Thinking of getting 106 GTi. Final Tips & Advice?
Discussion
carreauchompeur said:
You bought it despite it failing to start twice with a seemingly bizarre electrical gremlin? This sounds even less sensible than my barried M3 purchase earlier in the year!
It wasn't until I bought it did the gremlin appear and the engine failed to start the second time. Anyway, I thought that if worst comes to the worst I will have to buy a new battery which isn't a disaster. Another thing I noticed is that when I press lock on key it only locks the driver side and when I then open the passenger side the alarm goes off.
I'm going to post some pictures of under the bonnet. There's some rust on battery connecters and a bit of rust in some other places. I can't really make anything of it but I hope someone who knows can.
BadBanshee said:
It wasn't until I bought it did the gremlin appear and the engine failed to start the second time. Anyway, I thought that if worst comes to the worst I will have to buy a new battery which isn't a disaster.
Unless it's the alternator that is knackered. Also possible (but unlikely in something as unsophisticated as a Peugeot 106, I would have thought) is that the electrical systems in the car could have been damaged by the jump start. The gearbox thing may never get any worse, but I wouldn't have thought a gearbox would have been hard to find. Probably a straight swap with a Saxo VTS gearbox, perhaps even the same as the VTR gearbox, which will probably be cheaper and easier to find than a box from a Peugeot 106 GTi (they're probably the same part). Couple of hours labour at a garage to fit. Anyway, lets see these pics.
Baryonyx said:
3rd crunching could be a worn synchro, you could be hearing the teeth on the gears grinding together.
Any idea how much that might cost to repair if I do it early? I'm reading mixed answers on google, one opinion being that it may need a complete engine overhaul worth a grand! I don't mind spending a few hundred bringing it up to tip top condition but not thousands please god no! Good luck with your new car its good to hear someone who obviously does not have much car knowledge buying something like this and taking a chance on it, they really are terrific to drive. Also fairly simple to work on and learn what you are doing.
A website that will be good for tips once you start doing stuff to it is listed below, plenty of good advice available on there for your car (even if its a gti not a rallye).
http://www.106rallyeforum.com/forum2008/forum.php?...
Crunchy gears going down from 4th to 3rd = worn syncro on the gears, not worth bothering about just learn to match your engine revs to gear speed and will be ok with a bit of double de-clutching. Alternative is replace gearbox you should get a good 2nd hand 16v g/box for £100.
A website that will be good for tips once you start doing stuff to it is listed below, plenty of good advice available on there for your car (even if its a gti not a rallye).
http://www.106rallyeforum.com/forum2008/forum.php?...
Crunchy gears going down from 4th to 3rd = worn syncro on the gears, not worth bothering about just learn to match your engine revs to gear speed and will be ok with a bit of double de-clutching. Alternative is replace gearbox you should get a good 2nd hand 16v g/box for £100.
Baryonyx said:
Unless it's the alternator that is knackered. Also possible (but unlikely in something as unsophisticated as a Peugeot 106, I would have thought) is that the electrical systems in the car could have been damaged by the jump start. The gearbox thing may never get any worse, but I wouldn't have thought a gearbox would have been hard to find. Probably a straight swap with a Saxo VTS gearbox, perhaps even the same as the VTR gearbox, which will probably be cheaper and easier to find than a box from a Peugeot 106 GTi (they're probably the same part). Couple of hours labour at a garage to fit.
Anyway, lets see these pics.
I couldn't tell what was the alternator. I couldn't see anything similar to what I see when I google "alternator".Anyway, lets see these pics.
Edited by BadBanshee on Sunday 9th December 17:58
rallycross said:
Good luck with your new car its good to hear someone who obviously does not have much car knowledge buying something like this and taking a chance on it, they really are terrific to drive. Also fairly simple to work on and learn what you are doing.
A website that will be good for tips once you start doing stuff to it is listed below, plenty of good advice available on there for your car (even if its a gti not a rallye).
http://www.106rallyeforum.com/forum2008/forum.php?...
