland makes it look fairly easy...

 

I've got a 6ft breaker bar, tempted to take Mr Scdan up on his offer of tool lendage... And stop being lazy and save money...

[oldcars]

the paint should not lift off like that. Must have had poor prep work in the past.

[beko1987]

the paint should not lift off like that. Must have had poor prep work in the past.

Possibly, I caught the edge of it on the arch whilst doing underneath, and whoomph off it came! Then I figured it would look less stupid just all a different shade of grey compared. To it just peeling off so finished the job! Can't say I'm that fussed about it, might think of something vaguely funny to do with it that doesn't involve stickerbombing it as I'm not keen on that...

 

Ill certainly make it look 400% worse trying to spray it, I've seen my spray painting...

 

Part of me is thinking that, assuming an easy mot pass to find a silver car being broken and get a better bumper, better wing, better steering wheel etc, but then again it's a near 200k car that works perfectly fine as it is...

[NorthernMonkey]

https://youtu.be/nrSCbMZLgKA

 

Scotland makes it look fairly easy...

 

I've got a 6ft breaker bar, tempted to take Mr Scdan up on his offer of tool lendage... And stop being lazy and save money...

Some come off quite easy (admittedly with an air impact gun) and would succumb to a decent bar but SOME can be a complete bastard.

 

Did a 3008 last week and ended up putting the hub in the vice, using an induction heater to get the entire thing glowing and smoking and still had to use an eight foot scaffold bar. It’s a bloody big old vice bolted to a huge timber bench which in turn is bolted to the floor and the whole damned lot was flexing before the ball joint eventually unwound.

[NorthernMonkey]

As an aside, if you do decide to have a go, there will be a locking tab on the old ball joint which should have been hammered into a slot on the hub. This will need knocking out first with a narrow punch and hammer otherwise it’ll never come out...

[beko1987]

Yes I've heard about the locking tab, and to loosen the heatshield carefully as their a bit unobtanium.

 

I suppose I can have a go, if I concentrate on the one with the already knackered boot, worst case I can just leave it be if it won't undo.

 

 

Suppose at that stage it would be naughty to just swap the boot around wouldn't it...

[NorthernMonkey]

Suppose at that stage it would be naughty to just swap the boot around wouldn't it...

I’ve seen worse bodges to get through a test, it depends on whether there’s already excessive play in which case it’ll still fail or if it’s just a split boot whereupon the kittens and nuns may survive a little longer.

 

If you want anything to draw a glimmer of hope from, then generally I haven’t had too much hassle with 406 ones...it tends to be the newer stuff that puts up more of a fight. I’ve a feeling PSA started using thread lock more as time went on?