Bloody Peugeots

[carlo]

Well, bloody Peugeot 306s to be precise.Whilst having virtually no trouble at all with two Peugeot 405s and more recently a 406, we have had nothing but trouble with this '98 306 diesel turbo of Mrs Carlo's.Bought in a rash moment, and at far too much money at a local auction the poxy thing has cost me nearly £4,000 in under three years. Needed a clutch and clutch cable as soon as I drove it out of the auction house.In the last year the water pump disintegrated necessitating a £375 bill to replace it together with the cambelt. Then this summer another £375 on the air conditioning. And to top it all, yesterday morning it died on the A38. Apparently the fan belt has flown off, hit the (new) cambelt and knocked off some teeth or something. The garage is going to check in the morning if the cambelt still works and if the car ticks over or something, but they seem to think it's probably done some major damage. In which case NO MORE, I've had enough of spending hundreds and thinking it must be good for another year or so, because it never is!There may well be some 306 bits available very soon, so watch this space!

[ashmicro]

There used to be an old boy round here, named Otto who was an excellent all-round spannerman. During WW2 he had been interned (he was a German) and just stayed here after the war.Otto's favourite pronouncement was "All Frenchmen, and all French cars, is bastards"Sounds like this is still true!

[dollywobbler]

Gawd, that's a bit crap, though I'll obviously defend French cars to the hilt! The 306 doesn't count as it was built in Coventry! (though I've owned one myself and it was fine).If it's the later HDi engine, that's a bit of a pig of a motor when things go wrong.

[carlo]

I love French cars too, and the 306 is a dream to drive but just too fragile, not nice and tough like a 405.

[Timewaster]

They usually stand a fair bit of abuse with good humour, I think you must have bought a wrong'un.Probably why it was in the auction in the first place.

[Guest]

They usually stand a fair bit of abuse with good humour, I think you must have bought a wrong'un.Probably why it was in the auction in the first place.

Agreed. The XUDs are 'ard. The HDis are wank.

[Milford Cubicle]

Must be an XUD if it's from 1998.Bad luck :(Did you get the auxiliary drivebelt changed when the timing belt was last done? It has to come off for the timing belt replacement... this is where I went wrong with my 405. It tore itself to bits in the middle of nowhere in Ireland 6 months after the timing belt was done.

[r.welfare]

Hey Carlo, I've found (by experience!) that once these diesel-engined Pugs get to a certain age they (disagreeing with Tontops I'm afraid) don't tolerate a lack of attention from hamfisted previous owners like, say, a Toyota does - my own car is a case in point here, it's cost me about half your current spend to get it bob-on mechanically.That said, once they're right and you keep on top of regular maintenance, they seem to stay right - but it can cost a bit in parts n' labour and time to get there. Hopefully the 306 isn't completely cattletrucked. Sounds as though the aux tensioner let go, I've been through two on my 405 (own fault for buying a secondhand part the first time round). The aircon seems to be a weak spot too, was it the pipe under the front valance that rusted out?

[garbaldy]

something doesnt sound right here though if the fan belt let go and came off, the car should still run as the cambelt is fully housed by the cam covers which i will testify are bloody strong enough to take a hard hit by something alot harder than a flailing rubber belt when you had the new cambelt fitted where all the covers replaced correctly as i bought a 306 with some cover mods basicly the owner had fitted it al together and forgot to replace the bottom off the cover his quick fix was to cut the cover in half and expect the two bolts to hold it

[carlo]

Must be an XUD if it's from 1998.Bad luck :(Did you get the auxiliary drivebelt changed when the timing belt was last done? It has to come off for the timing belt replacement... this is where I went wrong with my 405. It tore itself to bits in the middle of nowhere in Ireland 6 months after the timing belt was done.

That's interesting, the drive belt was done at the same time as the cambelt - less than a year ago - so I wonder why it decided to come off - perhaps I've got some sort of come-back there.The air con pipes had both gone rusty Richard, as well as the condensor getting holed.