Peugeot 406

[sarah g a Biofuels Forum Newbie Find all posts View Profile Close sarah g a]

Does anyone know of any potential problems in running a Peugeot 406 on biodiesel? There's one for sale that I'm keen on, but I want to be sure I can run it on bd before I purchase.
Thanks for any tips or advice.

[Alga Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Alga]

Re: Peugeot 406

I've never owned a Peugot, but know someone in NSW that does and there have been at least two people on this forum that run them on BD or WVO with no complaints. The quality of the fuel and the early teething troubles associated with gunk seem to be the only things to worry about. I'd love to get a Peugot diesel car, but they are very scarce here in Tas and expensive.

[Westwinds Donating Member Find all posts View Profile Close Westwinds]

Re: Peugeot 406

Hi, My wife left central west NSW last Tuesday to travel to the North Coast in a Peugeot 406. She had a full tank of Bio and 95 litres in the boot, she has arrived home today after travelling 2226 klm's with a 1/3 of a tank and didn't have any problems.
Regards Westwinds

[nitramluap Member Find all posts View Profile Close nitramluap]

Re: Peugeot 406

Does anyone know of any potential problems in running a Peugeot 406 on biodiesel? There's one for sale that I'm keen on, but I want to be sure I can run it on bd before I purchase.
Thanks for any tips or advice.

The engine should run fine but you may run into material incompatibility issues in the long run - nothing major but it will mean replacing o-rings & seals in various locations. Of course you will need to replace the fuel filter if it has been running on dino-diesel for a long time prior to using B100.

A user here (Matt) has a lot of experience with a Peugeot ?307 and B100. the seals within the high pressure pump (non-synthetic rubber) gave up the ghost after 60,000km I think from memory - search the forums and you'll find the info you need.

Everything else should be fine. You may need to watch for reverse blow-by (fuel dilution of the oil) if the car has an particulate filter which uses the post-injection technique to burn off the soot.

I am running two BMW 120d (2007 model & a 2008 model) on B100 and they both now have 26,000km on the clock. The only problem I've noticed so far is the dilution of the oil (from the DPF) by the B100 but that is easily fixed - change the oil!

Everything else is fine and I have a blog with my progress.

Cheers,

Paul

[reverb Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close reverb]

Re: Peugeot 406

Does anyone know of any potential problems in running a Peugeot 406 on biodiesel? There's one for sale that I'm keen on, but I want to be sure I can run it on bd before I purchase.
Thanks for any tips or advice.

Sure - great car. I have a 2002 HDi wagon, which I purchased after asking around here and elsewhere about them. For the money I wanted to spend, it was the only manual wagon I could find that wasn't a 4wd, and as a bonus it has 7 seats!

General consensus for all HDi motors seemed to be that there will no problems on bio for a year or two, and then you can expect that some rubber parts within the engine may need replacing.

Since mine had already done 146k before I got it, and because of the above, I'm not running B100 in it to start with - more like B50-80. I will slowly increase this, also when I find a decent local diesel mechanic who I trust to work on any issues at sensible prices.

But there are no running problems that we have encountered thus far. We've just returned from 5000km road-trip, where we averaged 6.0 l/100km with a full boot and a mix of 110 on the open roads and around cities.

Not as good as my Polo, but then I could almost fit the Polo in the boot of the 406

Good luck, if you can find a good example I say go for it (we got ours checked out by a mechanic before purchasing, he found some issues we haggled the price down with).

[reverb Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close reverb]

Re: Peugeot 406

I've never owned a Peugot, but know someone in NSW that does and there have been at least two people on this forum that run them on BD or WVO with no complaints. The quality of the fuel and the early teething troubles associated with gunk seem to be the only things to worry about. I'd love to get a Peugot diesel car, but they are very scarce here in Tas and expensive.

Funny - the only other 406 wagon I was considering looking at was in Tasmania, I nearly came to down to see it! Ended up getting mine from Dubbo.

As for expensive, that's relative. More than ubiquitous bloated 4wds, yes, but the running costs will pay that off rather quickly if you don't actually need a 4wd.
Until about 2006, there were very few other affordable diesel passenger cars in Oz, so unless your budget stretches over $20k Peugeots are the best way to go IMHO.

[CARL BRUCE Donating Member Find all posts View Profile Close CARL BRUCE]

Re: Peugeot 406

I have a 406 running on Bio. It is a 1998 SRDT. I changed to an earlier injection pump (bosch) from the standard Lucas peice of S___t......Absolutely no good on Bio, and $4500 to rebuild here in Australia. The pump change was done in Melbourne. Morassi and Williams, Williamstown.They said a Pajero pump would work too.
Google Diesel Bob in the UK for info on which pumps are ok on Bio. There is a thread in this forum somewhere for converting these cars the way i did.

[reverb Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close reverb]

Re: Peugeot 406

I have a 406 running on Bio. It is a 1998 SRDT. I changed to an earlier injection pump (bosch) from the standard Lucas peice of S___t......Absolutely no good on Bio, and $4500 to rebuild here in Australia. The pump change was done in Melbourne. Morassi and Williams, Williamstown.They said a Pajero pump would work too.
Google Diesel Bob in the UK for info on which pumps are ok on Bio. There is a thread in this forum somewhere for converting these cars the way i did.

Well thanks for your edit, because the explicit comment that we have NO (uppercase) knowledge of 406s was rather harsh.
I asked around this forum (where else in the world would I expect to find the required info?) and was told that HDis are fine for a couple of years, then I can expect to replace various rubber. This info came from Matt and others.
My comments only really apply to HDis, which is why I explicitly said both that and the year in my post.

