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Full Version: Why I dont like working on Peugeots
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Ive been reminded today why I dont like working on Peugeots.


I was supposed to do my mates ford fiesta brakes yesterday but he forgot to come round.

So today I had to strip the beemer, drive to the scrappers, remove the wheels, coilies and drivers seat, get all the stuff home then change some fiesta brakes.


Well I didnt get up till 10am, had breakfast and it started raining. Not impressed, thought Im not gonna be finished till its dark now.

Anyway by 12 I had all the bits I could off the beemer while keeping it road legal. Called my mate to ocme to the scrappers, drove there, had the wheels, coilies and drivers seat out in less than 20 mins.

Got ripped off, the price of scrap has died so i only got £150 for the car.

Anyway found an hour for lunch and then did the fiesta pads and discs in less than an hour, Its now not even 5pm and Im tidyed away showered and ready to go out on the town.







Had this been a Peugeot id still be sitting on the driveway and probably crying by now.
As far as I'm concerned, Peugeots are only shit if you don't have the correct tools... Using bodge up tools that aren't designed for the job is when it all goes to shit IMHO...

I've done it over and over again now, do a job, not got the right tool, f*ck it up, spend £60 on a new part and £20 correct tool for the job, do it again, and be only in the same position as you were...

I love working on Peugeots..... As long as I know I have the right tools.
Dum dum you need to sort your shit out. I stripped my 306 right back to the shell In 3 evenings after work...so about 10 hours.
Peugeots are a piece of piss to work on in comparison to most cars.
I assume the fiesta just rusted away as you touched it anyway... Tongue

The main problem I always seem to get with peugeot brakes is the bloody torx screws that hold the disc on rounding!! Theyre so soft they just round off as they obviously seize due to where they are.....but not soft enough to easily drill!
You need new drill bits then Tom. I drilled mine out in about 30 seconds. There not needed anyway.
(16-07-2012, 04:05 PM)Niall Wrote: [ -> ]You need new drill bits then Tom. I drilled mine out in about 30 seconds. There not needed anyway.

Or a more powerful drill lol, still a pita though, why use torx for something like that!? Undecided

And I know theyre not techically needed, but theyre a pita to line up when putting the wheels on if you dont have any.
(16-07-2012, 04:00 PM)Niall Wrote: [ -> ]Dum dum you need to sort your shit out. I stripped my 306 right back to the shell In 3 evenings after work...so about 10 hours.
Peugeots are a piece of piss to work on in comparison to most cars.

This i can break a 306 in 1 day, all be it one very long day, But niall there is a masive differenc when breaking, you dont care and just rip stuff that you wouldnt do if its your pride and joy and then you have to put stuff bavk together properly and nicley , cleaning and lubing parts as you go. thats where the time goes IMO
(16-07-2012, 04:17 PM)puglove Wrote: [ -> ]
(16-07-2012, 04:00 PM)Niall Wrote: [ -> ]Dum dum you need to sort your shit out. I stripped my 306 right back to the shell In 3 evenings after work...so about 10 hours.
Peugeots are a piece of piss to work on in comparison to most cars.

This i can break a 306 in 1 day, all be it one very long day, But niall there is a masive differenc when breaking, you dont care and just rip stuff that you wouldnt do if its your pride and joy and then you have to put stuff bavk together properly and nicley , cleaning and lubing parts as you go. thats where the time goes IMO

Hmm don't think so. I took mine apart with a lot of care due to wanting to sell the bits on in the best condition possible.
Those torx screws snap off pretty easily with a swift blow with a hammer lol
I work on all kinds of cars....fords...vagcrap....french stuff....gm....even the odd mb/bmw....and id honestly put psa cars at the top for working on....followed by ford, then most other stuff, then gm / vag at the bottom, as both of them are utter shit to work on / stupidly designed.
Hmmmm I dunno I found my Leon ok to work on once I got around the mountain of electrics !! And my st is a pain had to take most of the front end off to change a light !!!!! :-(
mines normally okay to work on providing im not bodging the f*ck out of it
Let's look at an "easy" job then, removing the headlights...

