Re-commissioning the 206CC

[DeanO61]

My name is Dean. I live in Whangarei, New Zealand and my current ride is a 2006 C5 Exclusive with A V6 and 6 stage transmission. It's had one previous custodian and has now 114,000 km on the clock. This is my fifth round of Citroen custody. I've also owned a host of other makes, mainly Japanese.
So, what are my impressions fifth time around?
Well after 11 months and 23,000 km -, it's great so far. Given most other cars I've owned have been a pain in the arse at times - regardless of make!
Last week it fried it's starter motor (not uncommon in any brand these days I'm told) - on a particularly hot day. Currently I have a downstream oxygen sensor which is duff. Apart from the annoying nanny alarms, the car still performs faultlessly. Better get the sensor replaced though otherwise I won't know when the Cat's going to spit the dummy...the duff sensor warns of this problem before the Cat craps itself apparently.
The likely cause of the sensor failure? Well, my local petrol station sells 98 octane E10. Yep, that ethanol stuff the greenies whined at the gullible government about til they got it.
Seems booze isn't good for cars either....
I'm back on plain old 95 octane ULP again. Lesson learned. Looking forward to checking out and sharing experiences everyone.
Best wishes and Namaste
Yeah I practice yoga too....

[xantia_v6]

Welcome to the forum.

I hope that you don't have too many more issues with your C5.

I don't think that running on E10 should have caused a problem with your car, as all European cars built since about 2000 are required to run on E10, which is now standard in many countries. In France the 2 commonly available grades of petrol are 95 RON E10 and 98 RON E0.

[DeanO61]

That's good to know. Thanks for the information. I don't have to travel far to fill up then.
Owning any car will uncover issues as it gets older. In my experience, any car can be troublesome if the maintenance is not up to scratch or its been damaged somehow.
The worse car I've experienced with regard to problems was a 1982 Cortina 2.0 L. The best - believe it or not, was a 1994 Citroen ZX Aura Diesel.

[Hell Razor5543]

Hi, and to the Forum.

[wurlycorner]

Welcome
I'm after a c6 with that engine

[DeanO61]

Thanks James. I see you have two Xantias and a C5. I ran a 1994 Xantia SX 1.9 TD sedan for a few years and later a grey import 1996 2.0 VSX which I used for car club activities as well as a daily driver.

[DeanO61]

Hi Iain. Great post about your CX experience. I admire your perseverance. Doubt mine could match that!
Yes the V6 is great. It has a Jekyll and Hyde personality. Very smooth and frankly lazy on one hand but once the fairly high torque peak is hit, it flies along sufficiently to incur a hefty fine, accompanied by a quite satisfying bark.
The Aistin 6 stage box is one of the best autos I've experienced once you master how to use it smoothly.
Because the roads where I live are hilly and twisty, the manual mode is actually useful as is the Hydractive Plus suspension in dealing with the poorly maintained and often unsealed surfaces.

[DeanO61]

Greetings everyone,

After a six-year hiatus from the Forum (no French cars since I sold my Citroen C5 V6), I have a French car in my care again.

Two weeks ago, I picked up a Grey 2006 Peugeot 206CC 1.6 litre automatic which had been languishing unwanted and unloved in a local rental car depot for a year. Very nice bodywork and interior under the layer of dust and cobwebs. Apparently, the vendor had accepted the car as a trade-in, and had the shift solenoids replaced in the automatic gearbox to sort some shaky shifting with a view to selling the car on. He figured he could get NZD 6,000 or 7,000 for it as that appeared to be the sole issue.

The gearbox apparently behaved for a time then began to shift roughly again. And then the roof wouldn't open. So much for his plan.

I picked the car up for NZD 1,000 which is a bit more than what he paid to sort the gearbox solenoids.

I figured it would be the ideal project car. I drove the car home once a new battery and negative battery clamp was installed. The battery in the car was so flat you could have used it for a pizza base. The engine sounded sweet, although the steering felt like a wheel alignment and some fresh tyres wouldn't go amiss. The brakes were a bit mushy for a French car. The gearbox actually behaved - I live in a hilly area and I would have noticed anything untoward.

So far, I have flushed and changed the coolant, which was a bit brown from the overflow bottle to the radiator and quite green from the engine and heater bleeders.

The heater and air conditioner worked fine, as did the lights, windows and locks. That is until I had to go back to work again, and the car didn't get touched until my next day off.

The new battery is flat (2.48 volts on the multimeter), none of the lights are showing on the dash or anywhere else. Naturally, the car won't start.

I am pointing an accusing finger at the alternator as the prime suspect at present. I've hooked the battery up to a charger meantime while I'm at work.

I've put the car on axle stands so I could mule kick the road wheels off the hubs. Those have been lubricated so I can get them off again later.
The tyres are nine years old so they won't be around much longer. One of them has had a chunk taken out of the sidewall. No doubt thanks to our third world infrastructure.