Crunchy gears going down from 4th to 3rd = worn syncro on the gears, not worth bothering about just learn to match your engine revs to gear speed and will be ok with a bit of double de-clutching. Alternative is replace gearbox you should get a good 2nd hand 16v g/box for £100.
Hey thanks, it's nice to hear that A website that will be good for tips once you start doing stuff to it is listed below, plenty of good advice available on there for your car (even if its a gti not a rallye).
http://www.106rallyeforum.com/forum2008/forum.php?...
Crunchy gears going down from 4th to 3rd = worn syncro on the gears, not worth bothering about just learn to match your engine revs to gear speed and will be ok with a bit of double de-clutching. Alternative is replace gearbox you should get a good 2nd hand 16v g/box for £100.
Rest assured this is one 106 GTI that's going to be look aftered and preserved. When I drove it home I was scared s
tless it was going to break down in the fast lane of the motorway. That fear quickly turned into laughter when I put my foot down and realized I was driving a GTI legend. It's seriously quick! The relatively heavy steering and the feel that it's on rollerskates is what makes it. Felt so much more involved in the drive compared to the Abarth 500 I test drove once which just felt a bit artificial and mollycoddled, like the electrics were staring at you ready to wave its finger at you if you try to have too much fun.I'll bookmark that page and trawl through it later tonight.
Edited by BadBanshee on Sunday 9th December 18:10
BadBanshee said:
Kitchski said:
You are being far too anal about a very simple, cheap French hatchback IMO.
Just buy one that you like, at the right price. For £900 I'd allow it a few issues, but that's not to say it'll have any nor is it to say the £2000 "mint" example with all this FSH bks doesn't have a stuffed diff or rear beam.
Buy with your head, and if yours is no good take someone's who is.
£900 is £900. It's my first time buying a car and I'm a young driver. What I'm doing is a risk. It's not like buying a chocolate bar. I want to minimize any possibility of buying this thing and then having to scrap it because it's falling to bits. I can't throw away £900 like that, and if you can then good for you. Especially with it being an old high mileage car I think I need to be extra careful.Just buy one that you like, at the right price. For £900 I'd allow it a few issues, but that's not to say it'll have any nor is it to say the £2000 "mint" example with all this FSH b
ks doesn't have a stuffed diff or rear beam.Buy with your head, and if yours is no good take someone's who is.
Thanks again to everyone for the helpful comments.
But for that sort of money you suck it and see. Nothing on the car would be so expensive to repair that it'd cripple you if something did fail, and the logic you're applying to the 106 applies to most cars.
I haven't read the rest of the thread so far, so if this looks out of date that's why
That ticking that you think is the spark plugs will have been the starter motor solenoid. Not unknown for them to stick, especially after standing for a while. Easy enough and fairly cheap to fix.
Alternators are also a dawdle to fix. Likely hidden under a heat shield but its on the front of the engine under the exhaust manifold. Electrical system is fairly sturdy so I wouldn't be worried about the repeated jump starts.
Alternators are also a dawdle to fix. Likely hidden under a heat shield but its on the front of the engine under the exhaust manifold. Electrical system is fairly sturdy so I wouldn't be worried about the repeated jump starts.
Kitchski said:
I don't have £900 to throw away.....I've probably got less to hand than you as it goes.
But for that sort of money you suck it and see. Nothing on the car would be so expensive to repair that it'd cripple you if something did fail, and the logic you're applying to the 106 applies to most cars.
I haven't read the rest of the thread so far, so if this looks out of date that's why
Yeah you're right. I ended up buying the thing without even looking at the documents, although the gf gave it a once over But for that sort of money you suck it and see. Nothing on the car would be so expensive to repair that it'd cripple you if something did fail, and the logic you're applying to the 106 applies to most cars.
