406oc.co.uk

car spat the dummy tonight on the way home from work.

noticed after setting off from work, that the coolant was maybe 2 degrees higher than normal, but being that it was a searing hot day, i thought nothing of it.

little while later, was on the bypass and went to overrtake someone and the car had no power, so i pulled into the slow lane (thankfully an exit was right there as well) pulled off, and got to a layby off the dual carriageway.

soon as i lifted off the engine cut out, but i was still in fifth, and pulled the clutch off and it ran again, swithched it off, pulled into layby and opened the bonnet, at this point the low coolant light came on.

let the car cool for 10 and gave it a turn, and it started, so turned it straight back off, and allowed it to cool further, then put some water in (thankyou nearby random person with watering can full of water ) but it just poured straight out the bottom metal pipe that runs down the drivers chassis leg beside the bottom pulley.

anyway, where the hell am i gonna get this pipe from, cars a 1997 2.1TD, what other models would have the same pipe, as i'm pretty sure NONE of my local scrappies have a 2.1

You'll have to get it from a stealer, £60 if memory serves, bit of a pig to remove the old one too with the grotty old conrad fitting
I ended up replacing the rad as well
If you can find a top hose at a stealer you can botch it temporarily...
I chopped the conrad fitting off & used a piece of 40mm (or 36mm? can't remember!) waste pipe with a couple of jubilee clips & silicone, lasted until the new pipe arrived

well, went back and picked the car up at around 8 oclock, from where it happened to where the garage is is basically round a corner, accross a roundablout and then down a 3 mile long straight gentle downhill, and then another roundabout and 100 yards to shed gates, sooo fired it up, drove it to the straight, took it to about 45 and turned the engine off and coasted to the next roundabout, then started back up and drove it into the shed.

running perfectly in between, REALLY need the car for saturday night, so going up thursday night and going to sleeve it with some cooling pipes we have gathered over the years in the shed from various projects over the years.

theres actually some blue silicone hose that looks teh right size, lol, might use some of that.

will do till i get one, next week hopefully.

do have a contigency plan, been offered an M reg 1.9TD xantia for £80, "needs very little for MOT" shot.

my back brakes are absolutely shot, so gonna get the brakes part numbers and if the tie up i'll buy the xantia, change the break stuff over, check if the coolant puipe is the same (if so, WIN) and then drive the xantia to the weighbridge, should get around £80 for the car, and £30 for the cat, so that will be £30 up, new coolant pipe, and back brakes sorted out, tidy

just hope the part numbers tie up, lol.

oh well, none of the part numbers for ANY of the parts i need on the xantia tie up with the 406


new pipe from stealer is £74.95 inc VAT

One of the scrappies in the area did however give me a ring today as a 1997 2.1TD 406 executive estate, in silver was brought into them this morning, which sincee that is pretty much EXACTLY what model mine is, its got to be worth a look

Take a jacket with very deep pockets...

steve_earwig wrote:Take a jacket with very deep pockets...

And cliam your aircon won't turn off?

You think they might notice then?

By the end of the week, you'll have to prove your com2000's OK before they let you in....

ok, so went and got a pipe this morning (£5) , after much swearing i got it fitted, filled it up with coolant, and it now holds water and temparature just fine.

BUT (why's there always a but with this car) thre seems to be some power issues. boost used to kick in from around 2200, now doesn't seem present untill around 2800, and even at that, doesn't seem to boost very hard at all.

now i know on most setups the coolant cools the turbo as well, so is it possible my turbos fried?

I had a similar problem with mine, I managed to jam the pipe into the bottom of the radiator until i got a new one, the collar had rusted and wouldn't fit properly into the radiator. I think I paid something like £60 a few months ago, I wanted a new one. Been fine since then, not a drip! As far as performance, give it a f**king good service and look for a post by me called before and after!

got new air filter, oile filter, fuel filter and oil last monday

Don't know anything much about the 2.1, but it could be worth checking you haven't accidentally disturbed anything to with turbo boost control, (solenoid valve(s) vacuum pipes etc.), possibly egr stuff too.
Less likely but possible, a cooling system airlock /sensor connection giving the wrong temp. info to the ecu?

Get a 2p piece and some instant gasket, jam it into the cold end of the EGR where it meets ths air intake distributor.

well, still having power issues, but i have had a busy weekend and not had a chance to actually try anything out.

HOWEVER

my brake flexi hose burst on saturday night, and i went straight thru a red light and nearly full into the side of a taxi.

£5.24 for a new part, 2 mins to fit, scrappage scheme for a 407 starting to sound awfully tempting

The HDi Diesel Turbo's have oil-cooling only and no water (unless the 2.1's different?).