1995 Pug 306 - light(ish) restoration

[CitroJim]

Good work Orbit! It's amazing what a difference new speakers make. They do deteriorate seriously over the years.... Agreed on gaudy head units... I have a Sony head in my Saxo that looks like a disco on drugs!

That is indeed the proper fuel filter. So many these days are constructed with a plastic body and I don't trust them. I once had one fail catastrophically although to be fair, it may have been a counterfeit item.

Purflux, if genuine, should be OK is a lot of Purflux filters are fitted as original equipment items.

The big problem these days is to ensure they are genuine with so many well-known and trusted makes being faked right, left and centre...

[bobins]

Blaupunkt do a few decent classic car stereos these days, but they ain't cheap
https://www.classiccarstereo.co.uk/prod ... ar-stereo/

[CitroJim]

Blaupunkt do a few decent classic car stereos these days, but they ain't cheap
https://www.classiccarstereo.co.uk/prod ... ar-stereo/

I like those a lot They look very stylish and almost period 90s. Perfect in a 306

Oh but for the price

[Orbit Motors]

I also really wanted one of these, however the price put me off too! Maybe if I found a decent second hand one on ebay... the Continental branded range seem to be a happy medium, retro looking enough to not spoil the dashboard with all the right features but a much more reasonable price. Not sure if they make them themselves or if someone else is making them on their behalf.

A couple more issues I forgot to mention that have sprung up, I seem to have a rev counter that only works intermittently, and I have an odd surging when holding the accelerator steady say when sticking to 30mph. Was hoping the fuel filter may have had something to do with it but it continues!

[CitroJim]

Cue an eBay search! All good luck there and if you find a pair at a truly bargain-basement price I'll have one for my Saxo!

The rev counter and the surging may be connected... Before I go further, what pump does it have? The fully mechanical Bosch VP20 or the later but almost identical looking Bosch AS3 which is semi-electronic? On an N plate it could have either...

Or, does it have a Lucas DPC? A few close-up photos of the pump will aid identification if need be...

[Orbit Motors]

99% sure it has a Lucas pump, much to my disappointment as I was hoping to start my veg oil filtering from one of the local pizza shops again!

[CitroJim]

Pop up some photos of it Orbit

[Orbit Motors]

I'll have to get one tomorrow due to geographical reasons!

I know when I was doing the oil change I had a look around while waiting for it to drain and it had Lucas and one of their part numbers on it which is as good as I can confirm for now

[CitroJim]

On the surging issue, on all pump types check the fuel lines and especially the fuel filter for integrity and tiny air leaks... They can be hard to find but even the tiniest air leak leading to bubbles in the fuel will cause problems.

Also, check the integrity of the injector leakoff pipes and if in any doubt replace them, especially if they have gone rock-hard. Pay special attention to the blanking cap on the last injector as these often split and allow an air leak... A pipe in poor condition can cause an air leak without necessarily causing an obvious diesel leak...

If it's a Lucas pump then in a well used example this problem can occasionally be caused by a little lost motion in the linkage between the governor/throttle assembly and the metering needle... When you look at it with the pump lid off it does look a bit 'agricultural' in an otherwise well-engineered pump...

An elongated throttle spindle hole in the lid can also cause this, along with any lost motion in the external throttle linkages and cable.

A worn throttle spindle and/or lid boss can also cause an air leak if worn badly enough. Not likely to leak diesel from there as there's O rings around the spindle...

It was once enough of a problem that replacement lids were freely available...

Bosch pumps generally don't suffer the above...

[Orbit Motors]

Very useful insights on that thank you! Think the leak off pipes might be a good starting point, had to replace Alfa Romeo ones in the past for the same reason of them going brittle.

Fuel inside the filter housing seemed okay, but I've realised it is going to have to come out again sometime soon anyway as I want to take off and inspect the thermostat and housing as it is running a little cooler than I would like, so wondering if it is stuck open. Finding myself so many jobs with so little time!

[CitroJim]

A good XUD will run fairly cool at this time of the year but still a good policy to check. The health of the cooling system on any XUD is critical for the head gasket to enjoy a long and happy life...

My memory is a little hazy now but I believe the thermostat is a 'top hat' type with a plate to shut off the bypass passage when the thermostat is open. If so, it's critical it's replaced with an identical type else the coolant will simply short-circuit around the bypass at all times and suffer major overheating...

