It's gone from worse to worserer!!

[Emily]

Well I picked my car up from it's (Peugeot) service last night and it's not good news........

1. The no.2 spark plug is seized in the cylinder head
2. Play in NSF balljoint, needs replacing
3. Play in OS drop link, needs replacing
4. Brake compensator is seized
5. Exhaust is corroded
6. Rear silencer outer case is starting to break up.

Now the good bit..........Peugeot have quoted me between £500 - £1000 to get the spark plug out!!!!! They reckon there's a chance that the head could crack.

Then they reckon £500 to remove and replace the brake compensator.

Oh yeah and one of my tyres is worn on the INSIDE and they reckon it's illegal!! As soon as I got home last night I had to swap it over with my spare.

If you add all that up it will come to about £2k!!

My car has only done 38K miles. What a crock of complete sh1te. I'm well gutted

[chi_chee]

sorry to hear emily!!

is your car not covered under warranty?

[ajsuk]

Oh no! Get a couple of quotes from other garages and see what your looking at, then if its still bad, looks like you'll have to consider part exchange

[Emily]

Car is just out of firkin warranty. Isn't it always the way!!!

I tell you what I am seriously tempted to part-ex it. How can all this stuff be wrong with a car that's only done 38K???

I need to think about it systematically......

1. Work out what needs doing first, i.e. priority
2. Get some more quotes
3. Get very drunk
4. Rob a bank
4. Try not to smash my car to pieces
5. Try not to torch Peugeot HQ

I'm so annoyed as I've always looked after my car, serviced it regularly, changed the oil, washed it, waxed it, vacuumed it etc. What have I done to deserve this?

[ajsuk]

That seems like a fair list! How long out of warranty is it? You could try and make a deal with Pug, say that you can get the work done cheaper elsewhere, but if they are willing to not give you stupid prices, bearing in mind its only just out of warranty, you would rather get it done with them, as it would be Peugeot work. If they are not willing to budge, tell them you will take it elsewhere.

[Emily]

Warranty ended in February. Thanks for the idea, I'm gunna go and check out my local garage, (for local people!! ;D) and see what they say.

It's the spark plug I'm most annoyed about. It's only ever had Pug servicing and I've never taken it out so THEY must have tightened it up too much at the last service. That means it's THEIR problem, but i know they won't see it like that

I'm off home now to sink a bottle of wine.

Catch you all tomorrow

[Blackpug]

I wouldn't spend that on a car. You would be cheaper trading it in. Or as the others say - take it to an independant garage. It's not under warranty so no point taking it to Pug dealer.
ps when did it last get an MOT

[MarkyBoy]

Bad luck, kid!

My dealer-related problems pale into insignificance next to these!

I take it you've already explained it to them, the way you've explained it to us?

Do they know they're the only ones who've touched your car?

Most "honest" dealers would take this as a sign that they'd caused the problem as you pointed out...

Hope the wine did its job!

Regards
Mark

[ajsuk]

Yeah, Emily, if it is Pugs fault with the spark plug, fight them for all its worth. Dont give up at the first go, they wont give in easy. But dont let them get away with it just because they are a big company. Have a good go at them before you go to the HQ with the gasoline

[BigOL]

I really can't see how a sparky can cease in the head. Surely its threaded so, all you need is a spark plug socket and a longer arm to lever the rotation against?? Failing that soak the base of the plug in a releasing agent, like WD40 or that stuff from STP they use. I really can't see how something threaded can cease into a thread, it can't only be overtightened and failing all that get a ruddy air gun on it, that will get the bastd off. However I can see their point about cracking the head if they give it too much welly.

[Jonney Napalm]

Whoaaa there Tex, put ya air gun away!
If the threaded portion is siezed in the head then giving it too much violence will snap off the threaded portion in the head. This can lead to the additional problem of having bits drop into the cylinder.
It does happen, you ask my mate who decided to service his car the day before he was going to drive his familly on holiday. Jeeez, we all thought his wife was going to..........., well I think you can guess.
The other problem comes with lack of access. Most modern cars have the sparkies buried deep down between the cams. If they do snap then just getting near enough to use an 'easyout' etc is a major ballache.

I think Pug are a). to scared to try and remove the plug in case they do snap it off and b). trying to rob you blind.

Worse case scenario is that it snaps off then you may have to have the head removed to get it out. I think cracking the head is unlikely unless done by the most rawbone mechanic.

I'm sure I could find somewhere that would remove my head, gasflow it and refit it for less than a grand.

Forget the exhaust, if it's not blowing then it can wait for another time.
Droplinks are about £20 from Pug and are pretty straight forward to fit.
The ball joint will probably mean you'll have to replace the wishbone as it comes as an assembly, again, I paid about £90 for a GTi one but unfortunatly it's a bit more of an a-hole to fit.
Sorry, no idea about the brake compensator

If I was you I'd go find a nice independant garage and sweet talk them.
They maybe able to help on the plug front as your not the first or last person this has happened too and i'm sure you won't pay anywhere near those prices quoted by your dealer. What's his name, Richard Turpin?
You may find it cheaper to buy the bits yourself and get the garage to fit them for you, or they may be able to do them cheaper as they may be able to get them trade price.
Anyway, get lots of quotes, ring everyone in the yellow pages etc.
Don't get too down and don't take sh1t from any garage.

Good luck,

Jonney ;D

[Emily]

Hi Guys,

Just a quick update on my car situation.........

After a long hard think I've decided that the best thing to do is to trade it in.......

If it was just the ball joint and the drop link then I could handle it. Even perhaps the exhaust problems as well, but all these together is just crazy. I can't even begin to think about the spark plug situation......it could just pop out but it could also end up costing me heaps of cash and I'm just not prepared to spend that out.

Then there's the fact that I could spend all this money getting it sorted only for something else to go wrong, such as coil pack, or I may have more trouble with the throttle bodies and have to replace those.

I wouldn't mind if the car had done load of miles but it's only just done 39K. I bought this car so that I would (hopefully!!) have a few years of trouble free motoring but it just aint worked out that way.........

I'm gutted about all this as I've always wanted a 206, but there you go!

As a replacement I'm thinking of a Seat Ibiza or Leon. I was thinking about the 1.6 as a minimum and maybe the 1.9tdi. Ideally I'd like a cupra and I reckon I can afford one but I was wondering if you guys had any opinions/comments..............

Any other cars you'd like to suggest? I've got about £5500 but if I can get one for less then I can put the difference towards my new bike fund!

[chi_chee]

depends on whether u want a larger car or smaller car??

do u do alot of motorway miles?....if so, then i'd say the leon, more sturdy on the M-roads, but ibiza more manouvrable for in town driver.

i have driven the ibiza 1.2 and its not that bad a car, but too plastic interior, which is the same for the leon too.

[Emily]

Not fussed about having a large car but if that's what I end up with then that's fine. I'm open to ideas really.....

Day to day I don't do any motorway miles but I'd want a car that can hack it on the m/way.

Can you think of any other cars Chi? Bearing in mind you have probably driven jsut about every car there is ;D

[Jimmy]

Sorry chi u probably explained this alot but what do u do? Cos it sounds quality driving these cars and u seem to get the top model ones. Have u driven the yaris turbo?? whats it like?