I haven't read the rest of the thread so far, so if this looks out of date that's why
Hope all works out for you but really think you should have looked at a couple more this sounds like it has a fked gearbox and electrics and can see a k&n filter on the pictures amongst the rust so certainly isn't standard.
However £900 is very cheap for one of these a good one is well over 2k so if you can get it all fixed cheap enough you won't have done too bad
Picture of my mates was immaculate believe he got £1800 when he sold it after about 1 hour of the advert being live (priced too cheap) wish I could have brought it but didn't have the funds at the time
ked gearbox and electrics and can see a k&n filter on the pictures amongst the rust so certainly isn't standard.However £900 is very cheap for one of these a good one is well over 2k so if you can get it all fixed cheap enough you won't have done too bad
Picture of my mates was immaculate believe he got £1800 when he sold it after about 1 hour of the advert being live (priced too cheap) wish I could have brought it but didn't have the funds at the time
Also gearboxes on theses are quite cheap if the syncro gets worse maybe £150 and get a mate handy with spanners to help you fit over a weekend
However can just double de-clutch for now
Electrical fault maybe got a voltmeter on the battery see if its getting charged? it may be a dodgy alternator which if so would be a pretty cheap fix maybe £50 or so...
However can just double de-clutch for now
Electrical fault maybe got a voltmeter on the battery see if its getting charged? it may be a dodgy alternator which if so would be a pretty cheap fix maybe £50 or so...
BadBanshee said:
Any idea how much that might cost to repair if I do it early? I'm reading mixed answers on google, one opinion being that it may need a complete engine overhaul worth a grand! I don't mind spending a few hundred bringing it up to tip top condition but not thousands please god no!
People spout some crap on the interweb, you should know that by now!! There's absolutely no need to touch the engine because the gearbox is screwed. Worst comes to the worst, it needs a new gearbox, it's not like it's an exotic and super rare drivetrain. Second hand, the bigger cost will be labour unless you can do it yourself. This won't be cheap - it'll be similar to changing the clutch so a few hundred. A lot cheaper if you can find a mate to do it for you.
You may just be able to drive around it though - use 3rd gear less often etc, at least until you've saved up a bit.
As above, battery issue could be the alternator - I guess it doesn't help in this weather that you tend to run the car with the lights, on, heater on etc etc, so battery isn't recharging as much as it could.
Fuel gauge may be knackered, but it could have been running on fumes before your £20 - that sort of money doesn't go far these days. They're pretty crap on fuel considering it's a tiny light 1.6. Then again I drove mine bouncing off the limiter everywhere, so probably didn't help. Certainly a lot worse than my Elise though.
If it doesn't work it doesn't really matter - half the dials on my french cars have never worked!! Just reset the trip everytime you fill it up, and make sure you put in petrol every 250 or 300 miles or whatever. Job done.
Wouldn't worry about problems really - that's shed motoring for you! Call it character!
Have fun!
pthelazyjourno said:
People spout some crap on the interweb, you should know that by now!!
There's absolutely no need to touch the engine because the gearbox is screwed. Worst comes to the worst, it needs a new gearbox, it's not like it's an exotic and super rare drivetrain. Second hand, the bigger cost will be labour unless you can do it yourself. This won't be cheap - it'll be similar to changing the clutch so a few hundred. A lot cheaper if you can find a mate to do it for you.
You may just be able to drive around it though - use 3rd gear less often etc, at least until you've saved up a bit.
As above, battery issue could be the alternator - I guess it doesn't help in this weather that you tend to run the car with the lights, on, heater on etc etc, so battery isn't recharging as much as it could.
Fuel gauge may be knackered, but it could have been running on fumes before your £20 - that sort of money doesn't go far these days. They're pretty crap on fuel considering it's a tiny light 1.6. Then again I drove mine bouncing off the limiter everywhere, so probably didn't help. Certainly a lot worse than my Elise though.
If it doesn't work it doesn't really matter - half the dials on my french cars have never worked!! Just reset the trip everytime you fill it up, and make sure you put in petrol every 250 or 300 miles or whatever. Job done.
