1995 106 1.1 blown headgasket project EBAY

[joan33987]

Hello
I was looking for something to do in the summer, but wanted to start small as I've never really worked on a car "in depth", have always worked on bikes. Not a qualified mechanic myself, just a 22 yr old who wants to learn and don't mind getting my hands dirty.

So i was trolling on Ebay, and found this Peugeot 106 with blown head gasket with ONLY 1 picture showing the outside of the car at that time. item number: 320563445012 (put it into the ebay search box to see)

Symtoms the owner claimed:
engine will overheat in a few miles.
But no smoking out the tail pipe.
There is white stuff in the oil.

So they think it's head gasket.

As a biker myself, I decided to go and view the car and/or possibly test drive it before bidding so i know what i'm buying, because you never know what things people are trying to hide and it's NOT A GOOD IDEA TO BUY WITHOUT A TEST DRIVE. Lots of horror stories of buying bikes from ebay in the bikechatforums.

Phoned up the owner, asked them about the car, and stated that I want to test drive and I will give them 100 pound as deposit while i'm test driving it, so anything happens to the car they can keep my money.
Reason to test drive is to test steering, brakes and gearbox.
Lady answered, No, she said, owner is a father, and he couldn't afford to fix the head gasket or he would've kept the car. The steering and brakes are fine, because he's a father and if those things don't work, it will be unsafe for him.
I thought OK, sounded genuine, fair enough. By that time I placed a Max bid of 80.

I drove 180 Miles from Leeds, west yorkshire to Chesham, buckinghamshire. About 9:30pm, Found the car in a communal parking lot in a private flat housing. Before calling the owner that I'm here, I walked around the car, checked the tires.
Found that the car stereo has been removed which is not mentioned in the listing. Called the lady, lady and man came down, I once agained asked whehter i can test drive, she said no, she's worried that test driving will wreck the engine even more. and also said, this is a auction, what you see is what you get. In the end, he agreed to drive me around the area with me in the passenger seat. Lady went back into flat.

They started the engine, engine did start easily BUT, exhaust is blowing underneath the engine, which again not mentioned in the ebay listing. Anyways, I asked him to check coolant and oil before setting off, but he couldn't find the bonnet release switch. It's NOT on the passenger side under the glovebox which I thought since I drove a R reg 106 before. Struggled for a few mins, he phoned the lady, lady said it's under the steering wheel column. Found it, checked coolant, couldn't see clearly because it was getting dark, he went back, got a bottle of water, filled it with at least 1 litre of water before it went full.

Test drive:
We talked, he said he sold this car to his nephew, which IS the current owner, so he is not the owner of the car.
He reversed out of parking space, drove round the area, the car slightly noisy because of blowing exhaust, i listed carefully, No clicks or knocking noise when going over uneven roads, when I said there's no knocking noise, he admitted that when in full steering lock, there will be some slight click on the left front wheel. Car didn't have power steering, so couldn't be it. I thought might be Ball joint, trackrod end, or strut top mount? No this isn't mentioned in the listing. but since I didn't hear it when he was reversing out of the parking space, i forgive him on that.
Car engine, seemed to jerk a little on throttle, especially underload such as setting off from standstill, confirming it's not burning properly.

conclusion:
After test drive, I left for home.
There are a number of things that isn't mentioned on the Ebay listing. If these problems were mentioned in the listing, I don't think the car is worth that much. It's a good lesson, ONCE AGAIN, proved that YOU SHOULD AT LEAST SEE THE CAR running before buying it.

MOT Expiry: Jan 2011
Tax Expiry: end of July 2010
Milege: 126,000

The price has gone up to 92 now for the car. I'm thinking is still worth it? Would i be able to recover the money when I repair it and sell it after a few months?

summary of Problems i found:
Exhaust blowing. might need some welding, but could also need new exhuast system. 20-100?
Car Audio missing: 40-50 from Argos
I might not fix the full lock clicking noise he mentioned since it's not obvious.
The car is only worth about 300 if it's healthy.
and then i will need to hire transport company to move the car to my house.

What do you guys think? Would you buy such car, if you have plenty of time in the summer to fix it up?

[Citroenmad]

I would be very careful there.

Your right to only view and drive a car before you buy it, i would never recommend otherwise. I know people have got good cars from ebay and auctions without driving or viewing but in my experience its not a great idea.

Ive looked at some real dogs of cars and would not trust them to get me down the road never mind any further. You really do need to be satisfied its a good car before you buy.

I bought a 1.0 AX from my cousin which had headgasket failure. I knew what was wrong with it and had given it a good once over and drive before getting it. He was still using the car but was topping up the water. I got it for nothing and did the headgasket, the head was skimmed too. Before the car was even on the road again it was obvious that the engine was at the end of its life. I think being overheated too many times and running low on coolent had killed it. Once rebuilt it was showing signs of the headgasket was still at fault. So i got a good secondhand engine from a low mileage saxo (1.0) and fitted that. Once running it too had headgasket problems. So the place i got the engine from sent me another which was fine.

Though it did cost a fair amount, much more than the car was worth. With the hassle of doing it and the amount of other things i had to replace on the car it really wasnt a good idea to repair it. I ran it for 3 months and sold it on.

We have had more sucess with the odd car we have bought and sold but you really do need to pick carefully. If your buying it to keep then its not too bad, as you get the use out of the money you put in. But if your buying to sell then keeping costs below its value will be difficult with such a job and a car which probably has even more issues than you think.

[Deanxm]

Hi

The clicking going round corners will be a knackered outer driveshaft CV joint, stereo i would get a genuine one from a scrapper its cheaper and looks bettwer when you come to sell it on.
The other issue here is the engine from what i remember this engine has an alloy block with liners, if they have cooked the engine (and they have otherwise they wouldnt say it overheats) the liners could have dropped......maybe but ive not had too much experience with the TU? lump.
When geting something like this i always factor in a new scrapper engine as untill it runs well and you can drive it and give it a good thrash there is no certainty all is well.
Ive just done a Rover 216 to make a little money and have a car to mess around in for a month or two, the story was that the headgasket had gone and it was parked up and left, turned out when i went to look at it that there was a new head gasket shining away in the engine bay but owner still claimed he hadnt touched it yeah right....
stripped the engine and found it had been cooked, the head was anealed and soft, the liners had dropped also pot one was scored to hell so the engine was total scrap.
No worries as it was £100 for another engine, £100 to put a new cam belt water pump, tensioner and head gasket on for piece of mind, collant cap, new oil, filter, coolant, gearbox oil in it and £10 for a pair of new tyres from a scrapper and fit all the bits with the head gasket set like valve stem seals and cam seals, also cleaned the followers out and its perfect now.
The key is to buy the car for scrap money, dont spend a penny on it untill its stripped down and you can inspect liner heights etc etc and then if it is a real hound break enough of it to recoupe transport costs and then weigh it in for the scrap and you shouldnt be out of pocket.

Good luck with whatever you do

D