New 406, Many problems.

[joekellner]

Hi everybody. I got hold of a peugeot 406 hdi 110, 2002 estate. I bought it for £300 as knew it had a few problems which my friend will help me with most of them, Poss turbo oil seal, rear engine mount shot, aux belt tensioner and tracking needed doing. Well sent it in today to get tracking and balancing done and they tell me they couldnt do it as the cv boot is split and quite dry, 3 tyres are out of shape. Then whilst working the bloody aux belt snapped due to the tensioner being cream crackered, so i spent the afternoon sorting that out. My main concern is the fuel economy... I do multi drop driving in it, i drive economically but struggle getting 18mpg!!!!! I think my injector seals are leaking and i have a diesel leak from the black canister thing too. I put £10 of diesel in yesterday and it claimed 111mile i thought lubbly jubbly, NOPE!!! barely 40! could the injector seals be causing this poor economy? Thanks.

[Doggy]

Hi & welcome aboard.

Don't think injector seals are your problem. If you mean they're not sealed in the head, you would have lots of obvious spillage around them, (which I guess you would have mentioned). If you mean excessive flow down the leak-off pipes, this should all return to the tank, i.e. not get lost. You will have trouble starting it and/or very uneven tickover if the injectors are really in a bad way.

If you have a leak from the fuel filter housing, this won't help and is worth sorting out quickly as a leak here can lead to alternator or starter problems.....

I recommend doing all the usual service stuff, (oil change + filter, air and fuel filters), so you know they're not your problem. Also worth looking for boost leaks in the pipework from the turbo - intercooler - inlet manifold. A leak of this kind will fool the ecu into injecting too much fuel.

Is the EML lit? Any error messages on the MFD?

Make sure your brakes aren't binding, tyre pressures 3.2 Bar / 34-5 PSI.

You were lucky with the aux belt, they have been known to get caught up in the timing belt if they come off

[joekellner]

Hi, thanks for the good reply. I know a few bits and pieces on engines, but this is the first diesel i have owned. I was hoping for at least 35-40mpg from it as my 1.6 petrol xsara picasso got 26-30 through the town! lol. Where im talking about is on the top of the engine where you can see the plugs going into the block, The bloke claimed it was because he washed the engine, but i think it smells of diesel and theres small puddles of it in the round bits next to each plug. Thats where the most of it is coming from i believe.

The brakes are not binding, tyres are at 38psi.

There are no lights on the dash (unless he has disconnected something)

I will give it a service and hopefully that will help lots, I know that the tracking and odd shaped tyres wont help but im getting that sorted today along with the cv boot.

Could you please explain in a bit more detail what boost pipes i would need to check and where they are.

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[markw]

Typo.......2.3 bar.

[gumby6371]

Welcome to the club,

As Doggy says give it a full service, when you do the fuel filter give the housing a good examination to see where its leaking, hopefully its just the rubber seal not fitted properly. (fill the housing with some injector cleaner when you put it back together).
Might be worth stripping the brakes down and clean and copper grease the sliders and check the handbrake shoes aren't sticking on, the handbrake is probably pants (they generally are) so its a good opportunity to adjust everything.
Oil build up in the intercooler is normal but if it gets excessive it may be worth draining it and check all the pipework for splits or poor fitting joints while you're there.
If the EGR hasn't been blanked already whip it off and give it a clean, check the intake manifold isn't clogged up while you have the pipe off.

Give the MAF sensor a good dose of electrical contact cleaner, remember to spray from 3-4 inches away and DO NOT WIPE IT, just spray and leave for 5 minutes to dry off.

A fubar'd lower engine mount will destroy your exhaust if left so sort that and do the CV joint while you're there as you'll need the O/S drive shaft off for the mount anyway. Some fresh gearbox oil probably wouldn't hurt and thats an ideal time to change it. Personally I'd get an OE mount from Pug, a few quid more than eBay ones but better quality and much easier to fit.

If you budget around £150 for all that and a few incidentals if you're twirling the spanners yourself the economy figures will hopefully improve massively.

There is always the chance of a blocked particulate filter but you should get a warning message on the display for that, if you get one don't panic its a cheap fix but we'll cross that bridge when you get to it.

There are guides on everything I've mentioned on here but just shout if you get stuck and someone will advise.

[Welly]

You need to know what's going on with the high-pressure fuel pump in my opinion. To check this the car needs to be hooked up to as code reader to look for the live rail pressure; 298bar at idle should be held steady, rising to over a 800 ish when revved. If your HP pump is knackered you will get bad economy, maybe the car had petrol in it by mistake and the previous owner shifted it on (first thing they would do is crack open the filter housing and maybe try to open the unions on the injectors, would explain the mess left behind).

I think the cost of a HP pump has come down in recent times but you'd ideally need a new set of injectors too. Changing the oil will not revive your fuel economy, I wouldn't waste your time until you know the health of the important parts first.

[joekellner]

Wow thanks for the replies, ill do everything ive been advised by you to do, Could a worn engine mount cause a knocking when slowly pulling away? kind of like a knocking,rubbing kind of noise? If so which engine mount is it likely to be? As i have to get 3 tyres fitted and an o/s/f cv boot fitted and only have a budget of £190 for today ill prob get 2 front tyres,cv boot and mount sorted if the mount is cheap enough. Thanks.

[joekellner]

Ive found the leak.... Its coming from the diesel pump!! ffs is this and easy fix? It doesnt look to difficult so long as the cam belt doesnt need removing.

[Welly]

Do the essentials first, I wouldn't spend too much on a £300.00 car until you know the engine is sound (or rather the fueling) getting 18 MPG is *very* low.

The rear lower engine mount normally wears out, this allows far too much engine movement so would eventually make funny noises. You can stuff the mount full of old bits of coolant hose temporarily* and it will help a lot.

This is the mount down behind the oil sump:

[benczuk]

temporarily*

Is it just me that goes looking for the small print every time welly uses an asterisk?

[steve_earwig]

Er, no, I mustard mitt I do it too.

[joekellner]

Ok so on closer inspection, on the top of the pump is the plastic thats bolted onto it with an electronic sensor, i believe the seal/gasket is where its leaking from. is there a replacement part for this and is this what is causing my poor economy? Thanks.

[Doggy]

Typo.......2.3 bar.

I have number dyslexia (4-10 good buddy).

The leak on your pump sounds like the seal for the pressure regulator, which I think is straightforward / cheap? Hopefully someone can confirm?

Your car won't have a particulate filter, being a 110.

[joekellner]

so could this be causing the very poor mpg average?

[joekellner]

Anybody? Is the average mpg calculated on how quickly the fuel leaves the tank?