[nitramluap Member Find all posts View Profile Close nitramluap]

Re: Peugeot 406

Well thanks for your edit, because the explicit comment that we have NO (uppercase) knowledge of 406s was rather harsh.
I asked around this forum (where else in the world would I expect to find the required info?) and was told that HDis are fine for a couple of years, then I can expect to replace various rubber. This info came from Matt and others.
My comments only really apply to HDis, which is why I explicitly said both that and the year in my post.

Likewise.

I know Matt personally although have not seen him for some time but I have spoken to him at length about material incompatibility issues with his HDi 307. The factory fitted *Bosch* high pressure pump (for the common rail) had natural rubber internal o-rings which gave up the ghost at about 60,000km.

My BMWs also have Bosch high pressure pumps, hence my interest. Our cars o-rings everywhere else appear to be synthetic (I'm testing them all in little glass jars with biodiesel, etc) but I don't know about o-rings *inside* components supplied by third party companies (eg. Bosch).

As our cars also have a diesel particulate filter (DPF), and it uses the 'post injection technique' (as most do now), I'm seeing some B100 get into the engine oil, diluting it a little. No big deal but worth mentioning.

Regards,

Paul

[CARL BRUCE Donating Member Find all posts View Profile Close CARL BRUCE]

Re: Peugeot 406

Hi Paul and Reverb
If you read the other posts you might have sensed where i got my (edited) thoughts from....wishfull thinking and anecdotal evidence, not experience or knowledge. I would'nt want anyones bying decisions based on them. Plenty of 'go for its' in this forum, but encouragement is not fact.

[nitramluap Member Find all posts View Profile Close nitramluap]

Re: Peugeot 406

Hi Carl,

Yes, you have a valid point. I'm always wary of the two extremes of 'it will be no problem' or 'it will be a big problem'.

The answer to the majority of questions on Biodiesel (and life in general) should always start with "It depends..."

Cheers,

Paul

[ChrisLenth Biofuels Forum Newbie Find all posts View Profile Close ChrisLenth]

Re: Peugeot 406

Hi am am new to the BD forum today. We are considering purchase of a 2001 Peugeot 406 HDI wagon. Stopped at the local Peugeot service centre today with a few questions for the mechanics. They were very much anti-BD and went on and on about the high cost of the injectors & pump and dangers from contaminants, etc etc. Good to see on this forum that folks are running 406 HDI's on BD successfully.

The car in question has 220,000km and truth be told the quoted high cost of servicing / replacing injection system bits has scared me off this model a bit. Any hints as to what kind of longevity i can expect from the HDI motor and how that might be influenced by BD?

thanks heaps!
chris

[reverb Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close reverb]

Re: Peugeot 406

Hi am am new to the BD forum today. We are considering purchase of a 2001 Peugeot 406 HDI wagon.

Do it - a great car for the money. Nobody believes me when I say I get 6 open road and 7 mixed l/100km from a 7 seater family wagon, but that's what ours does. Also, new they were an overpriced (for the build quality) luxury car, so now you get lots of bells and whistles for the money. Ours served 145000km on dino as a country car and is now just a couple of brake discs (under warranty) away from being back in long-distance service with us.

We've only done about 15000 (very comfortable) km on B100 but that has gone without a hitch (dodgy brake discs aside). Keep looking through the forums for longer-term views on the HDis.

Stopped at the local Peugeot service centre today with a few questions for the mechanics. They were very much anti-BD and went on and on about the high cost of the injectors & pump and dangers from contaminants, etc etc. Good to see on this forum that folks are running 406 HDI's on BD successfully.

Sure, they would say that. I had mine serviced recently at a main dealer with a full tank of B100, and they didn't say a word. They even gave the filter the all clear so I know the mechanics looked.
There's the head office propaganda department who made them put up a "no bio" sign in the reception, and then there's the guys on the ground who understand the reality.
Head office may have a point (but don't have proof) on more recent vehicles (due to DPFs and newer higher pressure designs), but your 2001 and my 2002 will have no issues with B100 that an occasional look at your fuel system by a realistic (ie. not main dealer) mechanic won't pick up.

The car in question has 220,000km and truth be told the quoted high cost of servicing / replacing injection system bits has scared me off this model a bit. Any hints as to what kind of longevity i can expect from the HDI motor and how that might be influenced by BD?

thanks heaps!
chris

Besides, if it does break, you can try and get your hands on the bigger 2.2 HDi as a replacement

Make sure you drive it first - ours is no Helga but compared to the Polo TDi it certainly earns it's nick-name Es-car-go (ie. snail) for more than one reason! By all accounts the 2.2 (not sold in the 406 in Aus I think) was a much better match for this much weight.

[Matt Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Matt]

Re: Peugeot 406

Have a read on my 2004 307 HDi, search the forum.

Basically the things that will stop you are the high pressure pump seals, mine where rubber and they started dissolving at 60,000 on B100 after 3 years. Fuel filter sealant started to dissolve and make oatmeal blocking the filter. Both are fixable with new seals and some good sealant in the fuel filter housing.

Injectoir bleed off lines replaced with 4mm viton.Otherwise it ran not as well as it did on dino but it ran. It runs B20 now and goes well. A lot quieter than most.

Nicew car btw, only hting better would be the 407 V6 dual turbo.

Matt

[CARL BRUCE Donating Member Find all posts View Profile Close CARL BRUCE]

Re: Peugeot 406

Call me sometime to discuss. Can be done, but plenty of issues with the original Lucas pumps.
Carl 0415 476 474