406oc.co.uk

Hi,

I am after a bit of advice please regarding the servicing on my peugeot. I haven't had the car long and it has a full service history, It is due again for a service now. I wanted to check if the cam belt etc had been changed previously, I have phoned the garage in the service book who can't tell me if it was done or not (not sure why!!).

Anyway I am going to err on the side of caution and have it done anyway. When having the cambelt done is there anything else that you would recommend having changed at the same time??

The car hasnt been running too well in the last day or so but I have put that down to the monsoon we have suffered in rainy sheffield the last few days!

Also I have developed a loud 'clunk' noise which seems to be coming from the front wheel area when driving, going over bumps in the road etc, the mechanic says it may the anti roll bar links that need looking at. Does this sound about right? any ideas what else it could be??

Thanks in advance

Mike

Hi,

With the cam belt you should change the water pump (and coolant),around £35 for the pump i think.

The knocking is probably anti roll links, these are the most common failure. When one on had gone on mine you could feel it by moving it up and down my hand. They run from the front shocks to anti roll bar, you can get them by reaching around the rear of the front wheels.

They are around £15 each and two nuts to fit, pretty easy job, providing you can get the old ones off.

HI,

Just a note for the rain and large poodles, the air intake on the 406 is very low down so don't go running though large/deep water or you will suck up a tonne of water.

I think the air intake is as low as the front fog lights (not sure though)

ANdy

Yeah the intake is bloody low

Anybody able to suggest a reason why we shouldn't all drill a couple of ~5mm breather holes in the ducting near the top?

yep they air intake is at the bottom of the front bumper
i killed my lovely china blue by going through a ford that was only 6 inches deep
it totally seized the engine

but the insurance paid out and now i got a 407

or you could do what i did and remove the air ducting, doesnt cost anything

Thought about that, but surely there's a fair reason why it's taken from down low? I'm guessing it'd be to pull in cooler air...

Also I'd at least leave some ducting to direct air through the filter as just lopping the ducting off the bottom of the filter box could create negative airflow by the same principal as opening a window a crack will cause air to be sucked out of the car at its leading edge...

I may not know too much about engines and rack&peanut steering, but I do know a bit about physics-y stuff

Thanks for the advice! I had already noticed the air intake was very low, so I haven't been driving through puddles (well rivers) as they have been. Well the car is intoday, having the cambelt kit fitted, water pump, both anti roll bar links done and then the full service. hopefully the car will be running spot on after that, mechanic doing it all for £250. Plus the £60 I already owe him for sorting out the other car. I don't think that its a bad price at all for the ammount of work.

£250 is pretty good price, Cost me around £150 for cam belt (prices for cam belt vary alot!) and water pump, expect around £30 each for anti roll links, and £60+ plus for a service depending on what they do (I just do it myself, cheaper and you know its done right)

I have used the garage for several years with different car's and have always been happy with the work. The problem is lots of other people use the garage too and the bloke works on his own so have to leave the car for a couple of days, so I have the delight of driving our other car, a rover 200. Not as refined as the peugeot but really fun to drive!!

i was wondering about the air intake situation as ive had to go through a couple of floods recently if the car is turboed as the hdi is then shouldnt it give a bit of protection from hydraulic locking as the heat from the turbo would evaporate it or not????????

nope, it will most likely seize the turbo as well as the engine

I have got the car back now, just to report that the knocking has gone, and everything looking fine. Judging by the state of the cam belt and other aux belts they havent been changed previously so good job I have had them done, also the mechanic showed me the water pump was a mess too, all rusted and he says just starting to leak a bit.

Just one quick question, I have reset the service light when I got home because the garage had forgot! I have done it but it has set to 12000, I thought the service interval was 20k. Have I done it wrong or something??

service interval on earlier ones is 12k (Ithink) the service indicator on mine can count from either 12k or 10k down (can't rember how you change it but you can)

Personally i "service" mine every 5k, I normally only change the oil as i have long life air filter. I then do the fuel filter about every 20k, probably 30k for fan belt.

If you can service it your self it is cheaper to service it every 5k than to have the garage do it every 20k, and better for the car too.

My phase 1 1.9TD had air intake around headlight, so I thought my phase 2 would be fine going through the recent floods! I was wrong, engine management light came on, AA came out to empty air box of water and dry out soaked air filter. Guess what a week on the light has come on again, the air sensor is playing up. I can think why, it's only a heated wire, the ecu just measures resistance to detect air flow. Any ideas?