I changed my headlights over the other day in under 10 minutes, not massively rushing.

The other month, my mum asked me to re-seal the headlights on her MGTF as they were steaming up. It took no less than 4 1/2 hours to remove the headlights due to having to take off the whole front bumper, all of the fastenings for which were reduced to small spherical blobs of rust.

My girlfriend's mum had issues with her main beam on her Proton Savvy, so I offered to change the bulbs and have a look at the wiring. I ended up removing the front bumper, which wasn't too bad, but what a PITA, only wanted to remove a sodding headlight!

My girlfriends Fiat Seicento was similar to the MG. Ok, I wasn't trying to remove the lights, but remove the bumper (which you'd have to do to take the lights out) Everything that could have been was rusted, ended up breaking the mounting tabs on one part of the bumper and not bothering to replace them..

You get the idea...
same with my mates polo,to take the headlights out you had to jack the car,put on axle stands, remove wheels, remove arch liner, remove bumper, then remove head light

took us 7 hours start to finish with all the seized shit!
(16-07-2012, 05:11 PM)Jonny81191 Wrote: [ -> ]Let's look at an "easy" job then, removing the headlights...

I changed my headlights over the other day in under 10 minutes, not massively rushing.

The other month, my mum asked me to re-seal the headlights on her MGTF as they were steaming up. It took no less than 4 1/2 hours to remove the headlights due to having to take off the whole front bumper, all of the fastenings for which were reduced to small spherical blobs of rust.

My girlfriend's mum had issues with her main beam on her Proton Savvy, so I offered to change the bulbs and have a look at the wiring. I ended up removing the front bumper, which wasn't too bad, but what a PITA, only wanted to remove a sodding headlight!

My girlfriends Fiat Seicento was similar to the MG. Ok, I wasn't trying to remove the lights, but remove the bumper (which you'd have to do to take the lights out) Everything that could have been was rusted, ended up breaking the mounting tabs on one part of the bumper and not bothering to replace them..

You get the idea...

Mk4 golf - 6 arch liner torx screws, pop grill off with screw driver, 7 t30 non rusty, non seized screws to remove bumper.....probs takes max of ten mins to get the bumper off and lights then just 4 bolts. Simple. Wink. And then looking at the pd turbo or egr compared with a hdi one, the vag is soooo much simpler there again. But something that should be simple like a driveshaft, is made difficult with spline bolts for no reason!

I don't think there's any entire car that's easier than any other in my experience.....they all have a share of easy and difficult jobs...... Smile
Maybe Ill stop moaning then.
Ive nearly rebuilt my 306 its been easy and so simple to work on.

The only pain in the neck the water leaks inside the car. Ive fixed the aerial and both back doors. Just the front doors which I sort soon.

When I update my 306 thread I may as well have built the car my self LOL.

I got 6 months of pictures to sort out for a big update.
Tom, i fail to see how it's easier to replace a VAG TDi turbo over a HDi one.. considering AFAIK the VAG TDi units have the turbo/manifold in one complete unit?
(17-07-2012, 11:58 AM)Midnightclub Wrote: [ -> ]Tom, i fail to see how it's easier to replace a VAG TDi turbo over a HDi one.. considering AFAIK the VAG TDi units have the turbo/manifold in one complete unit?

Only the decent VAGs lol, the low end 110s and stuff are separate.