The brakes look okay (if a bit red from lack of use - I will probably flick the rotors eventually). I will change the brake fluid, power steering fluid and the gearbox fluid (the vendor didn't do this...). The engine oil is fine for now.

I think a change of cambelt, tensioner and water pump will be in order. I do know when they were last changed. The first two owners kept a good service history. The third owner dropped the ball.

In the meantime, I'm sorting logistics to have the car carried to a local auto electrician to sort the electrical system out so I can actually run the car.

And the roof? Not high on the list at the moment. It's winter now so not much use I'm afraid. I am carefully studying the roof system and looking at videos, so I can gain a little understanding of it's function.

That's enough rambling for now. Feel free to leave comments - I'll keep you posted as things happen.

Dean

[Armidillo]

Onya Dean - welcome back!! I think I joined FCF in 2019 when I bought a Citroen XM, but I also have a 406 with what would be almost the same V6 you had in the C5 (ES9J4S).

I take the 406 when I need to get somewhere quickly...

[DeanO61]

Thanks Armidillo. Have a fond spot for 406s and not just because it's a sibling to the Xantia. A cousin of mine ran a beautiful metallic green HDi and I got to ride in it a few times when I visited her in Auckland - and loved it. Yours must be sublime with that lovely V6 sound when you give it the herbs!

Your TCT Xantia sounds tantalising - is it a project car?

[DeanO61]

Well, after a long and not very satisfying day of work, I decided to see how the 206CC is fairing after it's stint on the battery charger. Once the battery achieved full charge, I left the charger on trickle during the day.

I attached a multimeter and the reading was 13.2 volts which is better than 2.4 volts. Then I fired it up. It started nicely, with an even idle. I checked readings on the multimeter with the engine idling,and varied the engine speed up to 2000 rpm. They varied between 11.4 and 12.4 volts.

With the engine running I turned on the lights, then the HVAC fan, then the demisters. I tried different combinations of electrics. I kept an eye on the dashboard for warning lights and also on the coolant temperature gauge.

Everything seems to be okay thus far.

I've now disconnected the charger. In the morning, I will attempt to start the car again and see how it goes.

I checked the tyre pressures as well - no sign of leaking at this stage.

That brake pedal is worryingly soft though...

[DeanO61]

Another Saturday came and went - I had hoped to bleed the brakes and renew the brake fluid, but I had a list of things to do and not much time to work on the car.
In the end I needed an air compressor so I could use my newly acquired brake bleeding kit. This job has been deferred to next Saturday. I have booked to hire an air compressor for the day and my schedule will be strictly working on the brakes, with a visit to my local Hare Krishna cafe to pick up their kitchen towels etc. for drying.
This morning, I was greeted with a beautiful early winter's day so I put all the wheels back on the Peugeot and lowered it off the axle stands. I'm getting used to the locking bolts now. I have a trio of tools for removing and replacing the wheels. An X brace for most of the wheel bolts, a ratchet, extension bar and 17mm socket for the three remaining lockbolts and a 22mm socket for the odd man out - an elongated hex headed bolt that looks familiar from my Citroen days.

The rest of the time was spent sorting the windscreen washer bottle and system, which wasn't functioning correctly. I found out the hard way that the washer bottle actually ISN'T leaking - I'd probably overfilled it on a previous day. My God that water was cold!

I took the hose off the pump, removed the electrical connector from the pump and put it all back. Properly....

The hose wasn't clipped into the side of the bottle properly. I then checked out the hoses and nozzles. One of the nozzles was broken. The other was badly mis-aimed. When the washers were operated, only the bonnet and the exhaust manifold actually received a supply of water.

Fortunately, the 206 has pretty run of the mill washer nozzles. I bought a pair of aftermarket generic nozzles (with TWO jets each) and fitted them. I now can wash and wipe the windscreen!

Roll on next Saturday and the brake job. Tomorrow I will contact my local independent Peugeot specialist to book a visit to have the charging system diagnosed and remedial work carried out.

By next month, I will have a set of tyres installed and the wheel alignment done and then I will take the car up to the local VTNZ station for it's first annual Warrant of Fitness since August 2022 (The Warrant of Fitness is the NZ version of the MoT or the RWC. Focused on safety systems rather than emissions, other than an exhaust smoke opacity check)

[GiveMeABreak]

@DeanO61:

As this is turning more into a project, I've moved the entire thread into the 'Blogs' section of the Forum where it's better suited than the Introductions, and I've picked the Most appropriate title from the existing posts, but let me know if you want to call it something else .

[DeanO61]

Thanks Marc. I really appreciate your help. I'm not sure anyone will actually read the blogs, however they are a useful record of the project as it progresses.
Roll on Saturday!

[GiveMeABreak]

Don't be so sure - you've already had 757 views! Just update as you want and don't forget you can upload images direct to the forum. Just use the Full Editor & Preview button next to the Submit button, then select the attachments tab, add files, then browse mobile phone or PC for images, upload and then use the 'place' button to insert them in your post where you need them (make sure you have a few carriage returns / line spaces first).