Peugeot 607 “The overtime car”

[Macron]

Every time you add to this thread, I’m straight off to AT!!!

[SAS Tom]

So far the french barge hasn’t lived up to its french barge reputation so it’s hard to complain about it. For a £950 car never mind a french £950 car rammed with electrics it’s been surprisingly reliable.

Yes, I’ve spent some money on age related maintenance and more money on bits to make it look a bit nicer but it’s not been expensive. It’s been completely reliable so far and the parts I have replaced haven’t been expensive as they are shared with most of the PSA group cars of the time. Compared to German cars of a similar spec (S class, A8, 7 Series) it’s a much cheaper proposition although I do think the German cars are probably nicer still. Funnily enough, if you start reeling off the spec most people think it cost more than 10 times what it actually cost.

I think I’m the end I was lucky with the timing of the advert for this particular car. There are a few 607’s on eBay and AT at the moment but the ones for similar money to this one are the earlier pre facelift cars with lower spec. The executive trim level cars seem to be up at around 2 grand and one person is even asking 4 grand! While I sometimes think a V6 auto would have been nicer, I’m sure it would have been more expensive and more trouble given what people say about them.

[SAS Tom]

Some good and some bad news after the air con man has been today. Firstly, everything came apart pretty easily apart from the main part we needed to come apart. The pipe that goes into the front of the condenser was well and truly stuck. The pipe snapped off in the condenser. The air con man had warned me of this and it makes sense given the design. Due to this we didn’t finish the job. A quick look on servicebox gave us the part number although no price. I couldn’t find any Uk sites online that sold it so left it to him to source. He has found got it through Peugeot but it has to come from France and costs £140! I want working air con so it’s got to be done but that is steep for a small pipe!

Taking the front end of the car off was handy. As the fans are mounted on the front of the radiator/condenser all sorts of crap gets stuck in between. There were several handfuls of leaves, cig butts, chewing gum wrappers and general dirt all of which was pretty soggy. I’m glad to have removed it all. It also gave me the opportunity to treat the rust I couldn’t reach the other day at the front end of the car.

Not the result I wanted however it was worthwhile for the other little jobs I got done.

[SAS Tom]

More jobs done today. When the second wheel bearing was done the mechanic commented that an engine mount was knackered. He wasn’t sure which one but suggested replacing the small one at the top. This turned out to be good advice as the bush had split all the way through.



New febi bilstein mount



And fitted



Not a bad little job and has made the gearbox feel much nicer to use and the lever doesn’t move under load anymore.

I’ve mentioned before that the car hesitates at very low throttle and very low revs when cold. I’ve checked for faults before but nothing came up. I checked again today and I got P1351 which relates to the glow plug relay. A bit of googling suggests it could be the relay or it could be the glow plugs. More investigation is needed but I’m hoping it’s the relay as the glow plugs are down the back of the engine.

My question to PH is if the glow plugs aren’t working correctly, would this cause the hesitation when the engine is cold?

[stevemcs]

I wouldn't have thought its cold enough to use glow plugs so i'd be surprised if that's the cause. Has the fuel filter been changed recently ?

[SAS Tom]

I don’t know if the filter has been changed but it’s probably worth doing. If that was the issue though would it not be evident all the time not just when starting.

It’s literally only for a minute or so that it does this then it’s absolutely fine.

[StescoG66]

MAP or MAF sensor?

Reading this you have almost identical niggles I have with my 159. The air con pipe one resonated with me as have the same issue. I too want working air con. Another go the 3rd Regan in as many Months!

[Gmlgml]

Running an old Peugeot (407 coupe 2.7 in my case ) isn’t all roses, especially with no mechanical knowledge. In a month and in order (service- fair enough 250), then a new battery (ok- it’s a finite life item- 120, its enormous!) then a wheel bearing and new brake pads and brake lines on the front (320- getting annoyed now) then a puncture that split the wheel (140 for two tyres as I found the spare was knackered as well, thanks raised, unlit, unsigned roadworks.) This has now led to a tyre pressure monitoring “fault” which I’m ignoring. then a DPF error message. (Hopefully cured by a motorway boot it tune up, if I have kittens every time I switch the engine on😞) and last but not least no heater. Traced to a leaking heater matrix hose and housing. 325.

