Hello from Portugal

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Xarlitos
1.6 8v
Posts: 14
Joined: Tue Jul 21, 2015 4:06 pm
Location: Lisbon - Portugal

Hello from Portugal

Post by Xarlitos »

Hi everyone,

I am the proud owner of a 406 D9 Break HDi 110 from 1999, I am going to introduce myself and give a little background about my car so this text might get long (sorry), if you want to skip it but still try to help, which I totally understand, you can scroll down to the end of the post which is where I'm going to place some minor questions.

So, I'm from Lisbon-Portugal and drove a Renault Clio until 2 years ago (when I gave it to my sister), since then I've been driving this lovely car and will keep driving it for a couple more years.
My father bought it new, I don't know the Trim of it but it has heated & electric leather seats, leather steering-wheel, a/c, woodish trims on the Dash and Doors, Cassete Radio & Cd-changer on the back, automatic windscreen wipers, headlight washers...and I guess that's it, doesn't have Cruise-Control.

It all went great for 4 years but then, due to a very unfortunate event, he wasn't able to pay the parcels to the bank...to avoid the bank from "snatching" the car from him, he "loaned" the car to a "friend" and the "friend" paid for half the parcel (all my father could afford during that year)...This is where everything collapsed, his "friend" (and group of gipsy friends) totally ruined the car, completelly trashed (leather steering-wheel and seats were scratched and ripped apart, "garbage" everywhere, parts missing from the interior, parts broken on the exterior...you name it, and it probably happened), the only positive thing that we eventually found was that about 90% of the mileage they covered were made on the Highway on very (very) large trips across Europe to Romania.

2 years ago, he gave me the car because he almost never drove it and loved the gesture of me giving my Clio to my sister, so I took it with open arms (some things were already replaced/repaired so it was good enough to drive proudly(ish))

Right now my pug marks 292,000 miles, which is a lot, but this engine is a monster and refuses to give up. In these 2 years I spent around 2,500 Pounds with it (comments on this after...), not really because I wanted, but because when my mechanic friend placed the car on the elevator, he was completely amazed that the car was still running without burning up (oil EVERYWHERE coming out of EVERYWHERE)...He replaced a few parts, oil kept coming out from other places, he kept replacing untill there was no visible leak, however, small amounts of oil kept leaking.
For me, the car was running good (hell, I never drove it before and compared to my old Clio it was much better so, how on earth would I know?) but my friend took the car for a spin and noticed that it was lacking a lot of power, he took the Turbo out, and again, he couldn't figure how the car didn't blow up. The turbo was sucking oil and fuel and it was about to break.

And this kept going, and going, and going, small repairs, major repairs, in the end we can say that pretty much all the parts were either replaced or repaired (Turbo, Campbelt, EGR, Valves, MAF, Tubes, Rubbers, even the bloody tip of the exhaust fell when I was driving, etc...again, you name it and I probably have the bill for it somewhere), the only thing left untouched was the engine itself (I don't know the mechanical terms, but I suppose it's the Engine Block, Cylinders, etc).

This was a friend that has an Autoshop, if it was done in a normal Autoshop, I can't imagine how much it would have cost.

And now you ask, "why spend more on the car than what the car itlsef is worth?" well, first: because my friend would let me pay in parcels whenever I was tight on cash (pretty much always...), second: because to buy a car as good as this one I would need to spend way more and wouldn't know if the car would need repairs or not, third: Because 3 different mechanics praised my car engine, dispite all the troubles with the Individual parts, they said (and say) that the Engine is running super smooth and perfectly tuned, in better shape than most 60k mile cars that appear in their shops :cheesy: and finally: because I LOVE THIS BLOODY CAR :roll:

There are still some things that need to be fixed but I'm taking care of them slowly and doing what I can by myself. A/C has a leak somewhere, so this Summer is not going to be very nice :evil: , I can't find the stupid rubber that sits between the rooftop and the rear door (water doesn't get into the car...yet...), lots of scratches in the paint, sterring wheel and seats are being slowly repaired and dyed by myself, some punk stole one of my Rims center Cap :cry: oh well, small things that time and cash can repair (I've been reading this forum for 2 months now, you guys Rock and have helped me a lot, thanks for that).


