Peugeot (sorry!) 309 tech questions:

cavmad · Post by **cavmad** » Sat May 09, 2009 12:34 pm

Mate's lad has just acquired an old 309 off his mum as a first car and I was asked to go and cast an eye over it pre-MOT. I think it's about a 1991 1.3 petrol.
Seems remarkably clean and solid but found one bit of rot on the back of the n/s side sill close to the petrol tank. I take it the sills are structural on these and this will fail MOT? t's quite likely the only rot or rust on the whole car by the way.

Secondly I got it started, exhaust smoked for ages because it's been stood fo about a year or more and a bit of water came out of it which I'm thinking is condensation so I can see a potential emissions failure. We will be changing oil/flter and putting fresh fuel in before giving the car a decent thrashing though pre-MOT.

Thirdly: engine sounded sweet, no signs of oil/water mixing problems and ticked over/revved up very nicely. On leaving it running for ages to see if it got up to temp ok though I slowly removed radiator cap once about 1/4 way on temp gauge and it tried to blow the water out. Once it reached about 1/2 way on the guage the fan kicked in but just before it did this I noticed very slight water dripping occasionally from the small hole just below the radiator cap and it dripped slowly on/off for a while.
Could this eman early signs of h/g failure or could it just be an air lock or crud in the rad or is this normal?
I did consider removing rad and flushing through but they want to leave it as it is and take to my local garage for a pre-MOT so they don't spend any unneccessary money if it's going to fail MOT big time.

Any thoughts gratefully received from you mechanical geniuses, ta in advance.

retrodriver · Post by **retrodriver** » Sat May 09, 2009 2:07 pm

to be honest the 1st thing I always do when I get something new is thermostat, rad cap and a good antifreeze flush, it works wonders if its been sitting or has a load of crap in the system. Is that engine the OHV or OHC one? An Alfa 33 I had once seemed to warm up fine but the temp fluctuated a bit while driving and the cooling system didnt seem happy in traffic so bunged in a new stat and all was well.

citronut · Post by **citronut** » Sat May 09, 2009 2:46 pm

if this is the TU lump which i suspect it is, look at the head to block joint just at the cam cover end of the side of engine facing the front of the car,
if there is oil below the bottom of the head and down the block at this piont,

the triagular oil seal bonded into the head gasket has failed,

the coolant dripping might just be what was in the top of the kneck after you had loosend the cap earlyer??

run the engine with the cap of till the thermostat opens (top hose hot and rad hot all across its surface), then check the coolant level top up if required (only to the bottom of the rad kneck) re/fit cap and run till fan cuts in, once it cuts back out gingerly remove the cap and there should only be a slight piss/hiss

regards malcolm

cavmad · Post by **cavmad** » Sat May 09, 2009 10:08 pm

Thanks gents. I suspect it's the ohc model (didn't really notice tbh) as it doesn't sound like a skeleton break dancing on a tin roof like those wheezy old Talbot engines.

Mate phoned before to say it's now developed an oil leak but doesn't know where so will investigate later in week.

citronut · Post by **citronut** » Sun May 10, 2009 10:26 am

well at least if it's the TU lump tjhe head gasket job is very easy, you dont even need to take the O/S/F wheel off, the only thing to whatch out for is slide the head to brake the joint, do not just lift it or you risk disturbing the wet linners, which you realy dont want to do

regards malcolm