Peugeot 405 TD Executive Estate - sold!

[stuboy]

looking like a good load taker, friend had 1 got from his BiL which had dicky 3rd gear, he changed the box, the 6 months later bloody engine died but he replaced them both, i loved the turbo spooling up noise..

[SmokinWaffle]

12 hours ago, outlaw118 said:

<<PUNCHING>> 

I've got a Bissell spot cleaner wetvac thing you can borrow if required, just shout.

Thank you sir!

12 hours ago, stuboy said:

looking like a good load taker, friend had 1 got from his BiL which had dicky 3rd gear, he changed the box, the 6 months later bloody engine died but he replaced them both, i loved the turbo spooling up noise..

The turbo spool is very old school diesel, I love it too!

[SmokinWaffle]

Nice day today - opened the windows when I popped home for lunch to get some air circulating around the interior to try to get risk of the muskyness.

Also got a head gasket tester on the way, kindly loaned by @Stanky - to get a bit of a more concrete answer on that. If anyone knows where I can get a brand new radiator cap that'll fit this - please do tell!

[vulgalour]

You know how to pick em!  Check out that ruched leather.  Should this have body coloured caps on the door mirrors?  Seems a pretty high spec to not have them.

[SmokinWaffle]

15 minutes ago, vulgalour said:

You know how to pick em!  Check out that ruched leather.  Should this have body coloured caps on the door mirrors?  Seems a pretty high spec to not have them.

Fair point, they're electric (and work) and seem to be original! 

Was a bit glum when it didn't have cruise control but I don't know if that was ever an option. Has a stalk to control the radio ect though. 

I only wanted cruise as that's the only thing it's missing to be pretty much the same spec as my other halves 62 plate corsa! 😅 

Just gave it a sniff, smells better inside now it's been airing a few hours. Hooray! 

[Heidel_Kakao]

I did enjoy my old 405, mine was a 2.0 petrol automatic and regarding your cruise control question it was definitely an option as mine had it but not sure if it was automatic only.

Don't know if it still survives, MOT expired September 2019 and @bramz7 had it last but he's not been active since last year 😕

[loserone]

I bought a blue 405 estate from Bramz, but not that one.

[SmokinWaffle]

The chap just e-mailed me over a long excel spreadsheet of work done to this car since he got it in 1995 on 26k or so, with mileage entries each time. 

It has everything from wipers, bulbs, tyres to cam belts (of which its head two), services, relays....very impressive. It's also had a head gasket once in its life already. Constant services when they should be done. I'll have a deeper dive later on. Bodes very well though, looks like it's been taken care of. Last Cambelt was in 2006 at 125k or so - that's on the list if it lives for sure.

The last entry is that a local Pug main dealer couldn't find the coolant leak - I imagine they took one look at a tired old M reg with peeling paint and said "sod that, I've got 3008's to sell at a 40% markup" and told him they couldn't find it. I've never found main dealers that give even an ounce of a shit about anything 10+ years old. 

General opinion on the 405 Facebook page on the hissing cap business seems to be don't worry about it - but hopefully that HG tester will be here when I get home and I can then get it welded Saturday without worrying I'm throwing my dosh away. Feeling hopeful. 

[carlo]

All good stuff.

Cruise was standard on most late high spec 2.0 petrol automatics (and 92-93 STi 2.0 manual), but never on a diesel.

Your 405 is missing its coloured mirror inserts, again I should have some of these if you like.  I also should have a spare radiator cap, not sure if the petrol one is the same as your diesel.

You won't find many 25 year old cars as adept as these as a daily driver.  You certainly won't find any as comfortable.

 

 

[Talbot]

On 3/23/2021 at 6:16 PM, Heidel_Kakao said:

I did enjoy my old 405, mine was a 2.0 petrol automatic and regarding your cruise control question it was definitely an option as mine had it but not sure if it was automatic only.

It was definitely Petrol Automatics only.  I'm not aware of any XUD-engined car that had a cruise control option.   Which is a shame, as cruise is one of the few electronic control systems that I like having.

[SmokinWaffle]

17 hours ago, carlo said:

All good stuff.

Cruise was standard on most late high spec 2.0 petrol automatics (and 92-93 STi 2.0 manual), but never on a diesel.

Your 405 is missing its coloured mirror inserts, again I should have some of these if you like.  I also should have a spare radiator cap, not sure if the petrol one is the same as your diesel.

You won't find many 25 year old cars as adept as these as a daily driver.  You certainly won't find any as comfortable.

