Badger's Pug. And now a 320d.

[Jet Badger]

So a week ago I bought this thing - a 1995 Peugeot 306 1.8 liter 8 valve petrol. The story behind it really is that I had a tiny bit of money that weekend and decided to buy the best scrap car I could find. Paid 290 for it and I'm quite happy with what I got for the money. Not that it's faultless. Very far from it. The body is not in the worst shape, the interior is good, engine seems to have minor issues but generally doesn't seem beaten into the ground.

The things that are wrong:
-sills and underside behind the front wheels are rotten into nothing
-clutch is going out
-clear coat has peeled off the top panels
-motor sometimes forgets how to idle or how to continue revving
-oil and/or other fluid leak
-small exhaust leak
-broken driver's outer door handle
-washers don't work
-electric mirrors don't work
-bad tie rod end
-small crack in the windshield
-radio is cutting out
-rear tires while have plenty of tread, are rotten
-left turn signal switch fails intermittently


And the MOT/MTO/DMV expires at the end of march.

Now onto the fault investigation - the culprit of the intermittent engine idle and performance issues seems to be the coolant temperature sensor circuit. Atleast that is the code the ECU is throwing at me. Spent all saturday fiddling with it. The sensor itself seems to work although neither it's pin count, nor the exact resistance at temperature, nor the voltages on the connector matched Autodata correctly. Next time I'm at the parts store I'll get them to show me if a proper sensor has one or two pins on it. Oh, the thing that more or less fixed this issue was just resetting the ECU. It still starts to reappear after some driving though.

Today I bought a new tie rod end to replace at the college shop. Then I proceeded to strip the threads on it when tightening it to the hub. Cheap part? Well it was 7.50, so probably. Guy said it was german and it was the most expensive one they had. Boo. I put another nut over the stripped one to get me home but will have to find another rod end for the peace of mind. Atleast when replacing it the second time it won't be all seized together, so yay.

 

[Jet Badger]

These are the problem spots. Worst thing is that you can poke through the frame rail... I wish I had the space and tools to have a go at this myself but first I'll get a quote from some body shop on how much it would be to cut it all out and weld in a chunk of square tubing and some sheet metal there.

 

[Frisky]

I've got a soft spot for the early 306s and I think those wheels look really nice. There's a few of the lads at my college who really want them for their 106s.

Keep us updated 👍

 

[Jet Badger]

So it saw some love since...the last update. Failed the first MOT attempt with handbrake not working on one wheel, badly mounted foglight and an oil leak.

Rebuilt the rear drums, new pistons and a good clean. The old ones were rotten stupid, surprising how they were even functioning and not dragging or anything. Funny, or moreso not so funny thing was that after coming back from the MOT and me trying and failing to undo the wheel bearing nuts to remove the drums (thanks Peugeot engineers for that) I had the idea that maybe I'll get the self-adjusters doing something with various combinations of brake pedal and handbrake stomping, which did not much other than burst the brake lines . Better have that on the driveway than on the road, right? Later I found out that both drums are missing the little plates that drive the ratchets, so no self-adjusting anyway.

The state of the brakes. Note the leaking cylinder.

Und zie aftermath:

Casulties:

And the marvelous compression fitting art installment:

The thing has no ABS and no F/R proportioning. Emergency braking, especially in the wet is a goddamn brown pants moment as the rear wheels lock up like nothing. Scary. Not sure how it's gonna go in the winter that's about to come, I'll need to get some better tires.

Anyway, I changed the valve cover gasket and bought another steering rack hoping to stop the leaks. I did not go far with the rack replacement before saying **** it and running the MOT as it was, just cleaning up the underside beforehand. It passed with only a couple minor faults. Yey!

Then it was time to play the game "find the interior leak"...

In the end it turned out to be an unnecessary operation . Oh well, atleast now I know how to take out the dash in a mid 90s Peugeot. Knowledge is power and that is a skill posessed by a very small fraction of the population, of which now I am a member of. Pride and a joy to behold!

Another thing to fix was the broken driver's door loom. Every single one of these faces it sooner or later. First I tried to ditch the plug completely and use crimp-on spade connectors on the pins instead. Immediately found that to be a bad way to do it, so I took the old plug and spent several hours ripping the selastic off of it and taking out pin by pin to cut the wires short and solder on extensions.