Having said that, until yesterday, the car was running perfectly fine, today the Clutch Started to Slip, which is not a major problem for now but means that I'm already preparing myself to pay for a Clutch Kit & and Flywhell...And this leads me to my first question :cheesy:

I saw this LuK kit with the reference 600 0048 00 (ex: http://www.yoyopart.com/oem/7200769/luk-600004800.html) and all the bloody sellers that I have contacted can't tell me if it fits my car or not, because they only have the OEM ref for the complete Kit and Peugeot never had an OEM for all the parts together (only for the Clutch Kit and Flywheel sepparately)...Can any of you experts advise me on this? (car complete details at the end of the post)

Second Question: Since I'm changing the Clutch and most expensive parts are almost new, I was thinking about remapping my engine in a local specialized shop that works mostly with Peugeots and Renautls, the guy told me that the car would get between 132-140 bhp but only after running it on the test bench he would know for sure what's the best setup without forcing the car too much (I liked these guys, professional and seem to care about the cars...they were also recommended by my mechanic).
What do you guys think, good idea? Do you recommend any changes together with the remap?

Thank you very much for reading this and helping, I will post some pictures when I get the chance (maybe this weekend) and for sure will be an active user here in the forum.

Car Details:

Peugeot 406 Break (08.1999)
2.0 HDI 110
VIN: VF38ERHZE80905773
Last edited by Xarlitos on Mon Jul 27, 2015 12:13 pm, edited 1 time in total.
GingerMagic
3.0 24v
Posts: 3570
Joined: Fri Apr 06, 2012 9:02 pm
Location: Bournemouth

Re: Hello from Portugal

Post by GingerMagic »

Hi, welcome to the club :cheesy:

I would have replied sooner but I am just catching up on unread posts.. :oops:

It sounds like you have done lots of things to your car, you must really like it ( pictures of your car are always welcome ) and its satisfying when spending time improving it. If it was a UK car it would be the 'Executive' trim, did it have headlamp washers?

The rubber that sits between the roof and rear door? I'm not sure what you mean - the boot or the passenger door? ( the passenger door trim is one long piece from the bottom of the windscreen all the way to the back of the rear door )

As for remaps, there are a few people here that have 140bhp maps, and the ECU is either sent to the remap people to put on for you, or the map that is on your car can be 'copied' then emailed to some experts to modify, then emailed back to then 'flashed' onto your car.

I hope the forum can provide you with all the help you need.
2003 2.2hdi estate - mine
1998 Volvo 940 auto estate - also mine
2019 Citroen C3 something - the wife's
PP2000 user, can help with faults / diagnostics in the Bournemouth area.
annie
2.0 16v
Posts: 192
Joined: Fri May 29, 2015 1:19 pm

Re: Hello from Portugal

Post by annie »

nice back story. helps us build a picture and you seem to love your car.
a question for you if i may.....
how much would your car cost to replace with a good clean condition indentical one... here i could buy one with full history and mot for £700-1000 so just wondering about different values in the eu for used cars.....regards annie
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Xarlitos
1.6 8v
Posts: 14
Joined: Tue Jul 21, 2015 4:06 pm
Location: Lisbon - Portugal

Re: Hello from Portugal

Post by Xarlitos »

Hi GingerMagic,

I know there are lots of threads constantly being updated so I can only thank you for taking the time to read and reply to mine.

