ClareQuilty

He said it was his usual mom and pop garage, seems he's paying a bit of a premium for the guy speaking English and I guess that's a skill worth paying for too, the guy had to take time and effort to learn, it's worth something a little extra over the local village idiot. Though he's likely to get MORE oil leaks but add in water and maybe vacuum leaks as well reusing old dry and brittle water and vacuum hoses and what about all the other gaskets not being replaced? Just sayin . But now since the garage guy was the seller and the car was given to him for a debt owed it's all a question of just how trustworthy this guy actually is because it's very likely he knew the issue was there and the cause when he sold it on.

The new garage checked the water level and the hoses, as I asked - I was there taking a look at them right alongside. They said all was in order, which was why they diagnosed the head gasket.

I didn't look inside the cooling system before buying the car - I just drove it for a few weeks test drive on a 10k deposit, and since it never got even the slightest bit hot even during the heat of the day, all seemed good at the time.

Anyway, no one has suggested to me what might be 'underlying causes' of the head-gasket failure, other than the obvious one that the car was previously overheated - which is an extremely common occurrence in this climate and with these delicate motors.

Could be as simple as a fan fuse (5000B ouch )as CQ has said the car sat for 5 years without being used the (probably plain ) water corroding the waterways on a head he doesn't know how many times it's been skimmed, now he's panicked and put it in an unknown garage without thinking how to get it back to his trusted mechanic, i can see this as a forunner to the thread 'my 405 is dead'.

Unlikely, as the fans are working. There's really no reason to rate the original garage as better than the last, particularly now that I discover how expensive they are. The main reason I like them is the owner speaks English and is older generation (a true tinkerer, applying cheap Toyota parts to everything). If the current shop does a bad job on the head it doesn't mean 'my 405 is dead', it just means I have to have the head redone. At 5,000 baht per go you would have to have the problem thrice before considering giving up on the car.

Of course its true, if the head itself is simply unsalvageable, it may be problematic to find a new second hand Peugeot head? I don't know.

Clare, the question always has to be WHY does the head gasket blow? I've only had one head gasket blow in my lifetime and that's even with high mileage and stock racing engines included, that one was on my race and had it's reasons too. There is some reason for all these head rebuilds, likely the previous owners abuse but still that needs to be considered when buying, there are always indications of some sort if one can look carefully enough.

But my point is that just replacing the head gasket and having the head shaved is usually just fixing the end result of other problems that need to be fleshed out first in addition.

Well I'm sure that's true, but how would one know about something like that? What is mysterious is why did the car run for me for 2-3 weeks without ever getting the least bit hot, and then the head suddenly burst? The fans, the water, etc, are all normal. Apparently among Thais head rebuilds are an annual event...

5k is about right for a head grind and gasket replacement.

Wow, that's so cheap. Thanks for the comment. I guess I was overcharged previously at the other shop - around 10k on my Honda.

Did you add up all repairs done until now? It should run up to a sum big enough to buy a car instead of a dinosaur.

Yeah the repairs totalled around 3,000 altogether so far. Very reasonable.

I paid over 10,000 for a similar job on my old Honda, so yeah the cheap price quote made me sort of doubt their honesty, but they didn't seem to be trying to "sell" me, plus the shop was both really busy and kind of rough looking. Also on the bright side, that Honda's been reliable since that repair, maybe it'll do the trick on the Peugeot as well.

Regarding a diesel pickup truck - I really don't like trucks, nor do I think "a nice one" would be within my budget.

On heads: they sure are a lot if trouble! Until I moved over here I only ever drove cast-iron v-8 American cars, so I got used to cars simply running trouble- and expense-free for 250-300,000 miles. Didn't realize how spoiled I was.

Driving earlier my temp gauge ran slightly warm for a while (just over 80 centigrade), so I began to worry, and then went up fairly quickly to 90-95. Luckily I managed to make it to a repair shop still open in the evening (not my usual one, and unlike him not English-speaking).

They told me the head or head gasket was at fault, and said it would be about 5,000 to shave the head and replace the gasket.the strangely cheap price quote gave me pause, but I told them to go ahead as I had no choice at the late hour (7ish).

...can't yet confirm since I'm not certain of the year of model, his system ...

I think it is a 1996 or '97, and it has the 2.0 liter engine (the 'XU10' engine), with the 5 speed.