Condition of the suspected faulty appendage, complete with evidence of a previous repair. Possibly executed by Stevie Wonder.

My first attempt, which more likely qualifies as a blackout trip...

And the finale:

Insta-gasket? More like insta-doorplug! Haha! Ha ..nevermind.

Also a sort of "putting lipstick on a pig pug" attempt was made. Rawr.

 

[Jet Badger]

How to monitor sensor parameters in real time in a pre-OBDII vehicle.

The ECU keeps giving a code for the coolant temp sensor even though it appears to run fine and me trying to follow the procedure to clear the codes didn't succeed, maybe I'm doing something wrong, but the code just stays there. So knowing the values it's supposed to show at different temperatures from Autodata, I rigged up a voltmeter directly to the ECT pin on the ECU. I was driving around with this contraption for a week or so and it all seemed dandy. It's supposed to be something over 3V, can't remember now, at 10 degrees C and decrease with temperature to 0.7V or so at 80C. It does that. So why the code is still there, who knows.

 

[Niku Driver HC]

I wish I could do this sort of thing you did with the 306, Jet.

"Oh, I got a bit of leftover money. Imma buy a Peugeot!"

Well, I've seen worse ideas... The car looks surprisingly nice from the outside for what you paid for it, although of course the insides hide plenty of rough treatments and faulty electronics. If I didn't know any better, I'd say you bought an Italian car! Nice touch with the rim symbol painting, by the way.

You may want to fix that no-ABS thing, though... Lest you want to have a Hakkinen moment.

 

[Jet Badger]

I wish I could do this sort of thing you did with the 306, Jet.

"Oh, I got a bit of leftover money. Imma buy a Peugeot!"

Well, I've seen worse ideas... The car looks surprisingly nice from the outside for what you paid for it, although of course the insides hide plenty of rough treatments and faulty electronics. If I didn't know any better, I'd say you bought an Italian car! Nice touch with the rim symbol painting, by the way.

You may want to fix that no-ABS thing, though... Lest you want to have a Hakkinen moment.

The thing about never having any money is that once you get some, you want to invest it into as big of a thing as you can. A box with wheels is a neat one.

All things aside, having done around 7k km in it, it never left me on the side of the road. Most of the things in the list on the OP are sorted - the underside welded up, motor idle sorted out. That one was an interesting fix. Reseating the ECU plug fixed it. Fixed the small things like new washer pump, turn signal stalk, driver door handle, tie rod end. Mirrors still don't work, but I just can't be bothered, I just adjust them by hand and forget. Clutch is still slipping, oil leaking. The two might be related as the rear main seal might be at fault. Bought another steering rack, but like many other things I just can't be bothered to put the effort, time and money into it.

As well as retrofitting ABS into it. No way. I have already spun out a few times when the rear wheels just locked up and it went completely sideways. Just have to get used to it. Oh, and get less than 10 year old tires.

 

[Niku Driver HC]

The thing about never having any money is that once you get some, you want to invest it into as big of a thing as you can. A box with wheels is a neat one.

All things aside, having done around 7k km in it, it never left me on the side of the road. Most of the things in the list on the OP are sorted - the underside welded up, motor idle sorted out. That one was an interesting fix. Reseating the ECU plug fixed it. Fixed the small things like new washer pump, turn signal stalk, driver door handle, tie rod end. Mirrors still don't work, but I just can't be bothered, I just adjust them by hand and forget. Clutch is still slipping, oil leaking. The two might be related as the rear main seal might be at fault. Bought another steering rack, but like many other things I just can't be bothered to put the effort, time and money into it.

As well as retrofitting ABS into it. No way. I have already spun out a few times when the rear wheels just locked up and it went completely sideways. Just have to get used to it. Oh, and get less than 10 year old tires.

Well I haven't reached the "buy car with leftover money" phase yet, most of the boxes I've bought over the years were game consoles... Maybe a year or so is what I need?

If the car managed to not disappoint you after 7k miles, then it's being a 200 (insert your local currency here) lion. The mirror thing I can understand, but why don't you get someone to install a new steering rack if you can't be arsed? Sounds like something you could use being fixed...

So I guess you'll just stick with the Scandinavian (Flick) style of driving, then.
Joke aside, some decent tires should make Winter driving bearable, so it won't be a big deal, hopefully.