 

 

Funny you say that as the history spreadsheet said it had a new drivers door mirror in 1998, again in 2000, some mirror trim later in 2000, mirror trim painted in 2001 after a front bumper repair after someone knocked it, offside door mirror and trim in 2006, nearside one in 2010 and another in 2011. Weird.

What do the mirror inserts look like? That's very kind of you. The general consensus of the hissing seems to be run it for a few miles and don't worry if it's all fine. Suppose I'll get it welded and find out!

The Head gasket tester from @Stanky arrived yesterday - going to be doing that tonight. Place your bets! Fingers crossed.

I figure it's as simple as putting it in and starting it up, watching for any colour chance. Can't see why I'd need the thermostat to open but can let it do that too...

[Stanky]

Depends where the expansion tank is In the circuit but worth trying with it both hot and cold. Be careful removing the expansion tank cap when hot though!

And yes, bung it in the cap hole, then let the engine run for a few mins and watch if the colour changes

[SmokinWaffle]

The moment you've all been waiting for....bump bum baaaaaaaaa:

Sealed with tape for extra bungness - this is the colour it was when poured, and the colour it stayed for 20 minutes of testing. Thermostat opened twice, zero change. It looks like it was just air after all - so I'm cautiously optimistic - no sign of any rouge exhaust gases or pressure!

As it was just sitting on the drive and a bit cold outside I put my coat over the grille and gave it some consistent throttle to warm it right up, after a lot of testing the idle was happily here stable:

And dropped a little when I took my coat off the grille, all seems normal. I'm really chuffed. Big thanks to @Stanky!

I also put it near the exhaust to check it was working - and it changed colour:

So I'm happy all is well enough for me to get it welded and continue with getting it MOT'd!

 

[Stanky]

Brilliant news! Glad it helped, and also glad the blue liquid actually did something in presence of the exhaust, and it's not just blue food colouring in water!

 

[SmokinWaffle]

12 hours ago, Stanky said:

Brilliant news! Glad it helped, and also glad the blue liquid actually did something in presence of the exhaust, and it's not just blue food colouring in water!

 

Me too! I was a bit suspicious and thought I'd better test that it's not just blue water before getting too pleased....

[Stanky]

1 minute ago, SmokinWaffle said:

Me too! I was a bit suspicious and thought I'd better test that it's not just blue water before getting too pleased....

did you just hold it near the exhaust pipe with the engine running then? Trying to see how sensitive the liquid is to combustion gasses. Also, did it go back blue again as its supposed to? Essentially you are my test subject for this!

[SmokinWaffle]

44 minutes ago, Stanky said:

did you just hold it near the exhaust pipe with the engine running then? Trying to see how sensitive the liquid is to combustion gasses. Also, did it go back blue again as its supposed to? Essentially you are my test subject for this!

Pretty much, took a minute or so but it got there quite quickly. Hard to get the angle when the exhaust points downwards though!

I spilt most of the stuff that was in the ubend (it's very hard to pour as you said) before I could see if it changed back - I believe it does though!

[Noel Tidybeard]

On 17/03/2021 at 10:42, SmokinWaffle said:

As in coca cola?

yes but not nearly as expensive- this is Autoshite after all 🤣

[Noel Tidybeard]

i'm not sure why you are getting twitchy at the thought of the temp getting to 90*- thats normal as indicated by 90 being in the middle of the gauge, if anything surely running at 70* is too cool- thermostats are usually rated somewhere between 86-92

fan would normally be set around 100

[SmokinWaffle]

55 minutes ago, Noel Tidybeard said:

i'm not sure why you are getting twitchy at the thought of the temp getting to 90*- thats normal as indicated by 90 being in the middle of the gauge, if anything surely running at 70* is too cool- thermostats are usually rated somewhere between 86-92

fan would normally be set around 100

Apparantly in the case of the XUD 90C and above is head gasket damage territory, and the middle of the gauge isn't the optimal temperature. Quite misleading. Thermostat opens at 83. 

[SmokinWaffle]

Welding day today!

Looks like it was done pretty averagely back in 2011 originally then touched up in 2015 in not the best fashion, before pictures here as previously posted - it was cracking and you could see the floor through it..

Passenger side was pretty toast so that was ground down, cut out and redone:

What came out fairly easily:

Why not just use one piece....anyhow:

It was ground down a little more after that too - but welded up:

That top bit was folded in after too - don't worry!

Painted with some paint that also has the reverse rust stuff in too:

Very solid - don't really care about how it looks.

The other side was another mish mash of bits - but was a lot more solid and just needed cleaning up and some re-welding in places for it to be solid - finished product:

You can very much tell the difference between what my guy did in a single piece and the previous person. Like I said - as long as it's solid I'm happy.