1125 spent on a 1600 quid car. Grrrr

Drives nice tho.

I’m going to have to run it into the ground to make it worth while.

Also struggling to get over 26mpg.

49 a month tax.

Not my brightest ever purchase 😁

[SAS Tom]

I haven’t found it a bad car to live with. Nothing that has needed doing has been unusual for the age of the car. I’ve replaced bits to tidy it up a bit too but it’s still been a cheap car for what it is.

Today I’ve had the Part worn Goodyear winter tyres fitted. It’s early to be fitting winters but the front Michelin’s were down to 2mm on the front and due to my earlier puncture it had a Pirelli run flat on one side and an Avon on the other on the rear. Annoyingly the Avon had also picked up a puncture. I also replaced the 2006 Pirelli spare as it definitely looked past its best.

It’s booked in for the glow plugs replacing in a few weeks. As the egr valve has to come off to replace them I’ll clean it out so I know that won’t have any issues.

[exgtt]

The German marques of the time could easily have similar issues and the parts aren’t French prices as you know. I think this car is a smart buy! Really like it!

[SAS Tom]

Took the car on it’s first proper long journey yesterday since I bought it. About 250 miles of mainly motorway. I’ve been surprised by the fuel economy as it averaged over 50mpg despite official figures stating about 48mpg. Having spent nearly 8 hours in the car both me and my girlfriend felt pretty fresh. The sound insulation is great, there is a small amount of road noise much less than anything else I’ve been in and although you can hear the engine it’s also pretty quiet. The ride continues to amaze me at how well it deals with bumps. I’m not sure how air suspension is but this is pretty impressive. Of course it’s soft and there’s body roll in the corners but seemingly plenty of grip.

Using the car for its intended purpose showed how good it is. It just wafts along with little effort.

[Gary C]

SAS Tom said:

Took the car on it’s first proper long journey yesterday since I bought it. About 250 miles of mainly motorway. I’ve been surprised by the fuel economy as it averaged over 50mpg despite official figures stating about 48mpg. Having spent nearly 8 hours in the car both me and my girlfriend felt pretty fresh. The sound insulation is great, there is a small amount of road noise much less than anything else I’ve been in and although you can hear the engine it’s also pretty quiet. The ride continues to amaze me at how well it deals with bumps. I’m not sure how air suspension is but this is pretty impressive. Of course it’s soft and there’s body roll in the corners but seemingly plenty of grip.

Using the car for its intended purpose showed how good it is. It just wafts along with little effort.

that 136hp HDi turbo diesel (i think you have it?) is a good unit.

Dual mass flywheel was a weak point in mine

[SAS Tom]

Gary C said:

SAS Tom said:

Took the car on it’s first proper long journey yesterday since I bought it. About 250 miles of mainly motorway. I’ve been surprised by the fuel economy as it averaged over 50mpg despite official figures stating about 48mpg. Having spent nearly 8 hours in the car both me and my girlfriend felt pretty fresh. The sound insulation is great, there is a small amount of road noise much less than anything else I’ve been in and although you can hear the engine it’s also pretty quiet. The ride continues to amaze me at how well it deals with bumps. I’m not sure how air suspension is but this is pretty impressive. Of course it’s soft and there’s body roll in the corners but seemingly plenty of grip.

Using the car for its intended purpose showed how good it is. It just wafts along with little effort.

that 136hp HDi turbo diesel (i think you have it?) is a good unit.

Dual mass flywheel was a weak point in mine

Yeah that’s the one. I do quite like the engine, it sounds like an old transit and is a bit breathless at the top end but has plenty of power for normal driving and is good on fuel.

At the mileage the car is on I wouldn’t be surprised if it needs a new clutch and flywheel in my ownership but so far there’s nothing to worry about.

[SAS Tom]

Small change this week. I fitted a new intercooler pipe as the old one had gone all weird and slimy.



Nice new pipe fitted;



I’ve found so far that a lot of parts are in Poland. Anyone know why that is? They’re always a lot cheaper than everywhere else too.

[CX53]

They love an old diesel barge

[SAS Tom]

More work done on the Peugeot over the past week.