 

[Jet Badger]

Well I haven't reached the "buy car with leftover money" phase yet, most of the boxes I've bought over the years were game consoles... Maybe a year or so is what I need?

If the car managed to not disappoint you after 7k miles, then it's being a 200 (insert your local currency here) lion. The mirror thing I can understand, but why don't you get someone to install a new steering rack if you can't be arsed? Sounds like something you could use being fixed...

So I guess you'll just stick with the Scandinavian (Flick) style of driving, then.
Joke aside, some decent tires should make Winter driving bearable, so it won't be a big deal, hopefully.

Well it required a fair amount of investment aswell to get to this point. I think I have something around over 400 euros in parts and maintenance. At this point I think it's pretty much at the treshold where it's sorted enough to drive and me not wanting to dump any more cash into it. It has lots of little problems and there's no point in going after all of them. If this was a better example of a 306, a hot version of it, then maybe. Now it's just a 700eur car that you'd struggle to sell for half that.

If I still have it and the weather's nice and I feel like it, I may go after replacing the rack. It's 70eur to have it done at the shop. add that to the 30eur rack, and there's another 100eur into the bottomless pond. Naaah. The problem with current one is just that the outer bushings are a bit worn and have a bit of play and that it's slowly leaking fluid. Nothing dangerous.

I got a pair of decent winter tires a few weeks ago, that should help immensely. Will get another two after I get paid. Heh, it might be reason enough to get another 306 after this one just so I can swap the now golden wheels and tires.

 

[Niku Driver HC]

Well it required a fair amount of investment aswell to get to this point. I think I have something around over 400 euros in parts and maintenance. At this point I think it's pretty much at the treshold where it's sorted enough to drive and me not wanting to dump any more cash into it. It has lots of little problems and there's no point in going after all of them. If this was a better example of a 306, a hot version of it, then maybe. Now it's just a 700eur car that you'd struggle to sell for half that.

If I still have it and the weather's nice and I feel like it, I may go after replacing the rack. It's 70eur to have it done at the shop. add that to the 30eur rack, and there's another 100eur into the bottomless pond. Naaah. The problem with current one is just that the outer bushings are a bit worn and have a bit of play and that it's slowly leaking fluid. Nothing dangerous.

I got a pair of decent winter tires a few weeks ago, that should help immensely. Will get another two after I get paid. Heh, it might be reason enough to get another 306 after this one just so I can swap the now golden wheels and tires.

Ah, euros are your country's main currency, at least I can safely use that whenever I have to mention.

That aside, guess you can only fix a few more things before the car becomes unprofitable for you if you need to sell it. A nicer example of a version similar to yours could be worth about 1.5k euros on a good day, but a rough example is bound to struggle to reach 1k...

Well, I suppose the whole rack repairing budget ties in with the car value issue you mentioned, really. Hopefully the leaking fluid won't bite you in the proverbial behind down the line...

Indeed it will, especially in an area where Winter actually brings heavy snow to roads. Also, "golden wheels"...? What did I miss for that to happen?

 

[Jet Badger]

Ah, euros are your country's main currency, at least I can safely use that whenever I have to mention.

That aside, guess you can only fix a few more things before the car becomes unprofitable for you if you need to sell it. A nicer example of a version similar to yours could be worth about 1.5k euros on a good day, but a rough example is bound to struggle to reach 1k...

Well, I suppose the whole rack repairing budget ties in with the car value issue you mentioned, really. Hopefully the leaking fluid won't bite you in the proverbial behind down the line...

Indeed it will, especially in an area where Winter actually brings heavy snow to roads. Also, "golden wheels"...? What did I miss for that to happen?

"Golden wheels" as in them might aswell being made of gold when you compare their value to the rest of the car. The tires Are easily the most expensive thing on this car right now. And I like the Speedlines.

Shame there are very much no S16's/GTi6'es in the country. Maybe a turbodiesel? Those have a very good reputation. Also having something that does less than 10l/100km would be nice.

This weekend was the first time I've taken it on the motorway since I had it. Honestly, the rack/bushing play is felt much more at 120-140kph. Driving around at city speeds it's alright.