But yes much easier, you must have to move the whole block for the HDi one due to where it's situated, theres no space at all! Mine was so easy in comparison, I made a fist of it as it was my first time, but putting it back together was so simple when I knew what I was doing. Smile

Plus what makes the golf so much easier to work on than a pug is that nothings rusty or seized!! Im not sure if its due to the undertray, better fixings being used, or something they put on when they're built, but theres only been one rusty bolt on the entire car that I couldn't shift manually, the one on the exhaust joining sleeve, but even that was fine with the impact wrench. Things on pugs would be so much simpler if they werent seized and rusty as the time goes trying to get those bits off in my experience.
It's this thing called age.
^^ THIS!
Try working on a Skoda Octavia. Tiny jacking points, and any other part of the floor will crush, so forget axle stands. Sod it, I'll use the ramps. Actually, no I won't, the 6 foot long nose overhang and snowplough bumper make that impossible...
I agree with others on this, I find Peugeots much easier to work on than other makes, I've worked on a alot of cars over my time at college and doing work on family and friends cars and personally find Peugeot's especially 205's and 306's very easy to work. But like Ruan says ONLY if you have the right tools, if not then I bloody hate them!
for what i have replaced on the 306 and when i installed my disc changer. they are quite easy to work on.
changed the rear dampers with in two hrs. the metro is well easy to work on, one of the lads on .net came down to help me with the car, 1st time he worked on a metro and said it was one of the most easiest cars that hes ever worked on!
my dads jeep on the other hand is a right bastard to work on! me and my dad had to change a uj on the steering rack. what a pain in the arse access is on that!
(17-07-2012, 04:59 PM)strictly_derv Wrote: [ -> ]But like Ruan says ONLY if you have the right tools, if not then I bloody hate them!

That's the same with any job though. Wouldn't cut your lawn with a pocket knife because that would be a bastard!!
thing i found with the 306 is most of it is torx screws where with the rover metro its either self tapper screws are 10mm to 13mm,
(17-07-2012, 03:18 PM)Rippthrough Wrote: [ -> ]It's this thing called age.

On cars that are near enough the same age though (less than a year between my x and y 306s and the 51 plate golf....) Plus the golfs done 50k miles more than any of my 306s lol. There's more to than just age I think, the exhaust mani bolts shocked me tbh, as they could have been new! Nothing like the rusty lumps that were left holding the 1.4s mani on lol.


And liam, if the octys like a fabia they're a right pain to jack up! Golfs easier though, just use the chassis rails or the beam....dunno why the skodas seem to have really weak rails (as I found out, oops lol).
Yeah but Tom they could well have been replaced...

There are bits on Peugeots that don't get replaced when they should, or don't get correctly lubricated (giggidy) when they're fitted, and that's when you have problems.
If the turbod had been replaced, I wouldn't have had to replace it lol. Tongue. But no, I'm sure its the undertray that makes a big difference tbh, both the 53 plate zr andd the 56 plate fabia were in much worse condition under the bonnet than the golf....and neither have full umdertrsys.

The other thing I hate with peugeots is oil leaks lol, I'd say about 80 per cent of the ones I've had or worked on have been leaking from atleast one of the sump, head or rocker gaskets lol. No idea why that is though, cheap rubber for the gaskets I suppose, and that crappy liquid gasket they use on tu sumps lol.
The amount of Mk4s I've seen with the undertray dragging on the road and flapping around is simply unreal... Those things always break off... I've got XUD turbos down to around 3.5 hours now, I don't rekon there's many cars you can do a turbo change in 3.5 hours on... Everyone says that any turbo change is a bastard, if you've done it once, it halves the time... They're really not that bad...

I love working on Peugeots tbh... I rarely find anything seized, the only thing I hate is doing ball joint style things, for example, drop links, track rod ends... They always bloody spin, no matter what... Every thing else is super easy IMHO.

(17-07-2012, 06:11 PM)Niall Wrote: [ -> ]
(17-07-2012, 04:59 PM)strictly_derv Wrote: [ -> ]But like Ruan says ONLY if you have the right tools, if not then I bloody hate them!

That's the same with any job though. Wouldn't cut your lawn with a pocket knife because that would be a bastard!!

Yeah, which is why it boils my piss when people go on that something's f*cked up, because they used the wrong tool, then blame it on Peugeot...
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