BTW, I just got back from a trip to Khon Kaen, around town, and back, and the car is just a joy to drive now. Lucked out on no gas odors (my passenger might've been offended), and the new light clutch set-up was wonderful. In addition, the mechanic seemed to have got the idle and general fuel flow just right, and the car was quite spritely around town and as usual a fine cruiser on the highway. He didn't specify what he had done fuel-wise, but he did agree with my belief that the car will get better the more it is driven, mentioning again that it wasn't driven at all for 5 years.

I think this kind of electronic thing is beyond my ability.. for example, where would I plug in my phone to my engine in order to get these codes? I only just got a smartphone for the first time a few months ago.

Regarding the clutch, today the mechanic explained to me that he didn't simply adjust or fix the clutch to make it so light, he actually modified it in some way different from the original design! On one hand I absolutely love the feel of it now, as light as a Toyota, low stress and easy to use, but wow, I sure hope his modification is gonna last! :v

You mean to say the computer can tell you where the fuel leak is? Amazing. I appreciate the invitation to visit 'Hang Dong' (to be honest I had to look this up to believe it was a real place), but I'm way over here in Isaan and you appear to be near Chiang Mai.

Wouldn't cars run richer when cold, hence a choke?

Today I got the car back film looks good, and though he couldn't trace the gas odor problem, he fixed the heavy clutch - it's much better now, takes a lot of the stress out of stop-n-go.

The gasoline smell is only present when the car is running, not when its off. It seems to me to pop up more at night or in the morning when the engine is cold.

The thread in which I asked for advice about my power steering pump has been locked, so I thought I'd mention here that it has already been fixed without a need for a new pump or new belt. I haven't picked it up yet as I'm out of town, but I'm sure it will be very cheap. The mechanic said he was able to repair the pump easily, and the belt is in good enough condition to last quite a while longer, so all's well.

The mysterious gas smell upon cold-starting has gotten worse sometimes,while still being absent at other times (seemingly when the engine is warmer). When last the mechanic had it, he thought it was the 'regulator' regulating the flow of gas from the gas tank to the fuel injectors, and preventing backflow, but I'm not so sure.

Also, does anyone have any opinion on window tinting? My mechanic had offered me free film as part of the deal when I bought the car from him a while back (there was no tinting on it at all, just factory original), so while its marooned at his shop this weekend, he's putting "number 80" tinting on the back windows, and "number 40" tinting on the driver and passenger side windows. I assume nothing on the windscreen, but we didn't discuss that. What grades of tinting do you all use/prefer?

Thanks guys. Even with these minor problems, these old cars provide incredibly cheap transportation - much cheaper than a new car. Thanks, mainly, to the wonderful Thai mechanics - reasonable rates, true talent at tinkering.

So, speaking of which, the car is now at the shop, where the mechanic says he will either repair the current pump, or, if it can't be made serviceable, he will fit a second-hand pump off of a Toyota Crown. He showed me a BMW in another part of the shop to which he had fitted a similar Crown-pump two years ago and said it was holding strong. Basically its his practice to simply use Toyota parts on everything except for Hondas. :v

BTW, the belt-wheel part of the pump had come off, and the belt was hanging lose, so I suppose that doesn't bode well for either the pump or the belt. I wonder how much such a belt would go for?

Just as I started bragging about the 30k Peugeot 405, the power steering blew up out on the highway an hour away from home tonight. I didn't even notice it as I was driving a long way down a straight highway, but suddenly the battery/charge light came on - apparently the large amounts of power steering fluid had run down all over the serpentine belt, causing it to slip, including the alternator.

I was a little concerned the water pump might be on this belt, or that slipping (especially if the power steer pump were 'locked up') might cause the belt to break, but neither turned out to be the case... I made it home just fine, though nervously eyeing the charge light and the temperature gauge. The car wasn't even that difficult to drive sans power steering, except for in the parking lot.

I'm wondering, having driven it with the pump dry like that for an hour, I guess there's little chance the pump is still good? I mean assuming the original problem was as I suspect a leak or burst hose, not the pump itself.

Finally, will the serpentine belt be salvageable with some cleaning? It seems to be functioning now, stopped slipping after a little while, but I guess that power steering fluid is not good for it.

Anyway now that everyone has calmed down, have you checked the tyre pressures Claire ?

No, never have aurthurwait, but the car handles fantastic out on the highway. Bit of a chore around town with the heavy clutch and the fairly large overall size, but a joy on the open road.

I'm happy to report that as I've driven the car more and more, either because of regular use or because I'm learning to drive it better (it is a learning curve with the heavy clutch, heavy throttle, etc.), I haven't experienced the 'engine cutting out' problem for a long time now. It seems the car cures itself, or perhaps tis I.