Firstly this;



And this;



Sorry for the terrible pictures, I forgot to take any whilst the car was in bits. What you are looking at is the new air con condenser and the stupidly expensive £140 pipe. The air con is now fully operational blowing a very chilly 0.6 degrees out the vents.

I also changed the gearknob. The old one was worn as expected after over 120k miles. This wasn’t that easy as the plastic adapter that Peugeot’s use was broken. Half was stuck inside the old gearknob and the other half on the lever. I bought an adapter from eBay and modified it to fit. Not only is it nicer to use, it doesn’t twist whilst you use it.




Finally I updated the sat nav. After a lot of googling I managed to find the latest version of maps from a seller on eBay for £20. I had almost resigned myself to paying Peugeot £120 but luckily didn’t have to in the end. Now my house actually exists on the sat nav compared to the 2006 maps which thought I was in a field.

[SAS Tom]

Glow plugs now changed and the engine feels much better. My girlfriend even asked why why the car feels much faster which surprised me.

Unfortunately no pictures of the work as the mechanic did it but it wasn’t as bad as expected. So far this car has been great at coming apart as it should. The glow plugs are down the back of the engine below the egr valve which needs to come off for access. Whilst the egr valve and cooler were off I cleaned them up. To be fair there wasn’t that much crud on the egr certainly a lot better than those pictures you see on the internet. Just a light coating really and it was fairly easy to clean with some carb cleaner and a brush. It’s all fully functioning and I don’t expect it to give me any issues.

Performance from cold is much better, it doesn’t jerk around when leaving the street anymore. We found that 2 of the 4 glow plug were dead so that would explain the hesitation if 2 of the 4 cylinders weren’t combusting properly.

[SAS Tom]

4000 miles now passed in the car and it’s going well.

Ever since I bought the car I wasn’t confident the thermostat was working properly. As the weather got cold it became clearer that it definitely wasn’t working. I originally changed the thermostat for a “Circoli” one from Eurocarparts at the start of November.

It was a pain to fit and I had to come back to it as one of the hoses had a stupid clip arrangement which fell apart. I cut the clip off and had to put a reducer in and a new bit of pipe which went on the thermostat no issue.

I should have known fitting a part from a brand I’ve never heard of would be a problem but hoped that ECP would sell decent stuff. Unfortunately not, it lasted a couple of days before it failed and the car wouldn’t get above 70 degrees.

I’ve now fitted a Mahle Thermostat and it behaves as it should.

Now everything is done on the car I’m looking forward to just running it. It’s needed some work to get it up to standard but it drives well now.

[B'stard Child]

SAS Tom said:

4000 miles now passed in the car and it’s going well.

Ever since I bought the car I wasn’t confident the thermostat was working properly. As the weather got cold it became clearer that it definitely wasn’t working. I originally changed the thermostat for a “Circoli” one from Eurocarparts at the start of November.

It was a pain to fit and I had to come back to it as one of the hoses had a stupid clip arrangement which fell apart. I cut the clip off and had to put a reducer in and a new bit of pipe which went on the thermostat no issue.

I should have known fitting a part from a brand I’ve never heard of would be a problem but hoped that ECP would sell decent stuff. Unfortunately not, it lasted a couple of days before it failed and the car wouldn’t get above 70 degrees.

I’ve now fitted a Mahle Thermostat and it behaves as it should.

I have had similar experiences with some aftermarket parts - unless good data to support the equivalence in terms of function and reliability I tend to steer clear

Suspension bushes/arms and thermostats have very variable quality levels once you move away from OE or well known branded aftermarket

One that springs to mind recently was I needed a couple of drop links for the front of my Monza (to fit an uprated roll bar so figured replace everything at the same time) could only get one genuine one and a pattern one due - the pattern one lasted just over a year before it was utterly shagged - they pretty much looked identical but the few quid saved on the pattern part wasn't worth the hassle of replacing it after a short time or the additional expense of buying another

[bungz]

Aftermarket stats are a waste of time.

Went through a few on my mondeo and none of them would get the car up to temp despite being rated for the same temperatures.

OEM one needle sat like a rock where it should.

I have used circoli water pumps fine though.