Also unseen in the previous photos are the painted side mirror covers. I did them at the same time I painted the new driver's door handle. I think it makes it look a lot less peasant compared to plain plastic black ones.

 

[Niku Driver HC]

"Golden wheels" as in them might aswell being made of gold when you compare their value to the rest of the car. The tires Are easily the most expensive thing on this car right now. And I like the Speedlines.

Shame there are very much no S16's/GTi6'es in the country. Maybe a turbodiesel? Those have a very good reputation. Also having something that does less than 10l/100km would be nice.

This weekend was the first time I've taken it on the motorway since I had it. Honestly, the rack/bushing play is felt much more at 120-140kph. Driving around at city speeds it's alright.

Also unseen in the previous photos are the painted side mirror covers. I did them at the same time I painted the new driver's door handle. I think it makes it look a lot less peasant compared to plain plastic black ones.

View attachment 610702

Oh, I see, fair enough. Guess GTI rims pay a premium when it comes to Peugeot rims... More like Moneylines, amirite? (that joke was sooo terrible, my lord...)

Yeah, that is a shame. If it makes you feel any better, the main online car selling website here in Portugal only has two S16/GTIs, which range from 5.750 to 6.500 euros. And only one diesel, a 1.9D with 300.000 km driven... Can't say I'd be spoiled for choice if I wanted a 306 right now.

Well, if it works... And during maneuvering (i.e. parking and the like)? Also, good touch with the painted side mirrors, it does spruce up the car somewhat. At least it hides the obviously cheap original plastic look...

 

[Jet Badger]

Oh, I see, fair enough. Guess GTI rims pay a premium when it comes to Peugeot rims... More like Moneylines, amirite? (that joke was sooo terrible, my lord...)

Yeah, that is a shame. If it makes you feel any better, the main online car selling website here in Portugal only has two S16/GTIs, which range from 5.750 to 6.500 euros. And only one diesel, a 1.9D with 300.000 km driven... Can't say I'd be spoiled for choice if I wanted a 306 right now.

Well, if it works... And during maneuvering (i.e. parking and the like)? Also, good touch with the painted side mirrors, it does spruce up the car somewhat. At least it hides the obviously cheap original plastic look...

The ones I can find on mobile.de go for around 3-5k eur. Nah. In this case I'd just go with a nicer example of a regular 2.0 16V or such. That is way too much money for a nearly 20 year old french hatch. More than I'd be willing to spend on one atleast.

 

[Niku Driver HC]

The ones I can find on mobile.de go for around 3-5k eur. Nah. In this case I'd just go with a nicer example of a regular 2.0 16V or such. That is way too much money for a nearly 20 year old french hatch. More than I'd be willing to spend on one atleast.

Well, if you're spending 3 to 5k euros on a hot Peugeot and nothing more, you might as well turn to 106 S16s and/or Rallyes for that, right? At least it's smaller and has less to go wrong with...

 

[Jet Badger]

Well, if you're spending 3 to 5k euros on a hot Peugeot and nothing more, you might as well turn to 106 S16s and/or Rallyes for that, right? At least it's smaller and has less to go wrong with...

Or even something a decade newer

 

[Niku Driver HC]

Or even something a decade newer

Hey, I like 106s (my mother did own one, after all, but that's not the only reason), sue me. As for the "something a decade newer", what sort of car would fill that requirement?

 

[Jet Badger]

Hey, I like 106s (my mother did own one, after all, but that's not the only reason), sue me. As for the "something a decade newer", what sort of car would fill that requirement?

I like them too, a lot in fact. The early Rallye ones are some sexy things. Same with the 306 IMO. The early trim/grille has that classic 205/405 appearance. Reminds me of the rally days of it.

For 5k I'd be looking at 8th gen Civics. I'd a like a blue saloon. Driving old cars is fun, but the gadgets and the comfyness of modern ones has it's own appeal. Like... working electric mirrors and A/C.

 

[Niku Driver HC]

I like them too, a lot in fact. The early Rallye ones are some sexy things. Same with the 306 IMO. The early trim/grille has that classic 205/405 appearance. Reminds me of the rally days of it.

For 5k I'd be looking at 8th gen Civics. I'd a like a blue saloon. Driving old cars is fun, but the gadgets and the comfyness of modern ones has it's own appeal. Like... working electric mirrors and A/C.

