I thought I'd make a post here before I post in the project section. I have inherited a 2001 306 HDi Meridian in China Blue from my late grandfather. As I was brought up by my grandparents, he was literally my dad, and one of his wishes just before the end of his 2 year battle with cancer was for me to fix up his car and keep it going. Having a keen interest in cars and doing my own work to them, I promised him I would sort it out.
It was off the road for almost 6 months, so first thing was to get it MOT'd. It passed to my (very pleasant) surprise with just 3 advisories!
She currently has a shade under 169,000 miles on the clock, and whilst I was at uni (several years back), in my spare time I did a spot of work for my grandad, which involved new brake hoses, new discs and pads all round, cam belt and tensioner kit, water pump, auxiliary belt and a full service.
He had quite an issue with the coolant system pressurising a while after, so I suspect the head gasket may have gone near the water jacket. I've ordered a new expansion tank cap and I will also change the thermostat over the next few days, just to eliminate these parts as problematic. If I let the coolant cool down for 4-5 hours and open the cap, it does hiss but it doesn't fly all over the place (as it did in the past). I am doing 70 miles a day in her for the next couple of weeks to see how she gets on before I start work on her.
My plans for his car are the following:
- Engine out, renew head gasket (including skim and new head bolts), all other gaskets, glow plugs, crank pulley, engine mounts, and all seals including crank seal and driveshaft seals
- New clutch kit, possible gearbox recon as it whines a little bit in 3rd gear when slowing down, I might get some cheap 75W-90 from ECP to see if this helps before I take the engine out
- Recon turbo- at this point I am unsure whether to up-rate it or keep it standard, I believe it's a K03 as standard
- Renew all suspension components front and rear, and see how the rear is doing in particular
- Try and assess why the air con isn't working, I believe there are several pipes that are prone to leaking and the condenser, would be a pain if is leaking behind the heater matrix so I may just do an air con delete
- Longer term: underbody seal and recondition alloy wheels, and get a winter wheel set
Some pictures:
![[Image: T0bhmm7.jpg]](https://i.imgur.com/T0bhmm7.jpg)
![[Image: lS9RVmp.jpg]](https://i.imgur.com/lS9RVmp.jpg)
And this is my current daily
![[Image: RU1No1Q.jpg]](https://i.imgur.com/RU1No1Q.jpg)
Looking forward to my time here, and also giving back to the 306 community!
It was off the road for almost 6 months, so first thing was to get it MOT'd. It passed to my (very pleasant) surprise with just 3 advisories!
She currently has a shade under 169,000 miles on the clock, and whilst I was at uni (several years back), in my spare time I did a spot of work for my grandad, which involved new brake hoses, new discs and pads all round, cam belt and tensioner kit, water pump, auxiliary belt and a full service.
He had quite an issue with the coolant system pressurising a while after, so I suspect the head gasket may have gone near the water jacket. I've ordered a new expansion tank cap and I will also change the thermostat over the next few days, just to eliminate these parts as problematic. If I let the coolant cool down for 4-5 hours and open the cap, it does hiss but it doesn't fly all over the place (as it did in the past). I am doing 70 miles a day in her for the next couple of weeks to see how she gets on before I start work on her.
My plans for his car are the following:
- Engine out, renew head gasket (including skim and new head bolts), all other gaskets, glow plugs, crank pulley, engine mounts, and all seals including crank seal and driveshaft seals
- New clutch kit, possible gearbox recon as it whines a little bit in 3rd gear when slowing down, I might get some cheap 75W-90 from ECP to see if this helps before I take the engine out
- Recon turbo- at this point I am unsure whether to up-rate it or keep it standard, I believe it's a K03 as standard
- Renew all suspension components front and rear, and see how the rear is doing in particular
- Try and assess why the air con isn't working, I believe there are several pipes that are prone to leaking and the condenser, would be a pain if is leaking behind the heater matrix so I may just do an air con delete
- Longer term: underbody seal and recondition alloy wheels, and get a winter wheel set
Some pictures:
And this is my current daily
Looking forward to my time here, and also giving back to the 306 community!