[Orbit Motors]

New year... new me... no wait, clutch!

My plan was to hold out a little while until I was less busy later on in the winter or early spring and replace the clutch myself, however with space currently being limited and an hour's drive each way to a family member's unit with lifts, I opted to outsource the clutch to someone who could just crack on with it in a few hours and save me lots of profanities and smashed knuckles.

I started gathering some estimates from various places, and I have never known them to vary quite so much on any other job I've asked for on prices. Also disappointing to find many of the independents simply not being bothered to reply, particularly ones I've used many times before. Garages are indeed busy, but I'd rather be told I've got to wait a month or that they can't do the job than to just not return the request. But anyway...

Of 5 garages (1 nationwide chain, 1 local chain and 3 independents), 3 got back to me. One self proclaimed Peugeot / Citroen expert in Derby quoted the top end of the £700s! That one went in the bin, an independent near home quoted around £500, the local chain and another indy didn't get back to me, and to my surprise, Mr Clutch's estimate came in at £407.

I'm not one for using the big chains at all for anything other than tyres, and even then, my two preferred tyre garages are independent local ones anyway, but having used the Nottingham branch of Mr Clutch previously for some minor work like AC regassing on other cars, I decided to opt for their option, sweetened with their no nonsense warranty. Dropped the car off in the morning and did what I needed to do for a few hours.

I got a call at around noon. "Mr Williams, has this had a clutch recently?". My mood immediately sunk, expecting the worst or perhaps a "we won't touch it". But they quickly explained the issue, in that while the clutch looked pretty new, it had certainly been slipping a lot (which is why I wanted it replacing), and everything including the flywheel was contaminated with oil. This was traced to a leaking guide tube, which it appeared the previous garage hadn't replaced (probably the same blind garage who did all the previous owners' MOTs as explained early on )

I was pleasantly surprised that they had the correct guide tube in very quickly and they asked if it was okay for them to go ahead and fit a new one along with cleaning and resurfacing of the flywheel for a reasonable enough fee of around £30 and £40 respectively. Saves me having to strip it all down again and risk having yet another contaminated clutch by that time.

Picked her up late afternoon and the bill was still under £500 and it drives spot on. Worth the extra outlay considering the other list of jobs I've got on!

Edit - got some bits on the way from Autodoc in Germany such as a new thermostat and boot gas struts (which I found out were weak the hard way one day). I however forgot to get some new discs and pads. Surprised to learn the 306 still had solid discs on the front on a lot of trim levels, the vented ones seem to be the same diameter and profile, does anyone know if they are a straight fit or are different calipers required?

[Zelandeth]

Interesting to follow this. 306s are cracking cars, have very fond memories of the two I've had. Especially the last one which was a really tidy four door 1.6 petrol car.

Was a great driving motor and definitely ticked that box of being "the only car you'll ever need." Plenty of room, comfortable, brisk enough, and a great drive on a nice country road.

The first one was a very basic spec n/a diesel which was bought in a pinch, but still drove well.

While somewhat agricultural (especially when the exhaust downpipe cracked), the performance always felt up to the job. Not quick, but it got the job done.

No idea what I got economy wise as the speedometer and odometer were dead, but pretty sure it was pretty decent.

[CitroJim]

What a great garage

It was shocking the last mob in there did not spot the guide tube was unhappy... It's a stock fault on all PSA 'boxes and an immediate 'goto' when doing a clutch...

No need to replace the whole tube unless the release bearing has worn it excessively... The oil seal itself is easily renewed with a generic part...

Pleased all is now good

[Orbit Motors]

Interesting to follow this. 306s are cracking cars, have very fond memories of the two I've had. Especially the last one which was a really tidy four door 1.6 petrol car.





Was a great driving motor and definitely ticked that box of being "the only car you'll ever need." Plenty of room, comfortable, brisk enough, and a great drive on a nice country road.

The first one was a very basic spec n/a diesel which was bought in a pinch, but still drove well.





While somewhat agricultural (especially when the exhaust downpipe cracked), the performance always felt up to the job. Not quick, but it got the job done.

No idea what I got economy wise as the speedometer and odometer were dead, but pretty sure it was pretty decent.

Love those! The saloon especially, quite unusual. And yes, when the exhaust was broken on mine it was rather deafening!