Bought another 406

[steve_earwig]

I was at my sis-in-law's with t'wife this afternoon. While they were a-chatterin' I was sorting out her pc. Job jobbed I thought I'd have a quick squint at the forum. The first vid is interesting, it's all in there they put the cheaper stalk in. I guess it would've cost too much to make 2 different computers so the cheaper option is not that much cheaper

Then I got to the bit where you wrote "However a less sensible option will be taken there", it speeded up and I was on the floor I was in stitches!! Absolutely classic mate

Loving the Bathroom light switch

That's a shower switch Shirley? I wouldn't have thought a light switch would handle the current.

Assuming you would want to use this to allow anyone "on the farm" to get in and drive it, but want to retain the immobilizer to prevent any tom, dick or harry. Mount the antenna ring under the seat and stick the transponder chip on the static rail so that you have to move the seat all the way forward (or back, if you so desire) to align them before the car will start. as long as the thief isn't a dwarf you will be fine!

Not so good if you're over 6 feet though... How about have it shot into the back of your neck like they datatag dogs and have the receiver mounted in the headrest

Btw Frank, how far away from the receiver can the chip be before it stops working?

[FarmerPug]

Bencuk, that idea is fantastic for relocating the immobiliser.

Steve, it is indeed a shower switch, but the spring is broken in it now so its not turning off correctly, but the wee button for starting the car up is just a simple push button that was operating the horn on a clio.
The reciever is not very good, you need to have the chip less than a centimetre away from the ring otherwise it wont recgonise it, this makes the watch idea a bit ackward as your wrist needs to be at the right angle, a better option would be the seat idea, or for something removable put the chip into a mobile phone, and the ring on a mobile phone holder, the options are limitless.

There is also the "one for all airbag/abs light fixerrrer", which on its first use set fire to the instrument cluster:





But after sorting out the issue which was a short circuit caused by this bit of kit, it is possible to get rid of an airbag light without actually fixing the problem, although the MFD still would say AIRBAG FAULT, the solution was to snip the legs off the piggybacking bulb, with them in they shorted the circuit and caused the mini fire

Setting fire to your instrument cluster in this way seems to be a great way of reset in the mileage if only for a short while

[steve_earwig]

Oops! Say, don't burnt tracks make them much easier to follow?

[FarmerPug]

There isnt much left of the old 406:


Just a few observations

I removed the subframe today which wasn't too hard but one of the bolts just span around and had to be cut off with an angle grinder, if this happened on a good car i cant see any way to get at the captive nut, it would be a bit of a nuisance to sort out.

The drivers side driveshaft, it is supported by the bearing in the lower engine mount, but to release it from the bearing you need to undo a pair of 11mm nuts, as you can see here:


for some reason this is the exact size all socket sets skip so it had to be done with a spanner which took a while. But once its out changing the lower engine mount isn't as bad as it sounds.

Here is the front subframe:

the droplinks are scrap, but the steering rack and other parts seem usable, the strut top bearings are seized and after what happened to my spring last year i am throwing these struts in the scrap.

[steve_earwig]

That's looking rather slimmed down

I removed the subframe today which wasn't too hard but one of the bolts just span around and had to be cut off with an angle grinder, if this happened on a good car i cant see any way to get at the captive nut, it would be a bit of a nuisance to sort out.

Mjb had this problem (see his ES9J4 clutch change in the KB), he had to have a hole cut in the body, a new nut welded in there and then the body welded up again.

[Doggy]

I noticed jasper & co undoing the subframe bolts with great care during both of my clutch / gearbox jobs - either I was lucky, or more likely they knew what they were about.

[FarmerPug]

The 406 is gone, there wasnt much left on it except a fuel tank and back axle, useless bits of trim, the rusty bonnet and rusty exhaust were also scrapped which made £70.

What remains is this collection of parts:


One HDi engine and gearbox to look at:


There is also a load of other parts not in the photo which i have organised into the garage, so far the only part ive used on my own car has been the MAF sensor which cured the problem with the turbo cutting in late.

[CrazyPeteUK]

I've just had my 406 HDI 90 fail its Mot on both the Sills and the Rear suspension mounts.

Taken it to a local garage to be qouted the lovely sum of £320.00, is this a common issue with these cars? The guy in the garage says its a know issue with 406's as they tend to rot on the back suspension.

Anyone else encountered this issue?

[Welly]

Rusting sills can be a problem on some cars yes, it appears that sometimes the sill drain holes get mashed by ham-fisted tyre fitters or they block up with dirt (or the remnants of those pesky sill rubber clips) and begin to rot from the inside out.

£320.00 sounds quite reasonable for that sort of job.

[steve_earwig]

Sills yes, sadly, for the reasons Welly mentions. Suspension mounts though? The only thing I can think of is the sill rot is within the specified distance of the front lower link mountings. 320 squids? How much is another 406?

[FarmerPug]

Some jacks bend the drain holes and water ingress in the sill cant escape, i am not sure how water gets in other than around the holes for the lower weatherstrip.

£320 for new sills welded into place, and painted sounds quite reasonable. As preventative maintenance its worth checking the condition of the jacking points and if necessary bending them back into place with vise grips ensuring the drains are clear.
I have used a waxoyl spray attachment to spray inside the sills with a mix of gearbox oil and grease, seems to keep the inside of them fairly fresh.

The jack i use in the shed has a habbit of damaging sills, it was ok on the 406 as i lifted by the subframe or rear towbar, on the heavier 607 i jacked it up and bent the sill. It was easy to unbend it but i made up a jack adapter that allows the jack to lift the cars properly by the original jacking point. So far it has worked on a 305, 406, 607 and C5.

Thats the mashed up jacking point thanks to using the jack with its normal attachment


The one i made up:


Ignore the welding

[CrazyPeteUK]

I've had the car a year so far as my mother gifted it to me for my birthday etc....

I noticed a loud sloshing of water on the passenger side for ages and it always happened after rain/water on the roads, I've noticed another fellow member of this club has mentioned the same noises.
The garage was J.T motors in Kingsnorton, Birmingham. They did a decent job of the sill repairs and the the rotting suspension was Kwik-Fits notes on the rear sills being so close to the suspension mounts.

So far this year i've replaced:

Clutch
Battery
Crankshaft pulley
tyres
Near/Offside sills repaired.

I think you can say I've spent alot on this car so far already, my first car and was my moms car. Other than those issues its an ok car with 119k on the clock.
I have noticed the drivers side sill is bent after a Tyres on the drive fitter just jacked it up on the sill, so that needs fixing soon as its corroded.

If you guys want photos of the work I can attach them later

[grasmere59]

Looks like rear drum brakes? I thought all D9's where discs all round?

[highlander]

My old 1.8 LX saloon was an early D9 (V-registered, 1999).

It had drum brakes at the rear.

[Welly]

90bhp's had rear drums and no dual mass flywheel - and all the better for it