The smell is gasoline, not exhaust.

I'm happy to report I took it in to the mechanic today, where he diagnosed it as the 'regulator' which as he put it, controlled the flow of gasoline from the fuel tank, preventing it from flowing back into the tank. He said there was no need to replace the part, as the smell only manifests when the engine is cold - thus the leak is likely very small.

So, another free 'fix', and I'm still motoring down the road for 30k, not bad.

Thanks for all the tips guys. The smell came back earlier this evening, apparently I can't smell it when the windows are up with the air on. Usually I don't use air-con but did today, so I couldn't smell the gas.

BTW, to further clarify - there is no smell when the car is off, only when it is running/being driven. The smell is recurring over a period of a week, so I'm sure it can't be from someone spilling fuel somewhere. Also, the car has only gasoline fuel, not having any LPG installed. I always use real benzine 95, no gasohol.

I'll try to take it in tomorrow or the next day - hope it doesn't burst into a fireball before then!

The gas smell subsided - seemed to coincide with a full tank... Seems absent at 3/4 tank.

I'm loving the old Peugeot guys!

The gas smell subsided - seemed to coincide with a full tank... Seems absent at 3/4 tank.

I'm loving the old Peugeot guys!

Lately I've been smelling gasoline a bit when driving the Peugeot. Recently I had the throttle adjusted up and down a number of times to get the idle speed just right, don't know if that could be related. What typically causes a gas odor? The car is fuel injected, not carbureted.

" It looks like every other old car I've seen." That cos the only cars you look at are old bangers.....and they were all in the same flood!

Well, if you can find cars that look better than this for 30,000 baht, I'd be interested to see them. That's my price range for this car search, and I'm reasonably happy with the result.

The answer to your question is that the adjuster on the facia adjusts the headlamp beam level, not brightness, and is intended to compensate for vehicle loads. If it still works then adjust the beam using that adjuster. If it doesn't work then get the headlamp alignment checked and adjusted by someone with access to optical beam-setting equipment.

Perhaps checking the bulbs illuminating the instruments and replacing any that are burned out will answer that part of your question. There is no connection between the mechanical headlamp beam adjustment system and the electrical bulb illumination of the instrument lights.

The posters who are alarming you regarding water damage from floods are remarkably insightful if they can diagnose that simply by looking at not particularly clear photos of a door jamb and check strap covered in 20 year old dirt. Even more remarkable as you don't seem to be having any electrical issues with the car aside from the instrument illumination.

This may be useful to you, http://www.esttools.ee/peugeot/405.pdf

Many thanks for your informative reply, and I'm printing out the manual right now for my mechanic (he does understand English).

I returned to visit the mechanic, where he elucidated that it was in fact a burned out bulb in the instrument panel, and no connection to the 3-way light deal. He said he didn't think it was worth tearing in to the Peugeot dashboard just for the one bulb, and I'm inclined to agree. The speedometer doesn't work anyway, so the only info I could view in the instrument panel would be the tachometer, and I can roughly gauge that by the sound of the engine, or the gas gauge, which one needs to see less often and which can be viewed by Nokia-light. He also adjusted the headlights as high as possible manually - they still seem a little lower than on a normal car, but adequate for night driving last night on a hour-long journey beyond the street-lamp zone, so I'm happy.

Thanks also about the flood comment. Inspired by the flood-suspicioners on here, I took the trouble to carefully go over the car today, sniffing and examining the nooks and crannies, and I certainly never smelled anything niffy. My old recently sold Toyota, which had an ongoing slight floor-board leak, had a far more tidal smell. This Peugeot just smells like someone smoked in it for years. I also read up on flooded cars, and they're described has having a LOT of problems, whereas this car seems to have more the typical very minor problems of an old, little used, and neglected French car far from home in a hostile land (which rather reminds me of my own decrepit self).

I don't see what you guys are seeing - regarding evidence of flood. It looks like every other old car I've seen. I also didn't see any algae and I can also report that I smelled nothing unusual about the car. It smells slightly like a 'smokers car', but that's hardly unusual and I rather like that smell.

So.. regarding the switches - I still have no idea how they work. Can anyone help me with that? Do they make the headlights switch between three levels of brightness or angle of projection? How are they related to the light which illuminates the speedometer/tachometer area?

My mechanic told me it couldn't be fixed or wasn't worth fixing (I can never tell which he's saying, but it comes to the same thing).

Some photos of the 3-way headlight controls: