thinking of buying a 406 1.9td

[yan101]

hi,

i have a megane x reg 2001 at the moment, only 45k miles, petrol. but im desperate for anothe diesel. my megane is not without faults, as it needs a new cam belt kit £230, dive shalft oil boot £?? and a gearbox dogbone £80

i have seen a 406, with its own small faults, and wondered if you think this is a good deal.

its a 406 1.9td , 160k miles, service stamps in book up to 93k miles, starts first time, sounds ok. bad points. the odometer doesnt light up... at all, the blowers cut out when they want to, it does stay blowing if i press the slider in, but if i let go it just stops?? the ac probably needs a re gas, but it has long tax and test, decent mpg, new tyres, and the dealer has offered me £100 and the 406 for my megane? now with the £100 i intend to put it towards a cam belt kit change.


my questions are, is it a good deal?
and are the small problems easy to fix?
and how much is a cam belt change at an independant dealer these days on this car?

i have posted the same question on another peugeot forum in case anyone reads both boards, just trying to get the broadest answers.

[lozz]

the cambelt change on a 406 is normaly around £200 -£250

there alot cheaper than the meganes there a B**stard to change a cambelt on iwouidnt touch another one,

the 406 is a better car than the meganes

[FarmerPug]

the cambelt change on a 406 is normaly around £200 -£250

there alot cheaper than the meganes there a B**stard to change a cambelt on iwouidnt touch another one,

the 406 is a better car than the meganes

really that much for a belt?

but the 406 is indeed the better car, far far better to drive, and much better made than anything from renault.
the odometer its probably just a bulb behind the instrument cluster.
the heater blower, it could be the motor, not too difficult to take out, just in the passenger footwell held in with a few bolt screws, if not the motor then the regulator unit if its from a car with climate control. Not an uncommon problem its been fixed and discussed a good few times.

[yan101]

no, it doesent have climate control. i may go for the swap, just so i can run it on veg oil

[highlander]

The cheapest quote I got for a cambelt, tensioner kit, and water pump replacement on my 2.2 was around the £320 mark (I had other stuff done at the same time, and the bill came up to £400). These figures are inclusive of VAT.

The parts themselves really aren't very expensive - I think the whole lot can be had for less than £100 - the problem is with the labour charges. The job can take a few hours, depending on how tightly-packed the engine bay is. 406 V6 owners get charged more (I saw quotes on the Coupe Club forums of up to £600). Am I not right in thinking the engine has to come out on those?

At any rate, even £600 is a small price to pay compared with the cost of repairing an engine that has suffered a cambelt snap.

As with all things car-related, if you can do it yourself, it won't cost you nearly as much as it would through a garage.

[StevieboyTD]

Cam belt kit can be had for well under £100 and you can do it yourself in under a day.

[highlander]

If you have the right tools, a suitable environment (i.e. a garage) or a dry day, and the necessary confidence to work on such a critical part of your car, then yes, it can be done cheaply and in less than a day.

I don't have a good comprehensive toolkit (nor the space to keep one)
I don't have a garage
I live in Aberdeen, so sure as sh*t I don't have a dry day
I don't have the guts to touch the timing belt because I know how badly things could go if I were to get it wrong

[StevieboyTD]

When i changed the belt on the wifes 306 i could have swam to the front door i picked up so much rain!

You don't need masses of tools, the job is pretty straight forward, the final stage of the job actually ensures that you haven't done it wrong so you can't damage anything.

Obviously if you're a sissy girly man and not an alpha male like me it can be scary

[highlander]

It's a skill-set thing. I know my way round computers and network equipment pretty well, but I learn best by doing. My big concern is, I know if I do something wrong on a bit of network kit, the worst that will happen is that I need to clear the config and start again. If I do something wrong on my car, I might not be able to drive my car without getting someone who does know what they're doing to fix it for me at a higher cost than getting them to do the original job would have been. So why take the risk?

I love driving too much to potentially knacker my car through some daft fault of my own. And, I need my car for my job. If some other bugger knackers my car, then they need to fix the damage they've caused at no extra expense, and give me a courtesy car in the meantime.

