307cc mystery

[Expertamateur]

The saga so far..........I have given up on trying to lower the roof. Too scared of not getting it to close again and I have no garage but plenty of rain to deal with.
It has been running fine but it is a real fuel guzzler. Sucks it up like a V8. Runs OK but today it started playing up. Started and ran about two miles to the tip, then when I tried to start it up it decided not to. I gave it several attempts but didn't want to flatten the battery. There was a warning light that looks like an engine in profile, manual says Emission Control sytem warning light. I let it rest a minute or so while I checked for a blocked fuel cap vent. (ever hopeful) Got back in and it started but faded out when I tried to give it some revs. Tried again and held moderate revs and noticed the warning light was now a yellow triangle. Service warning light. To avoid a costly recovery to a garage I can't trust I took the chance to return home. Once out of the speed restricted area I gave it some welly up to 90kph and then eased off and rolled easy into my drive. No warning lights now but I am reluctant to risk going out in it again until I find a reason for the problem. I bought a set of the correct plugs a while ago and thought it would do no harm to fit them. Damned if I can find where to put them. No visible distributor or plug wires or plugs to be found. Great! They're probably somewhere inaccessible. While searching I discoverd a mystery hole in the right hand side of the cylinder head/block (?). See photo below. Not clear in the photo but the threads are shiny and clean, as if it has recently come loose and fallen off. What is that all about?

For reference the car is a 2006 307cc 2.0 i 16v 143 (EW10A)

[xantia_v6]

This may help you find the plugs...

[Expertamateur]

Thanks once again for your assistance. So they're hidden down between the cams, under a plastic cover that houses 4 individual coils. I still use a pair of "old school" eyes and was looking for a distributor with fat plug leads coming out of it going to the plugs. OH how I hate modern cars! I suppose it makes sense but when you tuck the engine so far back under the scuttle its a real bitch to even see them let alone replace them.
Big thanks again.

The question of "Is something missing/fallen off" still remains.

[Oldpug]

Ha Ha, I know what you mean. I started with Peugeot when they had carburettors, and you adjusted points in the distributor.
I think the last Peugeot to have a distributor and plug leads was a 205 in the late 90`s.
Mind you Peugeot has always been "go-ahead" with engine design and development. For example my 1964 Peugeot 404 had fuel injection, ( and a distributor, points, and plug leads! )

[Expertamateur]

I'm having second thoughts about Peugeot petrol engines. My experience with their diesels in 405, 406, and Expert mkI models has been 100% enthusiastic. Given clean oil, fuel, and filters they seem to go on to easily 250,000 miles without issues and are very economical.
This 2 litre petrol thing is very juicy and I'm afraid to take it anywhere far from home because it is so unreliable. Much too complicated by unnecessary bells and whistles, much like other "modern" cars. I have had cars dating back to 1929 and never had half the bother I've had with this thing.

[Expertamateur]

Would there be any benefit to buying some sort of code reader (assuming I can find the socket) or diagnostic gadget? I have previously started to research how useful one would be but was put off by comments on how useless the cheap ones are and even the most expensive one can be inaccurate or don't give complete information about what is actually wrong. I assume I would need a laptop with some special software installed. That is another dead end. I have a laptop but it runs on Windows 7 and I assume this wonderful software will insist on the latest Windows OS.

There are so many connectors and sensors everywhere you look so each is a potential source of trouble. I have noticed each has a unique way of unplugging it. A tab that gets pushed or pulled or twisted with no indication of how to do it. Occasionally I break something trying to work out how due to age the plastic is very brittle.

I'm struggling and could do with some advice. Getting the car to a garage to let them play parts roulette is not going to happen. I don't have the cash or the means to get it. I sold a very useful tractor to get the funds to buy this heap of trouble and I don't want to throw more money at it just to have to send another car to the breakers in the end.