things to check for when buying an HDI...

[declantg]

so I'm checking out an hdi tomorrow and just wondered what I need to look for/ ask about so I don't buy a shitter cheers!

[1616six]

Engine rattles.. tensioners are common

HG usually is pretty good on these

Make sure it idles steadily (sensors)

Nothing major tbh, as long as it starts and stops it'll be reet.

I purchased mine blind for £600, it'd been sat for 4 months, booted it, cleared the soot out & put a new alternator on it... been perfect for 5k since!

[Jake]

Check engine management light is there on first turn of keys..

Other than that I have no idea.

[Toms306]

Check the release bearing hasn't exploded....no problem if it has, me and Sam can sort it for you in just 3 months...

But seriously, check it starts well, cold idles well, and drives steady, the estate takes a few cranks to start, and idles crap when cold but has a horrible 'missing' problem at 12-1400rpm when warm, all of which is annoying but all might be related, will often need diagnostics to sort those sort of probs though. Chech for tapping injectors, but you won't miss them if they're there, listen for boost leaks and make sure it boosts when it should!

Then just usual 306 things - Brakes/handbrake, leaning beam especially with high miles, engine mounts although they do seem to vibrate a lot anyway, clunks from front (droplinks usually), noisy pas, dry top mount bearings, wandering from a bad tre or wishbone, check oil is oily and at the right level, check water isn't oily but is also at the right level. Check electrics, windows, mirrors, wipers etc.....that's just what I look for after buying dogs.lol, but remember it probably doesn't cost much to fix them....and you can always knock a bit off.

[Strikeforce]

^^^ what tom said

[kentiiboii]

Check the release bearing hasn't exploded....no problem if it has, me and Sam can sort it for you in just 3 months...

Or me and my dad can sort it for you in 2 days... But it won't start after!
Just check usually stuff. But keep a listen out for rattles as said and I always buy diesel with fsh.

[lolsteve]

EML doesn't always mean bad, had massive list of fault codes for well over a year and car ran perfectly fine. in fairness there's not much that goes wrong with these just seems to be mainy a couple of sensors, old belts and boost leaks

[Jake]

EML doesn't always mean bad, had massive list of fault codes for well over a year and car ran perfectly fine. in fairness there's not much that goes wrong with these just seems to be mainy a couple of sensors, old belts and boost leaks

If.... You were referring to my comment ?


I didn't say eml was a bad thing . Just check the bulb is still there .

[Poodle]

Don't worry about injectors, they all tap these days, although you could probably still use it to haggle lol.

As others have said, it wants to have a clean idle, make sure you can't hear any knackered tensioners/crank pulley, accelerate from low rpm and make sure you can feel the point where it boosts up, if you can't it's got maf/turbo problems. I would say the most important thing is to do some sustained foot-to-the-floor acceleration in fourth and fifth from 1500rpm, this should show up any cutting out issues.

[Chris_90]

Don't worry about injectors, they all tap these days, although you could probably still use it to haggle lol.

As others have said, it wants to have a clean idle, make sure you can't hear any knackered tensioners/crank pulley, accelerate from low rpm and make sure you can feel the point where it boosts up, if you can't it's got maf/turbo problems. I would say the most important thing is to do some sustained foot-to-the-floor acceleration in fourth and fifth from 1500rpm, this should show up any cutting out issues.

This would also show up any issues with clutch slipping as well (as mine slips in 4th and 5th between 1,800-2,200rpm)

[kentiiboii]

Don't worry about injectors, they all tap these days, although you could probably still use it to haggle lol.

As others have said, it wants to have a clean idle, make sure you can't hear any knackered tensioners/crank pulley, accelerate from low rpm and make sure you can feel the point where it boosts up, if you can't it's got maf/turbo problems. I would say the most important thing is to do some sustained foot-to-the-floor acceleration in fourth and fifth from 1500rpm, this should show up any cutting out issues.

This would also show up any issues with clutch slipping as well (as mine slips in 4th and 5th between 1,800-2,200rpm)

You was running stage 2 through a standard clutch though?

[lolsteve]

EML doesn't always mean bad, had massive list of fault codes for well over a year and car ran perfectly fine. in fairness there's not much that goes wrong with these just seems to be mainy a couple of sensors, old belts and boost leaks

If.... You were referring to my comment ?


I didn't say eml was a bad thing . Just check the bulb is still there .

Wasn't referring to yours, your comment just made me think about the eml

[Poodle]

Yours never had boost leaks 'til you got involved. :p Actually, that reminds me, have a look at the inlet elbow, there will probably be oil all round it from a knackered gasket. It costs pennies to fix, but is a great haggling point - "oh i don't know, there's obviously a leak there, but that's an air pipe, why's there so much oil? Only way i can think of oil getting into those pipes is if the turbo might be going..."...

[ChezHdi]

It costs pennies to fix, but is a great haggling point - "oh i don't know, there's obviously a leak there, but that's an air pipe, why's there so much oil? Only way i can think of oil getting into those pipes is if the turbo might be going..."...

f*ck wish i thought of that! i saw it and thought nothing of it really i knew it would on be a small gasket job, coulda haggled moar

[Mr Whippy]

Also worth checking rad for silting, if it runs hotter than normal but is cold at the bottom it might be silted up a bit. Main concern there is that heat exchanger might be too and that's a bugger of a job to sort.

They all rattle when accelerating right up until 2800rpm or so, they did when new, they do now.

Rattly pulley, they all rattle, did when new, do now, do 6 months after a brand new one has been fitted (updated version too), so not to worry.

Most of the important stuff is hard to see, bar fault code checking/clearing... but usually it's the stuff that makes it NOT start that are the problem, fault codes that clear are not really faults hehe.

As per the boost kicking in, if anything the HDi doesn't really have a noticeable boost threshold where you come on boost like the Td's did. A HDi should be clean and smooth basically.


At this age I'd be going over past MOT advisories as far back as possible more than anything else really. Whatever you buy it WILL have a list of jobs needing doing if you want to make it nice imo!

Dave

[declantg]

When the weather decides to be nice I'm going to give the car a complete service, radiator drain etc etc

[Poodle]

Id disagree about the pulley, ive got an oem one thats done nearly 20k and its fine, that is a genuine part though, cheap ones from ebay or ecp or gsf do die quick time lol. If you do have to replace it get one of the 307 ones as theyre single-piece.

[Mr Whippy]

To be fair to the Peugeot 306 HDi, it's a really good car.

I've seen enough now over the last six years to know that although it's harder to get a good one, and more and more you see have some problem or another, they generally still are totally fine if you are happy to just keep on top of jobs.

It's really easy to spot cars that have clearly not been looked after, and the MOT advisories help you to see if people take their car in for an MOT with the car falling in pieces or not.

Assuming it's not been abused then generally you'll always have something to be spending money on, and then when it comes to price you just have to haggle I guess.

If it's due discs/pads all round then just figure in £200 on parts... and so on.

I'd happily buy a car needing clutch, discs/pads, tyres, exhaust, wheel bearings, suspension, etc etc, if I could get it for a whole heap less money than another car. Infact I'd be more likely to buy it as I'd know everything would be new once I'd finished with it hehe


Dave