Fair enough - I might have a go at a cambelt change if it's a project car - but I don't own one of those. As I live in a rented flat in a housing association block, where parking is at a premium, I can't really plop a second motor there for me to pull apart and put back together again. Maybe some day, if/when I own my own house.

Incidentally - anyone who has seen my efforts at building flat-pack furniture will understand that some jobs are simply not meant to be given to me at all. Seriously, I made a wardrobe that was italicized.

[sirwiggum]

Highlander I was the same even with routine servicing and brakes until I took a night course in the local tech in car maintenance for beginners.
Was great to have a proper mechanic answer those questions I always thought were too daft to ask.
Learnt a great deal. Would recommend it.

Wouldn't touch a timing belt though. Thon's a garage job

As for the 1.9TD, go for it! My XUD engined Citroens were great cars, proper reliable diesels.
Dare I say it, more reliable than HDis... Less sensors and engine mounts not made of string!

[rwb]

It's a skill-set thing. I know my way round computers and network equipment pretty well, but I learn best by doing. My big concern is, I know if I do something wrong on a bit of network kit, the worst that will happen is that I need to clear the config and start again. If I do something wrong on my car, I might not be able to drive my car without getting someone who does know what they're doing to fix it for me at a higher cost than getting them to do the original job would have been. So why take the risk?

I love driving too much to potentially knacker my car through some daft fault of my own. And, I need my car for my job. If some other bugger knackers my car, then they need to fix the damage they've caused at no extra expense, and give me a courtesy car in the meantime.

Fair enough - I might have a go at a cambelt change if it's a project car - but I don't own one of those. As I live in a rented flat in a housing association block, where parking is at a premium, I can't really plop a second motor there for me to pull apart and put back together again. Maybe some day, if/when I own my own house.

Incidentally - anyone who has seen my efforts at building flat-pack furniture will understand that some jobs are simply not meant to be given to me at all. Seriously, I made a wardrobe that was italicized.

this (but replace network equipment with database and housing association with greedy fat landlord)

[DiscoPol]

Obviously if you're a sissy girly man and not an alpha male like me it can be scary

.......................... this followed by this

It's a skill-set thing. I know my way round computers and network equipment pretty well, but I learn best by doing. My big concern is, I know if I do something wrong on a bit of network kit, the worst that will happen is that I need to clear the config and start again. If I do something wrong on my car, I might not be able to drive my car without getting someone who does know what they're doing to fix it for me at a higher cost than getting them to do the original job would have been. So why take the risk?

I love driving too much to potentially knacker my car through some daft fault of my own. And, I need my car for my job. If some other bugger knackers my car, then they need to fix the damage they've caused at no extra expense, and give me a courtesy car in the meantime.

Fair enough - I might have a go at a cambelt change if it's a project car - but I don't own one of those. As I live in a rented flat in a housing association block, where parking is at a premium, I can't really plop a second motor there for me to pull apart and put back together again. Maybe some day, if/when I own my own house.

Incidentally - anyone who has seen my efforts at building flat-pack furniture will understand that some jobs are simply not meant to be given to me at all. Seriously, I made a wardrobe that was italicized.

.....................= Hook, Line and Sinker. PMSL

[FarmerPug]

i dont know how to do a cambelt change on my hdi it looks very difficult to get the cover off. i tried to get it off on the breaker car and couldnt do it, so i wouldnt attempt it on my own car.

the suzuki on the other hand seems easier the only problem is a lot of stuff is in the way of the cover before it comes off, and theres no marks to make lining the stuff up easy but after a read at the haynes manual i could attempt it, longtitudinal engine mounting is better for this reason that the belts are easier accessed.

[highlander]

= Hook, Line and Sinker. PMSL

Disco, are you implying that StevieBoyTD is some kind of troll?

[Bailes1992]

Loved my TD!
They are very slow standard. Tuned? Well mine would do 0-60 in 9s and would sit on the rev limiter at 115mph all day long
Used to piss all over my mates brand new Astra SRi XP 1.8 at the time
Also all 406's with the TD lump can run on 100% veg oil If you have access to a whole saler you can get it for ~80ppl

Also timing belt is piss easy on the TD's, you just lock everything up before hand and you can't go wrong