What is a D8 / D9?

[TheBargeCaptain]

Hi guys.
Looking to buy a 406 2.0 HDi estate late model.
What should I look out for i.e weak points, cam belt change intervals (how hard is that as a DIY job? seen belt and tensioner kits on e-bay for £50 - any good and do you need a locking kit?)
Aiming to find one with less than 100k miles

What would you recommend?
All help very gratefully received
Thanks
The Barge Captain.

[mjb]

A D8 is the old-style '96-99 model with pretty solid/easy to fix electrics, easily identified by the radiator grille as per the one in my sig below.
A D9 is the new style '99-04 model which has extremely dodgy multiplexed electronic components and the dreaded BSI. The radiator grille on these is the mesh type as opposed to the horizontal slats of the D8

Looking to buy a 406 2.0 HDi estate late model.
What should I look out for i.e weak points

Other than the usual stuff:

Electrics. Check EVERYTHING as repairing stuff can mean a very expensive trip to the dealer for a new BSI on a D9 - over £500
Clutch. Make sure it's not slipping.
Suspension. Check the front springs don't look about to snap
Electrics. Worth repeating myself here
Water ingress. In the passenger footwell (and spare wheel well if it's a saloon)
Water egress. Getting to the age where radiators can go all swiss cheese

Aiming to find one with less than 100k miles

Why? 406s will comfortably break the 200k barrier - even the petrols... 100k is just a psychological price barrier when buying these cars

Get a top-spec (GLX or Exec) D8, about 110k miles and you'll be much better off. If you don't mind the agricultural nature of them, consider the TD (non-HDI) models as they will pull you to Jupiter and back

Don't rule out petrols either if you're doing motorway miles. The more powerful ones (2.0 turbo and V6) can cruise around 40mpg if you're careful, and 50mpg if you're *very* careful

[TheBargeCaptain]

Most of my driving is on rural roads with 3 kids in the back seat and a boot full of prams,nappy bags and shopping etc.

Whats is a BSI?

[mjb]

Whats is a BSI?

Body Systems Interface (or similar). It's an electronic box which sits under the dash and turns the signals from the controls into power to various relays for operating stuff. When it works.

[GeordieBoy]

The clutch is possibly the main problem in D9 HDi's, its a nightmare job with a price to match.
Just to change a clutch its 10hrs labour, main dealer dont expect change from £1k.
As the HDI also has DMF Dual Mass Flywheel when you change clutch that should also be changed as it often shatters soon after if its not changed.
If you must get a 406 Diesel, get the D8 1.9TD or 2.1TD, they are much more reliable.

[mbell666]

The HDi comes in two forms 90 bhp and 110 bhp. Generally the 90 bhp has less to go wrong but is meant to be a bit on the slow side.

The easy way to tell the difference is the 110BHP has an intercooler and the 90 doesn't (out of the factory).

Theres not much to check with the 90bhp bar it runs ok, pulls etc, service history, cambelt .... all the normal stuff.

The 110 has some dual mass stuff that can fail. These are the flywheel and crankshaft pulley. The pulley will cost _around_ £100 to change at a garage, normally loud knocking or rattling from engine if gone. If it fails it can take the fan and cam belt out, so can be quite serious.

The flywheel is less obvious, basically you can get a little bit of clutch judder, some seqeuing when engaging the clutch but the easiest way to check is on a test driver. head done a road (dual carriage way if poss) at 55/60 mph in 5th and fall the throttle watch the rev counter for any clutch slip. if you get clutch slip then its sign it could do with new flywheel + clutch, £500 to £1k! This problem is unlikely to cause any problems and worsen slowly, so you could use it as haggling point and then not bother fixing it until it goes completely, which might be quite sometime if ever.

The other major problem with the 110 is the low pressure/lift pump that in the fuel tank. These are known to go (fairly randomly) so have look at the history for the car, see if it been done. Just one of those parts that will randomly fail and not much you can do but cross fingers and keep a decent amount of fuel in the car.

[TheBargeCaptain]

What is the change interval on the cambelt? I assume 40k?

[mjb]

What is the change interval on the cambelt? I assume 40k?

Probably double that. It's about 70k on petrols I think, but I'm not sure. I'm into buying cars that are cheaper to replace with another than put new belts on

[teamster1975]

I'm into buying cars that are cheaper to replace with another than put new belts on

[GeordieBoy]

What is the change interval on the cambelt? I assume 40k?

Cambelt is 96k on 110 HDi, Aux belt is 72k.

[Welly]

Looking to buy a late model

Actually then you may be more interested to know about Peugeot's enhanced emission controls! On the latter models 2002 onwards they decided to fit an "Air Dozer" which works in conjuction with the EGR system to reduce emissions - good news for your road tax bill but bad news for sporadic faults and weird messages on your multi function display

Peugeots efforts to strangle the poor thing into becoming cleaner leave it with regular visits to the "technicians" who tinker, plug in, tinker a bit more then print out a bill for £271.42 + VAT with a friendly smile

2.2 HDi's are much more trouble in this resopect due to their fancy Particulate Filter which seems to leave the factory in a bad mood - you even have to "feed" it special fluids otherwise it will raid your bank account.

Despite mjb's ramblings about BSi's we very rarely see any problems here and if we do it can normally be associaed with a bad wire somewhere rather than the kit itself!

Don't let any of this put you off though! the 406 is a well proven machine and a fine drive. I've had my 1999 "D9" HDi 110 for 2.5 years and apart from a radiator fan, a throttle pot and a bottom pulley it's been fine

[TheBargeCaptain]

Thanks for that Welton.

I was begining to have reservations about a 406 this afternoon. I suppose it's all about how much knowledge you have. Coming from a land where people mutter dark things about Vx heater bypass valves, oil cooler failures, blocked breathers blowing rocker gaskets and exhaust manifold gasket failures on the passenger side which theoretically means engine out! All do-able at home though with a bit of forum help.

Might give the 2.2 a miss though.

[steve_earwig]

It's worth remembering we generally get people turn up with problems here (I still have mine ) but the vast majority of owners never find this place 'cos their cars never go wrong. But the caveats remain, the breakers will fill up with Pugs (as well as other makes) with stupid electronic faults that make them uneconomical to repair, rather than the traditional tin worm.

I have an air dozer? What does it look like??

[Welly]

I have an air dozer? What does it look like??

It's on the large intercooler hose feeding the inlt manifold and is located just before the cast aluminium bend right side of the rocker cover.

Looks like a small air flow meter, with a Vac line attached.