Took it out for a small jaunt up the road - although it shows it's age I think it's quite a looker. It's got that "Reliable old horse" vibe that I love:

MOT Booked for Monday which means I can run it around for a few weeks afterwards and check that the engine is sound/head gasket is actually fine in practice before I put any more money into it.

I also gave it a bit of a wipe over with some wash and wax. got all of the algae off of the door rubbers so it doesn't look like it's been dragged out of a swamp for the MOT. Now it looks like it's been semi-professionally recovered out of a mostly freshwater reservoir. 

I had to pierce / peel some lacquer on the rear quarter too as some water was stuck in it. Didn't really want it sitting there:

Onwards and upwards!

[Rusty_Rocket]

Excellent progress! This is going to be a good workhorse I think. 

I wonder if, one day all the lacquer will peel off and you'll be able to polish the base coat? 😁

[SmokinWaffle]

7 hours ago, Rusty_Rocket said:

Excellent progress! This is going to be a good workhorse I think. 

I wonder if, one day all the lacquer will peel off and you'll be able to polish the base coat? 😁

Haha, maybe! Think I'll just leave it to naturally do its thing! 

The spots I drained on the rear quarter and now dry and barely hanging on! 

Gave the interior a good disinfect with some wipes too and put a cheap dehumidifier box crystal thing in it to get any remaining smell out (hopefully). 

Smells way better than it did, rear footwell is dry too. Small victories. 

Fixed the air leak today too with some bending, cables ties and gorilla tape. I'll replace the pipe in time - just means now it starts on the button every time. 

[Stanky]

On 26/03/2021 at 10:30, SmokinWaffle said:

I spilt most of the stuff that was in the ubend (it's very hard to pour as you said)

glad it wasn't just me being fat-handed/incompetent when I've done that the last 2 times I used it

[SmokinWaffle]

Okay - MOT update - sadly it was a fail but sort of expected.

Basically

• clean up the callipers (didn't realise it was binding as I've not really been able to test it - but I noticed on the drive there as that's the longest it's been driven)
• Needs two rear shocks
• Little more welding that I knew about - the MOT was more of a "lets see" exercise - it's on the passenger sill - a bit on the drivers side, inner rear passenger arch a tiny bit and some underneath

My welder wasn't too worried about it when we did the top mounts and had a look - but he had a chat to the MOT chap as he was passing and he's going to pop around and re-assess one evening soon as it might be worse than he initially thought.

Either way, £30 - 60 on two rear shocks, another £100~ or so on welding (he said £120 worst case initially) assuming it is just what he thought and some time spent cleaning up the calipers that isn't too bad. Fingers crossed.

I know a breaker who it's worth between £3 and £400 to as it sits - so it's not so much a financial debate - more of a time / potential usefulness weigh-up.

You know when you just have a feeling about a car that it's worth putting the work in? That's what I've got with this - even though it's rough around the edges. I do a lot of buying and selling of various things of all shapes and sizes - so an XUD engine that I could run on veg, combined with a huge loadspace is about as good as it gets. 

Got up to and held temperature fine on the way there and back, even sitting in the sun. Hiss is still there but I'll check for coolant loss tonight - so that's nice.

[Supernaut]

I'd say go for it, but I'm the idiot who bought a £300 Saab 9000 back in June then spent over £500 getting it road legal, just for it to still look marginally better than your 405.

At least the Saab doesn't have any lacquer peel.

 

I also love anything Peugeot and XUD powered. A mate at uni had a 405 with an XUD turbo and that's what introduced me to XUDs, and directly influenced my choice of first car... a 306 XLdt.

[loserone]

Do I have dibs on this already?

[loserone]

On 14/03/2021 at 16:06, loserone said:

Dibs!

Oh, I do.  Good 

[theshadow]

if rear shocks are fine,just change the bushes,which are less than tenner..

[SmokinWaffle]

3 hours ago, Supernaut said:

I'd say go for it, but I'm the idiot who bought a £300 Saab 9000 back in June then spent over £500 getting it road legal, just for it to still look marginally better than your 405.

At least the Saab doesn't have any lacquer peel.

 

I also love anything Peugeot and XUD powered. A mate at uni had a 405 with an XUD turbo and that's what introduced me to XUDs, and directly influenced my choice of first car... a 306 XLdt.

This is the encouragement I need. I also has a 306, albeit an XRdt!

3 hours ago, theshadow said:

if rear shocks are fine,just change the bushes,which are less than tenner..

This is a very good point....although it seems the bushes are £9 each and I can get a brand new OEM set of shocks for £40 - unless you have a link?