Well, that's good to hear. I love the S16s, the clean styling is wonderfully subtle for a hot hatch. The Rallye is a little more obvious, but by no means less awesome...

Also, you can find an 8th gen for that cheap...? I don't recall seeing those prices where I live... Besides, I'd still buy an older Civic instead, like a 6th gen. It still has the "gadgets and the comfyness" you seek, if anything...

 

[Jet Badger]

Well, that's good to hear. I love the S16s, the clean styling is wonderfully subtle for a hot hatch. The Rallye is a little more obvious, but by no means less awesome...

Also, you can find an 8th gen for that cheap...? I don't recall seeing those prices where I live... Besides, I'd still buy an older Civic instead, like a 6th gen. It still has the "gadgets and the comfyness" you seek, if anything...

They seem to start at 4k eur for an early model. 5k is about the median. Looking at the ads right now there are plenty diesel hatches for under 5k. And I wouldn't call 5000 euros to be "cheap" for a decade old econobox. It's half a new car afterall. You could get a fleet of a dozen of rough 306'es for that much.

Older ones are pretty nice. But again, not enough "modern touch". 6th gens are what, 20 year old now? But for the price they should be plenty good. The 3 door hatch would be the one to get. The 5-doors and the estates that were built alongside the equivalent Rovers have all rotted to nothing by now and which haven't, soon will. A bit of a shame, I really like the early 400 series.

 

[Niku Driver HC]

They seem to start at 4k eur for an early model. 5k is about the median. Looking at the ads right now there are plenty diesel hatches for under 5k. And I wouldn't call 5000 euros to be "cheap" for a decade old econobox. It's half a new car afterall. You could get a fleet of a dozen of rough 306'es for that much.

Older ones are pretty nice. But again, not enough "modern touch". 6th gens are what, 20 year old now? But for the price they should be plenty good. The 3 door hatch would be the one to get. The 5-doors and the estates that were built alongside the equivalent Rovers have all rotted to nothing by now and which haven't, soon will. A bit of a shame, I really like the early 400 series.

Actually, you should say "average" instead of "medium", but that aside I do suppose age has caught up quickly to the FD chassis. Never mind rough 306s, you could even find a Renault Vel Satis for that kind of money if you're crazy enough.

Well yes, the EK is about 20 years old, give or take. I guess it's a matter of preference for me moreso than anything else. Plus, you can find a handful 1.4is for less than 3k euros, which is certainly a lot of car for the money in my book. It is a shame that the remaining cars seemingly inherited the bad Rover habits instead of the good ones, things like the 200/25 can also work as cheap runabouts with some care.

 

[Jet Badger]

Actually, you should say "average" instead of "medium"

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Median

'under 3k' for a 20 year old regular Civic seems very steep. Cars where you live must be crazy expensive. Here 6th gen ones, not including the hot models, barely reach 1.5k even on the ads. Most being in the 500-1000 euro range.

--
After just checking the ads, you can get a Vel Satis for well under 2000eur here. All 7 of the ads I see are around 1.5k, with one oddball being at 2.5. Talk about depreciation.

 

[Niku Driver HC]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Median

'under 3k' for a 20 year old regular Civic seems very steep. Cars where you live must be crazy expensive. Here 6th gen ones, not including the hot models, barely reach 1.5k even on the ads. Most being in the 500-1000 euro range.

--
After just checking the ads, you can get a Vel Satis for well under 2000eur here. All 7 of the ads I see are around 1.5k, with one oddball being at 2.5. Talk about depreciation.

I ain't trustin' no silly Intranet, you sly rascal...!

Well, with those kinds of prices, I suspect Lithuania has some really lax car taxes, if anything. Either that or Portugal really loves shooting the prices of all cars up with no exception... Guess that just shows why it really isn't a good country to find a car for cheap.

Also, jaysus that's a brutally silly price for Vel Satises! I found 1st-gen Twingos here that are more expensive than that...

 

[Jet Badger]

I ain't trustin' no silly Intranet, you sly rascal...!

Well, with those kinds of prices, I suspect Lithuania has some really lax car taxes, if anything. Either that or Portugal really loves shooting the prices of all cars up with no exception... Guess that just shows why it really isn't a good country to find a car for cheap.

