peugeot 306 running fine without coolant for months????

[2cool2cool]

Made an outrageous error. Thought my coolant light was a faulty screen wash light (i know, I did check the symbol, had it in my head it was screen wash so my eyes believed what they wanted to ) and ignored for months. Yet engine temperature never goes above 75-80 ? I've driven long and short journeys thousands of miles???? Lights been on for months, reservoir was empty when I looked after the garage had it. Ran it without coolant and checked temperature to check the garage hadn't just emptied it and were ripping me off.

Garage said the water pump is leaking and needs replacing.

I'm confused as hell though, how has it not overheated?? Could it be there is just enough coolant being retained somewhere not in the reservoir?? Tempted now to chance it 6 months and then scrap, rather than fix .........

Edited by 2cool2cool on Friday 11th October 19:50

[anonymous-user]

Is the radiator empty? The reservoir bottle will just be the expansion tank I think, so it could be totally empty but the rad and thus engine may still be full.

[GreenV8S]

2cool2cool said:

Could it be there is just enough coolant being retained somewhere not in the reservoir??

Of course. There is normally coolant in the radiator, and the engine, and all the hoses between them. How much in your case I have no idea, but you could easily find out just by filling up the reservoir and seeing how much it takes.

2cool2cool said:

Garage said the fuel pump is leaking and needs replacing.

Sure they weren't talking about the water pump? If that's the repair you're talking about, it's almost certainly worth fixing. It is unlikely to be expensive. Allowing the engine to overheat on the other hand could quite possibly write the car off.

Edited by GreenV8S on Friday 11th October 19:44

[2cool2cool]

Not sure how I check that, google keeps just showing me how to check the reservoir. Do have a good old haynes manual though I can look in tomorrow.

Must be the only explanation.. however the reservoir empties after 20 miles so not sure how the radiator wouldn't lose whats in there soon after?

[2cool2cool]

Ah, yes i meant water pump not fuel pump. Garage want 5 hours labour totalling £250, and wouldn't allow me to supply the part, which will therefore be £125


car was £600 with a year MOT, now 6 months to go. .... also needs rear brakes and wheel bearing doing. Going to fix wheel bearing with a mate for free.

[Penelope Stopit]

What engine?

What year?

306s are great cars

[2cool2cool]

1999 2 litre HDI

[GreenV8S]

2cool2cool said:

the reservoir empties after 20 miles

That's not a good sign, but you haven't mentioned any symptoms of head gasket failure so you just might have got away with it. Or maybe the gasket has failed but there's no water there to produce the usual symptoms. A pressure test would soon show you. Assuming you'd get somebody to replace the pump, they should be able to do that for you in a few minutes to reassure you that you aren't sinking money into a knackered engine.

[Krikkit]

Sounds like your garage are fobbing you off op. Water pump is about £20, at £120 they want to do the timing belt and tensioner as well. If it's not due you could reuse them

The job is slightly complicated because they have to take the cambelt off to do it, but it's not a hard job.

I'd go somewhere else and have it done. Or call on a friendly PHer to help.

Edited by Krikkit on Friday 11th October 22:30

[Penelope Stopit]

2cool2cool said:

1999 2 litre HDI

Nice, might be well worth keeping it, not so many on the road now

Have you seen this https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...

Most posters to the above topic regard the 306 as a great machine

Nearly finished rebuilding a 306 1.9 Diesel, paintwork is rough like most of them but no rust on visible parts of the body

As posted above, someones trying to steal your money, water pumps are cheapish

[Penelope Stopit]

Will you kindly do me a favour

Can't for the life of me remember if there was a rear left hand plastic wheel arch liner ever fitted to my 306

The right hand rear wheel arch (fuel filler side) does have a plastic inner wheel arch liner

Thank you in advance, there are no right hand drive 306s in my part of the world that I can compare things with (my 306 is RHD)

[wildoliver]

Penelope Stopit said:

2cool2cool said:

1999 2 litre HDI

Nice, might be well worth keeping it, not so many on the road now

Have you seen this https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...