Wouldn't worry about problems really - that's shed motoring for you! Call it character!
Have fun!
Lol. Well the seller told me £70 fills it to the top (sound about right?) so £20 should have been quarter full. It was literally dead zero. Hmmm. Might take it to halfords for one of their free brake and battery checks. There's an independent auto electrics garage I've used before so might go them about the fuel gauge see what they tell me. There's absolutely no need to touch the engine because the gearbox is screwed. Worst comes to the worst, it needs a new gearbox, it's not like it's an exotic and super rare drivetrain. Second hand, the bigger cost will be labour unless you can do it yourself. This won't be cheap - it'll be similar to changing the clutch so a few hundred. A lot cheaper if you can find a mate to do it for you.
You may just be able to drive around it though - use 3rd gear less often etc, at least until you've saved up a bit.
As above, battery issue could be the alternator - I guess it doesn't help in this weather that you tend to run the car with the lights, on, heater on etc etc, so battery isn't recharging as much as it could.
Fuel gauge may be knackered, but it could have been running on fumes before your £20 - that sort of money doesn't go far these days. They're pretty crap on fuel considering it's a tiny light 1.6. Then again I drove mine bouncing off the limiter everywhere, so probably didn't help. Certainly a lot worse than my Elise though.
If it doesn't work it doesn't really matter - half the dials on my french cars have never worked!! Just reset the trip everytime you fill it up, and make sure you put in petrol every 250 or 300 miles or whatever. Job done.
Wouldn't worry about problems really - that's shed motoring for you! Call it character!
Have fun!
Hi OP, read this with interest!
You've bought it now, so there's not much point in us saying you should/shouldn't have bought it or not.
As I understand it, this is your first car, or at least your first 'own' car correct? If so, well done, it will be a car you'll never forget and a 106 is fundamentally a good car.
It sounds like your not too knowledgeable about the mechanic side of things - that's fine, your first car is the perfect way to learn and the majority of people on here will have done the same!
This is not me being patronising - I'm a bit jealous as I'd love a 106 as a runabout, I used to have a GTI6 which was a fab car.
- Have you asked for any christmas presents yet? As there's some stuff that you could ask for if not!
( A Multimeter, a Haynes Manual etc ).
I am also in West Yorkshire (I checked your profile). I have a week off work this week as I'd not used all my holiday up from work.
Whereabouts are you? If its not too far - I may be able to come over and help you out, if you wish?
I am NOT a trained mechanic, or anything like that. I am an Automotive Design engineer. But I've been messing with cars for years, I'm a decent home mechanic, I've had plenty of fixer uppers etc.
I could help you have a look round the car maybe and see if I spot anything, and show you where everything is, how it works etc.
Let me know, PM on my profile.
You've bought it now, so there's not much point in us saying you should/shouldn't have bought it or not.
As I understand it, this is your first car, or at least your first 'own' car correct? If so, well done, it will be a car you'll never forget and a 106 is fundamentally a good car.
It sounds like your not too knowledgeable about the mechanic side of things - that's fine, your first car is the perfect way to learn and the majority of people on here will have done the same!
This is not me being patronising - I'm a bit jealous as I'd love a 106 as a runabout, I used to have a GTI6 which was a fab car.
- Have you asked for any christmas presents yet? As there's some stuff that you could ask for if not!
( A Multimeter, a Haynes Manual etc ).
I am also in West Yorkshire (I checked your profile). I have a week off work this week as I'd not used all my holiday up from work.
Whereabouts are you? If its not too far - I may be able to come over and help you out, if you wish?
I am NOT a trained mechanic, or anything like that. I am an Automotive Design engineer. But I've been messing with cars for years, I'm a decent home mechanic, I've had plenty of fixer uppers etc.
I could help you have a look round the car maybe and see if I spot anything, and show you where everything is, how it works etc.
Let me know, PM on my profile.
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