Also, jaysus that's a brutally silly price for Vel Satises! I found 1st-gen Twingos here that are more expensive than that...

Part of the reason might be the climate that's harsh on the metal with all the roadsalts and cold wetness during the winter season, so cars rust out somewhat quickly when compared to their southern counterparts. The overall level of income might be another reason why some things are cheaper than out in the west. Not the richest country Lithuania is. But honestly, quickly looking at car prices on german ads, they seem to not be too different. Maybe Portugal is just like that?

 

[Niku Driver HC]

Part of the reason might be the climate that's harsh on the metal with all the roadsalts and cold wetness during the winter season, so cars rust out somewhat quickly when compared to their southern counterparts. The overall level of income might be another reason why some things are cheaper than out in the west. Not the richest country Lithuania is. But honestly, quickly looking at car prices on german ads, they seem to not be too different. Maybe Portugal is just like that?

Well we can also have cold Winters, although not with as much roadsalts, so that's not entirely different between both countries, haha. Also, when you speak about the level of income, do you mean it's a good enough one or the actual opposite?

I guess in the end, Portugal is just that damm good... at making good stuff too costly. Don't forget, we're talking about the "buy new Ford Mustang GT for over 90.000 euros" country, after all.

 

[Jet Badger]

Did a bit of an audio upgrade today. I've had the DIY amp, that I wrote up here, running off the phone since pretty much when I got the car. Just that plugging it in and out every time I get in and out of the car became a bit of an annoyance. Last week I dusted off the old early 00s CD head unit that I got with the car. It did not play CDs and had no face panel illumination. I took it all apart and changed the original burnt out illumination bulbs (interesting that every single one of them was bad) with white LEDs. Bingo! The light shines the way. The faulty CD player just needed it's lense dusted off to work properly again.

You can see hotspots in the light, but that's just LEDs being LEDs. I called the operation a success.

Anyway, not having an aux input of any sort is no fun these days aswell. Only so much stuff you can put on CDs. Nevertheless it made me dust off some decade old discs. Pink and Green Day. What a times those were.

I was still looking at new head units all week. Even the cheapest, although brand ones, seem hard to justify for a car like this. But I budged. I budged today under the notion of a stereo being portable between cars when the time comes, and the freedom from being bound by CDs and FM radio. Today I just went out and bought some Alpine unit, I think it's the cheapest one that has Bluetooth. The things that sold me on it were the hands free phone calls and the fact that it has a jack for a remote, which I intend to wire up to the factory controls by the steering wheel. Just like I had on the homemade amp.

(I need to clean up the stickytape residue around the frame)

At the same time I took the time to figure out the speaker wire polarity for sure, as they seem to have been wired randomly before and I never bothered with them. I tried replacing the front door speakers with an assort of old stuff I had accumulate from other family cars during the years, but none of them fit, which is a bit of a shame as the stock speakers in this car have a rip or two in the rubber cone edges. Will have to do for now though, seems to sound fine.

 

[Jet Badger]

the stock speakers in this car have a rip or two in the rubber cone edges. Will have to do for now though, seems to sound fine.

Decided I'd replace those aswell. Got a cheapo pair for the front doors, nice thing being that these are supposed to fit factory spots with no hassle. Sadly they did not. The factory speakers are quite shallow and have a pretty small diameter of the frame. The whole hole for them in both the metal and the recessed plastic door trim is shaped accordingly, so fitting anything bigger would probably require cutting those bigger. The new Alpines are quite shallow too, but just one bit not enough. So I cut a pair of spacer rings out of 4mm PVC foam board to space them that much outwards, so it would clear the plastic inside and the grille in front. Seems to have worked perfectly. One of the rings turned out better than the other, but that's just the curse of the first part. Noone's gonna see them anyway.

Also the step up in sound quality, compared to the old ones, is huge. Had to turn the treble back down to zero as now you can actually hear it.

 

[Niku Driver HC]

First the radio, now the front speakers... Going for a full Alpine set, I see.

 

[Jet Badger]

Yup, it's just so much easier to sleep at night when it's not all a mix&match of random components

 

[Niku Driver HC]

But now you can't say it has that "mad OEM Pug value brah", can you...? Devalued!

 

[Jet Badger]

Pug value

At this point the audio is almost the value of the car alone now.