Pergeot 406 petrol auto 1998 - Blown radiator , high temp water pouring onto foot - bexx
Hi I have a Pergeot 406 that I drove for 500 klm and it was fine . I had it up on ramps to put putty on a hole in the exhaust and while it was idling to set the putty the radiator exploded ( end cap) the temp never went up ( on the dash ) I fixed the radiator and drove around the block and the temp went to the red and it started chugging and water ran out onto my foot inside the car. Was dripping a bit of water from the engine bay as well. It had a service done about a month before that and all was good .
Pergeot 406 petrol auto 1998 - Blown radiator , high temp water pouring onto foot - Oli rag

Hot water inside the cabin is never good news! Unfortunately it sounds as though the heater matrix has failed or at best one of its hoses.

On some cars, either of the jobs can take so long, or be so expensive to do that it's no longer economical to keep the car.

Someone with more knowledge of how to approach this on a 406 will hopefully have better info ( or not) for you.

Pergeot 406 petrol auto 1998 - Blown radiator , high temp water pouring onto foot - Peter.N.

I would agree with the above. On many cars removal of the heater matrix means removal of the complete dashboard, not in your case I am pleased to tell you, you can gain access to the heater by removing the glove box, it doesn't look to bad a job at all.

What concerns me is what caused all the carnage, there was obviously very high pressure in the cooling system, this could have been caused by a head gasket failure or it could just be that it boiled, in which case the filler cap should have released the pressure, so may be that needs replacing as well.

Pergeot 406 petrol auto 1998 - Blown radiator , high temp water pouring onto foot - dieselnut

You had the car on ramps which may have put the radiator higher than the engine. Any air in the cooling system may have caused an air lock stopping coolant circulation & with the temperature sensor out of the coolant. The air could have been in there for some time or may be due to a faulty head gasket as has been suggested.