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306 TD - a couple of quessies

We've just acquired a 1997 R Peugeot 306 D Turbo. I know and love the

306, but this is my first diesel car, so I'd appreciate a bit of advice on a couple of things.

The car has done 85,000 miles and is very clean overall. It goes well, and seems to be good on fuel - 165 miles and it's only just dipped under the 3/4 mark on the gauge. It has a full Pug history up to 72,000, after which it seems to have been a bit neglected. Both fuel and air filters were filthy (I've replaced them), as well as changing the oil and filter. The coolant is also filthy (and weak in concentration) so that's the next little job on the list. Other than that, it's in good shape apart from:

Cold starts - the engine fires instantly, but needs throttle to make it continue running. It then idles like a bag of nails for the first 20 seconds or so (and smokes), after which the smoke stops and it's sweet as a nut (as diesels go). It starts normally at all other times too. I know there's a fast idle mechanism on the fuel pump and suspect it's duff, but have no idea how it works. Could this be where the problem lies, and where do I start?

What is the recommendation for the timing belt swap? It was done at 48k according to the service history, so should I be looking at getting it done again?

It seems very easy to catch the engine "off boost", particularly going from 2nd to 3rd. It seems to need about 2,200 RPM before the turbo wakes up. Is this normal?

Cheers in anticipation.

Dan

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Dan Post
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Sounds like its down on one glow plugs, which would be the best place to start- often the one behind the pump isnt changed cos its a bugger to get at. A new set of 4 (PSA or Bosch, of the correct type- there are 2) would be the first thing to do. If you blip the throttle immediately after starting and it then settles onto 4 cylinders back at idle with no smoke would be a reasonable way to isolate the problem to either a failed glow plug or possibly a poor injector giving a bad spray pattern.

The fast idle / timing advance depends on which pump you have, but they used to use a bowden cable to a wax stat on the head which pulls on the lever when cold. This was replaced by a solonoid around 96/97 when EGR was fitted. The haynes manual shows all types in good detail. When you start from cold though you should have a fast idle of about 1200rpm.

AFAIK intervals are 48k and at the second change its normally time to replace the crank and cam oil seals as they will be starting to weep..

Yes. Boost tends to be slow to build on these til around the revs you mention- which is about average for a TD then comes in with a whack. If you wish it may be worth checking what boost it is running and having it adjusted if you feel its too far off spec (1bar).

Tim..

Reply to
Tim..

Cheers Tim! I'll try glowplugs first of all. Got hold of a Haynes manual today, and mine seems to have a Lucas pump on it. There's what looks like a vacuum hose coming off the fast idle mechanism which goes to a sensor located in the thermostat housing. It isn't working. If I pull the mechanism manually, the idle picks up. Sounds like two separate problems.

With regard to the boost situation, it is exactly as you describe. It comes in with a big rush (quite exciting really) at 2,200. I'm happy with the actual performance of the car - amazed in fact, but it's just the 2nd to 3rd upshift that shows the lag. If it's normal, I'll live with it.

On another note, someone told me about a spate of conrod failures on these engines during this year of production, possibly caused by a batch of turbo engines being fitted with non-turbo rods. Is this something I need to be in any way concerned about?

Thanks for your advice.

Cheers Dan

Reply to
Dan Post

Yes there have been,

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mentions it, not sure if PSA or anyone else identified the actual cause of the failures, but I think it started happening when the service intervals went from 6000 miles to whatever. If you change the oil and filter with a decent CF4 / CG spec oil every 6 months / 5000miles ish I don't think you;ll have a problem.

Tim..

Reply to
Tim..

Mine's still on 6k intervals, so that's good news. The car is going to be used by my better half for a 60 mile round trip motorway commute each day, so it shouldn't have a particularly hard life anyway. But I will make sure it gets fresh oil and filter every 5k to be sure.

I had a '98 1.8 16v petrol 306 until last year, and the standard service schedule only required oil changes every 20,000 miles! If diesel engines were similar, no wonder they ran into problems.

Cheers for the advice.

Dan

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Dan Post

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