406oc.co.uk

Further to my other post regarding coolant problem - just been told the head gasket needs doing as it’s pressurising. Quoted £1600 just to get the head off and assess situation from there. Further £600 if new head required.
Game over sadly. Car only cost £1150!
Such a damn shame as, after rectifying the auto gearbox problem it was running sweet. Double damning as I just had the cam belt and water pump renewed and also the alternator and power steering pump too.
Just can’t win sometimes can you….

Spare parts anyone

I would have thought you could get a decent engine fitted for a lot less than that. It's rarely cost effective to carry out substantial engine repairs on the unit you've got.

What your saying is put another engine in? Surely the labour cost for that would be much higher than the head gasket repair though ? Then the cost of the refurbed engine also

I would shop around a bit. Surely the head gasket replacement can be done for less?

See e.g. at https://www.whocanfixmycar.com/head-gasket-repair

jlmacd wrote: ↑Thu Sep 08, 2022 11:39 am What your saying is put another engine in? Surely the labour cost for that would be much higher than the head gasket repair though ? Then the cost of the refurbed engine also

or buy a second hand engine if you can see it running first, maybe a complete MOT failure car and pay someone to swap them over.

RE:... ".... Quoted £1600 just to get the head off and assess situation from there. Further £600 if new head required. .... ".

Looks to me like the quote is really saying that someone doesn't want the job, and has given you a ridiculously high quote for everything,
to put you off.

Long ago, I owned a Peugeot 405 turbo-diesel. It would steadily lose coolant. I couln't remotely afford significant repair jobs.
I bought a product called K-Seal, put that in, and it worked great. No more coolant disappearing, and I did thousands more miles on the
car, till the clutch failed, and it was time to let it go.

For the sake of £10 to £12, it can be very much worth a try.

Agree with the k-seal suggestion. My 406 had a split metal pipe from the coolant tank. Cost to replace that with new thermostat housing was about £120 (from memory!). The car sill leaked coolant albeit at a much slower rate, so I stuck some of that in and for the last 700 miles I haven't noticed any more loss at all.

People have said take it back to the garage, but they showed me the split pipe and I'd accept them asking to charge more to carry on looking.

Thank you both for the input re: K-Seal. My problem started with the low coolant issue. I added a bottle of Steel Seal and, sure enough, it seemed to have solved the coolant level drop - wherever it was occurring. I took a short video, before and after, of the coolant filler neck with the expansion tank cap off. Before, it was bubbling away like a pan of soup (back pressure I assume). After a couple of days it was only showing a wispy trail of what looked like steam (engine being at operating temp at this point) I don’t have one of those test kits to check for exhaust gasses in the coolant but most likely that’s what I was seeing.
The day after this the coolant light came back on so either it was still leaking or coolant was being lost through the expansion pressure cap. Surrounding area looked clean though.
I took advice from a mechanic friend who said possibly one bottle of Steel Seal maybe didn’t quite do the job. So I tried adding a second bottle to see if that might finish the job.

For whatever reason, after this the car started to exhibit the overheating problem. It’s not immediate, takes about 20 miles or so to start going above normal ie over 88 and up to about 96. It has only twice hit the ‘Stop’ warning light level - first time happened during the heatwave (when external temp here was over 40c anyways.) The second time was on a longish journey (60miles) back from London.
In both cases as soon as it happened, I turned the heater up to max and the temp fell back to normal within a few minutes.

Only conclusions I can draw from this is that maybe the steel seal has caused the overheating problem somehow after adding it, or has caused the head gasket to fail elsewhere?
As I have said, there is definitely no sign of exhaust smoke, white blue or otherwise. And also no evidence of any oil in the coolant, nor any water/coolant in the oil. Just the apparent back pressure issue.

The thermostat was new last December when I drained, flushed and filled the system so you would think that is ok (but who knows?)

In desperation I am inclined to drain the system again to remove the remaining Steel Seal and associated copper colour crud I am now seeing in the coolant and refill it with fresh coolant and maybe another new thermostat. Probably clutching at straws though…

Yup - end of the road it was.
Took the car to garage recommended by a friend. Total waste of time - literally. This pair of morons kept the car for nearly seven weeks and said they couldn’t find a leak or make it overheat.
When I took it back it, it overheated within five miles heading home. The only thing they successfully managed to do was snap off one of the mountings for the ecu box. Guess they were too stupid or lazy to remove both the fixings instead of just the one.

Not having the know-how or facilities to attempt the head gasket repair myself and, as the car was now virtually undriveable any distance, I capitulated and got rid of it.
Bit of a shame but can’t complain - bought it for £1100 and got six good years of driving from it. It was a good car.
Still have the 406 2.2i Coupé though so not Pugless yet!