Most posters to the above topic regard the 306 as a great machine

Nearly finished rebuilding a 306 1.9 Diesel, paintwork is rough like most of them but no rust on visible parts of the body

As posted above, someones trying to steal your money, water pumps are cheapish

My car

No bugger buying it mind!

I did have a seriously expensive repair to do the other day though. Clutch cable went......

£30 part and took about 10 mins to fit. New car manufacturers..... In fact Peugeot could learn a lot.

[Penelope Stopit]

wildoliver said:

My car

No bugger buying it mind!

I did have a seriously expensive repair to do the other day though. Clutch cable went......

£30 part and took about 10 mins to fit. New car manufacturers..... In fact Peugeot could learn a lot.

You're the proud owner of the Peugeot 306 at the above link?

Are you able to help me with the following problem as posted earlier in this topic?

Penelope Stopit said:

Will you kindly do me a favour

Can't for the life of me remember if there was a rear left hand plastic wheel arch liner ever fitted to my 306

The right hand rear wheel arch (fuel filler side) does have a plastic inner wheel arch liner

Thank you in advance, there are no right hand drive 306s in my part of the world that I can compare things with (my 306 is RHD)

[wildoliver]

There's one at the rear but not one that goes all the way round. So the sill area is exposed.

[Penelope Stopit]

wildoliver said:

There's one at the rear but not one that goes all the way round. So the sill area is exposed.

You've made my day, thank you very much for your time

[Old Merc]

Krikkit said:

Sounds like your garage are fobbing you off op. Water pump is about £20, at £120 they want to do the timing belt and tensioner as well. If it's not due you could reuse them

The job is slightly complicated because they have to take the cambelt off to do it, but it's not a hard job.

I'd go somewhere else and have it done. Or call on a friendly PHer to help.

Edited by Krikkit on Friday 11th October 22:30

Nobody ever replaces a water pump without replacing the cambelt as well. Almost all parts outlets will supply a full kit,water pump,cambelt,tensioner and pulleys,all in one box. Make sure its Gates or Dayco, they are O/E to Peugeot.

[Krikkit]

Old Merc said:

Nobody ever replaces a water pump without replacing the cambelt as well. Almost all parts outlets will supply a full kit,water pump,cambelt,tensioner and pulleys,all in one box. Make sure its Gates or Dayco, they are O/E to Peugeot.

Why would you spend an extra £100 on a shed when you don't have to? Assuming the belts aren't due there's no harm in putting them back on.

[Old Merc]

Krikkit said:

Old Merc said:

Nobody ever replaces a water pump without replacing the cambelt as well. Almost all parts outlets will supply a full kit,water pump,cambelt,tensioner and pulleys,all in one box. Make sure its Gates or Dayco, they are O/E to Peugeot.

Why would you spend an extra £100 on a shed when you don't have to? Assuming the belts aren't due there's no harm in putting them back on.

It's not a shed,by the look of it it's a really nice looking 306,last of the real Peugeot's.That HDI engine will last for ever,(providing it's well cooled that is). If you just change the water pump,a cam belt on its own is about £15 - £20. Pulleys and the tensioner rarely give trouble on that engine.

[Penelope Stopit]

Old Merc said:

It's not a shed,by the look of it it's a really nice looking 306,last of the real Peugeot's.That HDI engine will last for ever,(providing it's well cooled that is). If you just change the water pump,a cam belt on its own is about £15 - £20. Pulleys and the tensioner rarely give trouble on that engine.

Is the HDI as good as the DJY XUD9A?

[Old Merc]

Penelope Stopit said:

Old Merc said:

It's not a shed,by the look of it it's a really nice looking 306,last of the real Peugeot's.That HDI engine will last for ever,(providing it's well cooled that is). If you just change the water pump,a cam belt on its own is about £15 - £20. Pulleys and the tensioner rarely give trouble on that engine.

Is the HDI as good as the DJY XUD9A?

I would say yes. The old XUD Peugeot engines were just bullet proof. The DW HDI range were just a modern common rail version of that engine.

Edited by Old Merc on Tuesday 15th October 21:48