thinking of buying a 406 1.9td

[yan101]

its not even that the megane is a bad car, everything works, its in good nick, a roof tile fell on it a few weeks ago and caused some damage, £350 to fix if i want it how it was, i live in a council house and they wont pay out on the insurance. it has service history from new and every single mot slip. it does 36-38mpg on trips to work, 50mpg on long trips. but the cam belt is overdue in time not mileage, book says 7 years or 72k miles whichever is first, well its 10 years old now, and i know the gut that had it before, and he never had it changed. i bought it for a steal really, £1100 2 years ago when they were going for £2000 in worse condition, it only had 32k miles on it at the time. my dad thinks its a great car, and that i should keep it, but its developing more faults, i cant stand to look at the dents anymore. im 27 but he would kill me if i swap it lol. it refuses to start when the engine has been warm, it taked about 12 trys to get it to start (i think its the temp sensor or crank sensor) the drive shaft passenger side gaitor is leaking gear oil. a/c stinks, but i think thats just the filter, insurance is due next week, so i thought it'd be a good time to change, but with no money to put towards i though it'd be a good idea to see what i could get straight swap. but do i really want to swap a car i know is good, for a 160k miles car i dont. on the surface it looks like a no, but the peugeot will go on for many more miles, he's offering £150 plus the peugeot for my megane, so i could get the cam belt done stright away. im mechanically minded enough to change the oil and filters. and i will probably only do 5k miles a year in it, cos i use my motorbike alot. im really stuck as to what to do, so the opinions on here really count at the moment.

[yan101]

So im gonna call the garage tomorrow and take that pug for a test drive. If i can get a swap on my car plus £150 and a bit of warrenty ill do it. Im not too worried aboit the engine as i can see they just dont die. Its the other stuff like suspension etc that i dont want to have to throw money at. What noises/ things should i be looking for or listening out for?

[kevtherev]

So im gonna call the garage tomorrow and take that pug for a test drive. If i can get a swap on my car plus £150 and a bit of warrenty ill do it. Im not too worried aboit the engine as i can see they just dont die. Its the other stuff like suspension etc that i dont want to have to throw money at. What noises/ things should i be looking for or listening out for?

generally on the 406 , knocking noises espcially at the rear would be droplinks dead cheap/easy to fix
make sure there is no judder on pulling away as that could be bottom engine mount on its way out.
i would be making sure the clutch dont slip too ie bang it in 5th at 25 mph and floor it if the revs increase but the car doesnt gain speed : slipping clutch. others with the xud lump will be able to tell ya specific noises on the engine

[yan101]

my concern is that i swap my car for this one and a week later it needs loads of work doing. it does have dealer service stamps up to 93k miles, and it looks in reasonable condition. one of the rear doors looks like its had a bad spray job. but other than that, its clean inside and out, tyres look new, the blowers work when they feel like it, but i think thats the re circulation flap stticking cos there was a click behind the glovebox. and the bulb behind the odometer has blown. it got a recent mot, and 3 or 4 months tax, done a hpi and its had v5 registered keepers, last owner change march 2009, it sounded ok to me running, fired up straight away, seemed to idle high at 900-1000rpm but maybe thats just how it is......i dont know. the car im swaping is 4 plates newer but ive fallen out with it. itsthe sx model, does anyone know if it has a cd player? i didnt see one unless its in the boot?while it was running i put it into all the gears, no crunching etc, very smooth. but i was only stoon. didnt get a chance to take it for a drive today, i might go tomorrow. but knowing me ill end up having it lol. the one big factor s the mileage, 160k seems alot to me, i know the engine can handle alot more, but can the rest of the car?

[sirwiggum]

The sprayed door would annoy me.
I tried to patch up rust on the door of my D9 but could never get a proper paint match.
Car just never felt "right" and didn't want to wash or polish it because of that.

XUD engines will do much more than that. Owned one from 70k, once it reached 120k it needed an alternator, but ended up doing 130k and no real issue.
It did need glow plugs every couple of years, but I put that down to harsh Scottish winters and routine service items.
Ideally these things need their oil changed every 6 months (although, doesn't every car?)

[yan101]

i think ill leave this one alone, it has too many small imperfections that i wouldnt be right with. im gonna put dome money away and go for something a bit better, ideally id like a 1.9td, around 100l miles, in black! but im concidering the later 2.0 hdi is it? even though i cant run it on veg, i doubt i would have ended up running the one ive seen on it either. plus i beleive the tax is cheaper on the newer ones.

[StevieboyTD]

WAY too many problems with the HDI for my liking, crappy electronics that control most things in the car can cost a few quid to fix when it dies.
Plenty of sensors on the engine to go wrong too (most popular thread on pug306.net in the HDI section is "why won't my car start?" same engine, same wiring.....)

1.9td with a Bosch pump is pretty much ideal.

[highlander]

I'd go for an HDi if I were going to switch to running a diesel. Pick a nice late-model 2.0 HDi 110, or even better, a 2.2 HDi 136, remove the FAP and remap it to 180HP with enough torque to tow a mountain - AND better fuel economy to boot.

[sirwiggum]

The XUDT engine is bulletproof.

There should be plenty of 1.9TDs out there if you are set on one.
Great engine from my old ZXs, reliable, economical, can run on veggie oil once the struggle for international resources really starts.

But I've been there before and in my mind would never again buy a car I knew wasn't quite right but was too expensive to put right, as it just niggles every time you drive it, and you start to dislike it and skip maintenance.

[yan101]

i know the feeling. i loved my megane when i bought it, even though i was after a diesel then, i couldnt pass up on it as it was such a good deal. but the pug ive seen is nice, but id need to sort the dash bulb, the blower, i wouldnt want to go without the air recirculation even though its only a small detail it woorls in the car i have now! the ac needs re gassing, id replace the rear door as you can get them for about £25 off fleabay, id change the cam belt.......it all adds up, and they are jobs i dont need to do on the car i have, (except the cam belt ) i love the idea.......but the fact is i dont know enough about the car. the dealer seems happy to part ex anything, bang £500 onto what he gave for it and stick it on the lot. there are a few cars there eg: a 306 with a dent in the passenger door, which could be easily pulled out, up for a grand, when theres loads of others about in alot better nick for less money. knowing my luck id drive off the forecourt and the car would blow up on me. every part of me says dont do it! except the small voice that says........"yes but you can run it on veg oil!" which is true but would i be bothered to? i dont know if i have the time to source used stuff, filter it and use it, i dont have the space. and straight veg oil is almost as expensive as diesel these days, unless you find somewhere that has an offer on. asda even restrict you to 6 1 litre bottles at a time (their own stuff thats £1 a litre) id have to keep going back 10 times to fill up lol. is the hdi really that bad? theres one on trader for £2k, 39k miles, full leather full service history, 2002 model but its only the 90bhp. ive also been looking at laguna's from the same year but i hear the turbos blow really easy. or do i just stick with what ive got? pay £230 for a timing belt and stop moaning? either way im going to be putting some money away so i have some options at least

[yan101]

heres a link to the car ive seen


http://users.autoexposure.co.uk/vehicle ... =Rotherham

[plod]

Garage is playing you at end of day
As much as we are biased towards the 406, if I was you, i'd stick a belt on your exisitng car
Either that or sell as is, and put some money towards the other 406 you mention
Although I've never drove a 90 so don't know how good they are, but with 140 on mine I couldn't imagine me having a 90

[waue1978]

I know people will probably disagree with me here, but it's a fairly safe bet that the 406 was a pup. Garages will very rarely do a deal that involves them handing over any money. Usually, if you're car's trade in value is more than their car for sale, they'll give some line to suggest they don't want it or just ask for a small amount (£100) on top of your car for theirs. That added to the fact that they were selling a base model (SX is an L with a couple of bits added on to get rid of the D8 Ls before the D9 came out) with 160k for the same money as most places are selling relatively low mileage examples of D8s with a decent spec suggests that the 406 had been sat for a while & they were desperate to get shot.

& it's also a pretty safe bet that they would have had you buy it on trade terms (no comeback) if they'd done a deal to take your car & throw you a few quid.

[yan101]

to be honest i had the exact same thought. i think he has probably had that 406 sat around for a while and just wanted rid of it. if he did the small repair jobs on it, then i would have probably had it the first day. and its probably why no one wanted it. when he offered me £100 aswel as the car, it put me off even more cos he seemed desperate to get rid, and knew mine would sell better. i would love a 1.9td but there are only 25 for sale in the entire uk on trader, all with decent mileages on them, i guess there dying out. after all they are 10 years old now or more. i do love them though. not many engines these days can run on veggie either, i think its the governments way of stopping us use it!

anyone know of another car that can run straight veg oil?

in the meantime im keeping my eye out, and ill sacrifice my veggie dreams if the right hdi comes along, although i am a bit put off by all the bad responses to the hdi......is it really that bad of an engine?

[waue1978]

It's not the government putting people out of using veg oil, it's the manufacturers & their advanced diesel technology & complicated fuel pumps, but the trade off is that we should be getting better economy out of the more modern engines. I've not seen any actual figures, but once the relatively better mpg of a later engine is factored in against the reduced cost of the veg oil, you may find that there isn't that much of a difference in fuel costs depending on your mileage.

As far as the HDi reliability goes, there may be a lot more sensors to go wrong, but overall, the HDi seems to be a pretty solid unit. There's plenty of HDi taxis out there with over 200k on original engines. The bodywork, trim & electrics may be hitting self destruct, but the engines are still going. People's complaints about their HDi cars aren't normally about them being HDis, it's more of a complaint about the later models BSI units.