All Things V6...

[Gibbo2286]

I'd be tempted to have a go at flushing the box before chucking either it or the car away, take off the busted oil cooler and connect the hoses together while you do it, you never know your luck.

I see there are lots of new oil coolers on Ebay priced from £50ish up.

[DHallworth]

Are the oil coolers you've seen for the V6 HDi's? They seem to be much more expensive.

I've spoken to the local gearbox specialist today about having it mega flushed to get it all out and they advised that they'd take my money if I wanted them to do it, however, they'd not recommend it as apparently the friction materials break up as soon as they get water on them. This backs up what I'd been told in that the box would work but wouldn't last after doing it.

The guys in Glasgow want £2500 + VAT for a rebuild plus the cost of an oil cooler so realistically I'm looking at £3k + VAT based on PSA prices for the oil cooler.

David.

[Stickyfinger]

Does that price include removal and refitting of the engine/+ box David ?

[DHallworth]

Yup, that's me taking them the car and driving it away.

With the amount I've got going on just now, sadly, it's the only option I've got.

David.

[white exec]

These pancake-type oil-water heat exchangers really do have a lot to answer for. A relatively cheap item (normally) which can cause havoc when engine oil is injected into a cooling system - at least tediously cleanable - but now wrecking an expensive auto box.

I think the suggestion of regarding these items as service-replacement is right, and probably 100k miles or 10 years could be tops. Being made of either thin mild steel or aluminium, they are protected only by the quality of the coolant, and are probably just as vulnerable to perforation as the main radiator or heater matrix - and we all know how common failure of the latter is on ageing cars.

The coolant situation is made worse by renewal often being neglected or forgotten, and by coolant types being accidentally mixed. In the absence of a reliably dated label, it is nigh on impossible for either the owner or a repair workshop to know what type of coolant is in there, and many workshops simply use what they have on the shelf, irrespective of spec., or risk of type mixing.

For long-term ownership, it might be wise to either find a stainless version of the cooler, or to switch to a remotely located fluid-to-air cooler with a solid pancake-type take-off in place of the original unit. The thread linked to above investigates just that, and it is something I've done on our 2.5TD XM, after not one, but two Valeo oil-water heat exchangers failed, despite proper coolant care. The car now has a Mocal take-off under the engine oil filter, and a Setrab oil radiator ahead of the main radiators.

If it were my good Aisin auto box being wrecked by this shoddy component, I would be livid.

[DHallworth]

If it were my good Aisin auto box being wrecked by this shoddy component, I would be livid.

I'm not best pleased but the car is almost 10 years old and has done 159k miles. What really irritates me is the box was as smooth as silk until this happened. It really did defy the mileage on the car.

I'm more pissed off at myself for not spotting the water in the coolant quicker. Although, by the sounds of it, as soon as the water entered the box it was game over anyway.

Just a shame to be in a position to scrap a car. For years I've spent more on maintenance then most would justify but on a 10 year old car with 159k on it that's probably worth £2.5k tops, there's no way I can justify spending that on a gearbox rebuild.

[Stickyfinger]

to be honest, all (well most) 10 year old cars are in that most precarious of position, it is why scrap yards are full of them.

[xantia_v6]

Given that these transmissions are generally very reliable (by the time the 3.0 came out), I would be looking for a second hand transmission to fit. It should last for at least the life you want to get out of the car.

[Stickyfinger]

I think finding one will be the problem.....

[DHallworth]

The gearbox is unique to the 3.0 HDi. For some reason it has a different part number to the 2.7. If I could find one, I'd fit it in a heartbeat but it'd need to come from a 3.0 HDi C5/C6 or 407 so finding one isn't very likely unfortunately.

David.

[GiveMeABreak]

Yes, bad news on the box David. I though you were whipping up a Yorkshire pudding mixture looking at those photos.

You are correct , there are a stack of AM6 boxes - with different part numbers, so the actual marking on the box will also be important. Yours would appear to be part 2231A5 with marking on the box of GV04 (new) at £9,650.21 inc. VAT plus £446.65 surcharge or part 2232R0 for an exchange at £6098.65 inc. VAT with a £446.65 surcharge.

There's a few boxes here with the GV04 marking - on the left hand side. One from a C6 and a 2010 C5

https://www.proxyparts.com/car-parts-st ... d/8074865/

[xantia_v6]

Using the GV04 reference, there are a few in France https://www.leboncoin.fr/recherche/?cat ... ext=20gv04, some being more obviously correct than others...

[daviemck2006]

Trade values for the 407 coupe are absolutely rock bottom David. I know mine was older than yours and was a 2.7, but had less miles than yours at under 90k. I was offered between £50 and £400 for a trade in, and eventually sold it privately at under a grand. I did see it for sale again recently for £1500. I dont think I would be spending near 3 grand on yours, that's more than it's worth, although I know you like it. You would need to keep it forever to justify that. It's a shame as its otherwise a great car. I would be tempted to cut the losses and replace it. When mine wasnt working and I investigated scrapping it, the story I got from 3 scrapyards was yes we will take it but it will cost you for us to collect it. They are too rare for us we would never sell any parts. I wouldnt know what to do with it. Maybe find a crashed one and make one out of the two?

[GiveMeABreak]

Well, as I've detailed in my previous thread, the oil cooler on my 407 gearbox let go and destroyed the gearbox...

Before I found the cause I'd been thinking about changing it and had spent a long time looking at a lot of cars. I firmly blame Shaun and Steve for taking me out in a C6 and reminding me how nice they are so I went to see a C6 that I didn't get a good feeling about so I ended up walking away...

However, I've rejoined the fold and write this as I'm on my way to collect a C6 that I've bought blind...

Not only have I bought it blind, I've bought it broken, and I've bought it from France... according to my wife, 3 stupid things don't make it sensible...

Anyway, onto the car...

It's a 2011 built, 2012 registered 3.0 HDi in Storm Grey with Black Leather. From what I can make out from the seller it's had a lot of money spent on it recently including a full respray, new Michelin tyres all round, new brakes all round, and a new dashboard. All of this was done by Citroen in Le Havre.

Onto the fault... the car overheats after about 12km of driving. I'm assuming the worst in that the engine is toast. If the car is as tidy as I'm lead to believe it is and I'm correct in my assumption that the engine is knackered I'm going to take the 3.0 HDi engine from the 407 and have it put into the C6, if the C6 is a wreck I'm going to take the gearbox from it and have it put into the 407 so either way one car is going to save the other

I'm writing my own version of planes, trains and automobiles with a couple of ferries thrown in for good measure this weekend as a friend and I recover it from France with a trailer and take it to BL Auto's for it's condemnation.

So, long story short, it looks like I've become a paid up member of the 3.0 HDi C6 Owners Club

Here's the few pictures of it that I do have.

David.

[DHallworth]

Ugh. All the pictures are 90 degrees out and I can’t sort it on my phone. Sorry guys!