Yes, I do love my car, it has never failed me (while driving), it's gorgeous and it's a big proud to have an older car with 2-3 times the mileage of my friends car and still be able to say that it rides faster and consumes less than most of their cars :lol: I'm doing an average of around 50-55mpg after changing the MAF and with a slipping clutch, so I guess I can do even better when the clutch is fixed 8)

I had a nasty weekend (dislocated shoulder) so I didn't manage to take any pictures of the car, but they will be coming soon, even with all it's defects, but I manage to grab a picture from the internet and made a red circle around the rubber I'm talking about:
Back Door-Roof Rubber.jpg
(36.04 KiB) Downloaded 7 times
It's kind of small and I don't see it has a very big purpose except to avoid the water from accumulating in the car frame, but I still want to fix that.

By the way, I do have Headlight washers :)

I've read most threads on this forum and for what I understand, you need a PP2000 machine to be able to write the maps to the ECU right? I need to check with my friend if he has a machine. I know they have a Bosch machine to detect errors in the cars etc but I'm no mechanic so I have no idea if he's able to do it, will ask him and wait for some feedback from the community around here.


Hi annie,

I've been following your threads and it's a pleasure to get a reply from you.

Answering your question, Peugeots 406 were never very "famous" in Portugal, you see a few of them running around but more than 50% are taxis (maybe some influence from the movie?!? :cheesy: ), I've done a quick search and there are around 25 Diesel units for sale in the whole Country. In my case I require the SW model (I travel a lot with the car always full of stuff...) so, taking my model by example (SW HDI 110 Executive), one with full History, with a few less miles and a bit more recent (with no leather/heated seats nor headlight washers) the cheapest one is 4.500€ (3.170£) - http://www.standvirtual.com/carros/anun ... /P8442721/ - and if you take a look around that website, even the 90bhp cars with no History are not too far from this value...

So I guess now you know why I spent soooooo much money fixing the car...rather ~2.5k£ and know that I'll have an engine that will last me another 4 years without major issues than 3.2k£ and having no idea if it will last me 6 months or 10 years (I don't like to gamble much :mrgreen: )

UPDATE: I can get the LuK kit (Clutch Kit + Flywheel) for 360€ (254£), pretty sweet right? Can any kind soul confirm if the kit I mentioned in the first post is compatible with my engine?
UPDATE2: Punks strike again...Someone snatched the back emblem of my car :cry: I painted and varnished it 2 months ago...
annie
2.0 16v
Posts: 192
Joined: Fri May 29, 2015 1:19 pm

Re: Hello from Portugal

Post by annie »

thanks for reply. makes our used cars so cheap. a mint 04 plate exex estate can be had for £1000.

are your spare parts prices as expesnsive as the used cars?
User avatar
Xarlitos
1.6 8v
Posts: 14
Joined: Tue Jul 21, 2015 4:06 pm
Location: Lisbon - Portugal

Re: Hello from Portugal

Post by Xarlitos »

I know...Sometimes I spend a few minutes going through UK used cars sites and see lovely 406's with not many miles for the price of an used Engine around here :cry:

As for the used parts prices, I can only talk about French Cars (Renautl, Peugeot and Citroen) and Volkswagens, although I believe it's the same for all the brands...definitely YES, most used parts are quite expensive :evil: just so you can have a small picture of it, I save around 20% by importing a brand new part from France/Germany/UK than to buy a used one localy (Shipping Costs included :shock: ).

Scrappies are not very common around here aswell, so you have to travel a few hundred miles and visit 10 places before you finally find the 406 with the parts you want (and even then it isn't very cheap...).

Funny note: One time I was looking on Portuguese Auctions/Used-Parts websites for a small part for my car (can't remember which) and the used ones were more expensive than a new one FROM Peugeot...Crazy people in these Country, I can assure you that much!

So, no replies to my previous questions...Hummm, guess I'll "move them" to the related Topics :lol:
annie
2.0 16v
Posts: 192
Joined: Fri May 29, 2015 1:19 pm

Re: Hello from Portugal

Post by annie »

all i need to do is buy a 300 pound car and drive to portugal and sell for spares and then i get a cheap holiday. there are many very cheap cars with long mot here
.
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