[Daisyduke18]

Hi all new here and I have no experience with cars what so ever ?

So 2 weeks ago I bought a Peugeot 207 , 1.4 with full service history on 66,000 miles for £600 .

Seemed to cheap at the time ( hindsight is a marvellous thing ) ...

I checked the cap on the engine and there was no mayo so thought this was a good thing ( only thing I knew to check for )

Upon getting home and looking through the folder I Noticed in with the documents was a new thermostat receipt for the day before I bought it.

It was fine for a week and the one day last week it flashed up stop and the temperature was at full . I immediately pulled over . After an hour I lifted the bonnet and checked the water/coolant bottle and it was empty . I thought maybe it hadn't been topped up so I refilled it and drove home . Checked the car again and the bottle was empty . I then thought maybe the head gasket may have gone ? Checked the cap again and there is a small amount of mayo .... checked the dip stick but there was no mayo on that .

I did notice however ( not when I bought it tho ? That the water/coolant tank is a brownish colour and is a little greasy inside ?

A mechanic was supposed to turn up yesterday to have a look but didn't show up .

I'm just wondering if anyone has any ideas at what I'm looking at ?

Many thanks

 

[Daisyduke18]

Pic of engine

 

[johnbrander]

Doesn't sound too good but at least its only the 8 valve engine and therefore quite easy to do a head gasket (if you've not warped the head) for someone with reasonably good mech skills
Get a "sniff" test done at a garage asap but keep a very close eye on water level
Just looked at your picture again and written on the engine is C&? 61680 which I would suggest is when the cambelt was changed - look in the history and see if it had a water pump too

 

[Daisyduke18]

I haven't drove it since for fear of making what ever it is worse . Have looked in the service history . No mention of a water pump . Says cam belt and oil filter in 2013 . Last service was 08.12.2016

I don't know any friends who are mechanics and when I asked in a garage for a price they said it would cost £650 to repair head , change water pump and cam belt

I was hoping by some short miracle it isn't as bad as i think

 

[reliable406]

Mayo on the dipstick and filler cap are not ALWAYS indication of headgasket if you only do short journeys this can cause mayo too.

Loosing water is ALSO not always the head gasket it could be a pipe swelling under pressure it could be water pump it could be radiator leak do not assume the worst without proper diagnosis

 

[jimmymarsbar]

Don't pay too much attention to the colour of the tank - dirt can build up in the radiator and over time it can build up in the tank and stain it.

It needs a thorough, old fashioned inspection to find out what's happening

 

[Daisyduke18]

Thanks all ... do garages usually charge for an inspection ? I haven't slept for the last week because of this . I obviously don't have much cash available after buying it

 

[reliable406]

Ask a few local taxi drivers where they get there cars fixed as they want things fixed cheap and fast

 

[407XJR]

Where abouts in the UK are you?
There could be one of us with more knowledge and able to help just around the corner.
The engine you have is the more simple engine, meaning it tends not to be as costly if it needs repairs or replacing.

 

[Hermes14]

Get some anti freeze & mix it according to the instructions on the bottle.
Fill your radiator with anti freeze, & bleed the air out.
If you have an air lock in the coolant system it can blow the water out.
If it still drops so fast, start looking for white marks on the hoses & radiator.
The white mark will indicate a leak where the anti freeze is coming out.

The other way to bleed the coolant system is to fill the radiator & reservoir up, start the car & let it idle until the thermostat opens.
When the thermostat opens & you see the coolant level drop, keep topping it up & don't let it drop below the min level.
Once the coolant has stopped dropping all the air should be out.
Fill the reservoir up to max & put the cap back.
Let it idle for about another 15 minutes & see if you can find any leaks.

 

[Daisyduke18]

I am in Weston super mare

I will have a go with the anti freeze .. thankyou . Out for the day tomorrow but hopefully try it out on Sunday

Many thanks all

 

[Blow By Blow]

The prompt return of emulsion on the underside oil filler cap and the fact somebody else has recently swapped the thermostat presumably to address an overheating situation doesn't bode well.

Sometimes the products of combustion can actually be detected by the human nose in the header tanks if the fault is long term but slight.

Loosing water is ALSO not always the head gasket

I've had a double core plug failure on the 406 in the past. First tell tale was the coolant level low warning, and an obvious loss of coolant at the timing belt end of the engine, which seemed initially like a water pump failure with the water spraying off the belts. Turned out 2 of the core plugs had rusted through due to the system not having the correct coolant mix for a period of time before I took ownership. The engine even endured -6C coolant temperature one winter's night during that period with depleted protection. The -6C was a read back from the engine temp sensor read at the ODB port with a diagnosis dongle.

The fix for me was quick and cheap. Just the price of the core (freeze) plugs as they were both in easily accessible locations on the visible face of the engine block.

Now I run a 40/60 mix year round.

When bleeding the cooling system following a refill from a large loss of coolant look to use the air bleeding screws in the heater hoses close to the bulkhead.

 

[Daisyduke18]

Left the car with the garage this morning .... told him it was overheating and losing water and left it at that

He's called asking what exactly is wrong with it as he's had it running for 2 hrs and it hasn't lost water or overheated ????

He's going to have another look at it tomorrow but this is really bizarre ... granted it's only overheated once on me but the water was all gone and when i refilled it and drove home it was all gone again ??

 

[reliable406]

Sounds like its not as bad as you thought then.

It may have lost the first load of water due to overheating as you say but the second lot may just have been an airlock after filling back up so it needed more to be full and you assumed it had lost more when infact it just needed more.

 

[Daisyduke18]

So garage got back in contact yesterday

He pressure tested the car and its losing pressure so he said the head gasket has gone but he doesn't think it's too bad ??

He's quoted £400 just for the head ... my question is ... do I get the water pump done too ? What makes the head go ? I obviously don't want to pay £400 to get the head done and then it go again because I haven't repaired what made it go in the first place ??

I might sound totally silly ( I really know nothing about cars )

I also want to say a massive thanks to you all for your help and advice over the last week !!