hello
i have a peugeot 2.0 hdi and im having trouble with the head gasket and radiator at the moment.
2 weeks ago my light on th edashboard came on telling me i needed to fill the coolant up which i did as i found it was empty and then 3 days ago the light came on again to which i filled it up again which i thought was strange.
so i took it into a local garage which i trust for him to look at my radiator and he said its not just the radiator but the head gasket which he showed me fluid was pouring out of the middle part of the engine rather than the front of the car where you would expect a radiator leak.
i know he isnt ripping me off as he said he couldnt do it because this engine is needed to be done by a specialist and he couldnt recommend anyone because he didnt want to be responsable for someone doing a bad job or ripping me off which i thought was good of him to be honest like that.
so yesterday and today ive been getting quotes from various garages which have been from £550 to £700 including a new radiator..does this seem right as im not really into cars in this way ????
my 406 is on a W reg and im not sure what its actually worth and i was thinking of part- ex ing it as i was offered £895 for it from a dealership last night.
i would really love your thoughts on this plaease as im unsure if i should pay so much for a W reg which has only done 68,000 miles or should i pay to have it fixed?
also if you do recommend to get it fixed can you recommend a garage in the tameside/manchester area which will do the job so i dont get ripped off.
thanks in advance
Andy
Edited by Pugugly on 30/01/2009 at 22:55
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Prices sound realistic. If the dealer knows the h/g has gone and is offering £895 in p/ex then that sounds reasonable too.
I'd go for the part exchange myself. This recession is the best time to buy a decent car for a good price.
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hello everyone again.
well after a week of posting my last message my car is still the same,i went car hunting last weekend and did about 300 miles in total and my car drives perfectly.
the only visual signs of a problem now is whe the car has been stood for a while where it leaves a small puddle of water with what looks like a gold(ish) bit in the puddle.
as i say the car drives like it always has done which is very good and there isnt any engine noise or the car judders.
what exactly would my car do if the head gasket has gone because this week someone said that if it was the head gasket it would judder and give more problems that it seems to be doing.
i dont really want to get rid of the car as its been fantastic in the nearly 6 years ive had it and as i say its only done 68,000 miles.
any advice or help would be great on this please.
thanks
Andy
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The juddering stuff is if the coolant is leaking into the combustion chambers, which it aint. It doesn't sound like it's going into the oil either but if it's started to fail it'll only get worse.
Whether you get it fixed or p/x it is up to you, I'd probably get it fixed as I love my 406s and I know more about them than other cars of similar age, which are just as likely to go wrong IMHO. Of course, 406s can turn into money pits if you're not careful but, given the mileage, that's not likely (yet!)
Perhaps you should see what you can pick up for the money and work from there.
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Most likely symptoms of head gasket problems are:
Pressurised cooling system - the hoses are very hard when you squeeze them.
Take the cap off the coolant tank (very slowly and carefully and with a cloth). If the coolant comes out like a shaken fizzy drinks can which has just been opened, then it looks like a head gasket problem. Idle the engine with the cap off. If a stream of bubbles is seen coming to the surface, then its a head gasket problem.
Other symptoms can be the temperature gauge going up and down as you drive along, overheating, loss of coolant, and white smoke from the exhaust.
If the car is just losing coolant, it could just be a leak or worn water pump.
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thanks for the replies so far everyone.
the coolant light doesnt come on now because i put some rad weld in and it seems to be holding the water now and i dont need to keep topping the coolant up.
however when i remove the coolant lid it does fizz up but thats when the engine had been running for a while when i did this.
does the engine ned to be cold to try this? if so i will try this tomorrow,also my mate said that he thought i had put too much coollant in and thats why it may have overflowed like it did is that a possibility ??
do you think me changing the raditor is worth a go and work from there as ive decided to keep the car because its only done 68,000 miles and i like the car.
any more help would be appreciated..
thanks
Andy
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It's "fizzing up" because the coolant is hot (think pressure cooker), you must be careful when you do this as it can spray out and scald you, it is better to do it cold. The good news is it's building up pressure, looks like the rad weld is doing it's stuff. I'm not sure how long the rad weld will hold though, although this is usually when the h/g is leaking between oil ways, the coolant and/or the cylinders so maybe quite a while.
If there was too much coolant it should just blow it out until the level's somewhere near the mark (if the coolant leak was into the cylinders it would blow the whole lot out, but you say the leak is at the back of the block so this isn't happening.)
If the leak is from the engine why would you want to change the radiator?
You'll probably also need to bleed the coolant because the header tank is lower than some parts of a system. Here's a link just for you tinyurl.com/bd9rrt (saves me a lot of typing)
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