Bailes1992

Cutting a long story short a family member has had a 2000 Peugeot 306 1.8 Meridian since it was new.
I don't think it's ever seen more than 2000rpm and never done a drive long enough to let it get hot.
It started burning oil about 2 years ago and has been increasingly difficult to get through emissions.
The family member who had it has given up driving and offered me the car for scrap value.
It's actually pretty immaculate and has 2 months of MOT left, which is why I need your help.

When I got it it was using a litre of oil in 200miles and smoking blue and black constantly.
I stuck it on a rolling road out of curiosity and it made 72bhp and ran rich across the rev range.
I found all the breather hoses seriously blocked up so I cleaned them all out which significantly reduced the oil consumption.

I then run an oil flush through the oil system 3 times changing the oil and filter between flushes.
The first time there was lots of lumps in the oil. Second time the oil was thick and black and the third time the oil was black but thinner.
Oil consumption seems to have stopped all together but the oil has still got dirty straight away so may do another few flushes.

My problem is I put a bore scope down the spark plug hole (spark plug keeps going black and I keep having to clean and gap it) and the top of the piston is thick with soot. I popped the inlet manifold off and the intake valves and ports are the same. I'm starting to suspect the CAT could be blocked also.

Ideally I would like to get 12 months MOT on it and sell it but I want it running 100% first. If not I will break it for bits.

Can anyone give me some advice on how to decoke the engine quickly?

An old school mechanic who is a friend of the father recommended pouring redex down the intake and even pouring it straight into the cylinder and letting it sit there for a day or two. Would it actually work? I can get 2 litres of redex petrol for £12 so it would be something I would be up for giving a try but want to be sure it's not going to fuck anything up first.

Bailes.

rog

iTrader: (2)

Don't have experience of this personally, but my suggestions would be to take it out and thrash the tits off it, also lots of people (predominantly yanks) seem to use sea foam to decoke engines, perhaps look into this, but how effective this is and on a diesel engine I can't comment. Good luck with it.

RichieST

iTrader: (2)

Bloody good blast, take it on a track day!

costina

iTrader: (1)

Water spray into the intake at 3000 rpm water helps to steam clean the intake. Just like when a head gasket blows and leaves a clean piston.
Check out youtube.

Fullflush

The car is probably worth 500 tops, you have to question if the effort is worth it beyond a certain point

Bailes1992

£500? Even with 32k on the clock.

So far is owes me £260.

I've been doing 100 miles a day in it but it's taking too long.

Going to get some redex from Costco this saft.

RichieST

iTrader: (2)

what happened with the focus then? did you get it sorted?

Bailes1992

Got fixed last week, only 15 weeks since I took delivery of the fucking thing!
Needed a PCM update and a new EGR valve.

BigChuck

It's a 15 year old petrol 306, not exactly a sought after car. If it was a gti or even a diesel it would probably get a bit more.

At £260 just now by the time you mot it and fix any problems, then deal with all the time wasters you get at the sub £1000 end of the market , you might make a couple of quid if you forget your time and the fuel your using to do 100 miles a day.

gcfcos

Without trying to sound like an asshole here in Dorset that car with 12 months mot and full service history wouldn't sell for more than £500 and it would take a while to sell it for that. I buy and sell cars on the side and the 306 down this way u can pick up with mot for couple of hundred quid. Only saying that as it's not worth spending much money on it if your planning to sell it on

gingeRS

Lots of oil changes and give it death on a regular basis, as long as the rest of the car is ok (cooling system, electrics) then it should sort itself out. As said it may have only done 30k but it's a French car that isn't desirable so don't get any ideas about it being worth a fortune!

Bailes1992

For those interested.
I bought a few litres of redex petrol under the advice from my Dad's mate which I was a bit sceptical about.
I poured a bit down each spark plug hole and left it overnight.
By the time morning came it has all drained into the sump so I done a quick oil change.
I put a litre of redex in a pump sprayer with a fine mist, got the missus to keep the revs up while I sprayed it down the intake. We smoked the bastard street out!
That was last Monday night. Tuesday I used the car for work and it seemed much happier, pulled harder and was using less fuel and on the way home the engine management light finally went out (a code relating to the engine running rich).
I stuck a can of redex petrol injector in the tank and thrashed the tits out of the car on Wednesday.
Stuck a new timing belt kit on the car as it had never been done on Thursday.
And yesterday morning I stuck it on Auto trader and it went last night.

Car cost me £100.
I spent £110 on oil, filters, flushes and spark plugs.
£16 on bloody redex.
£80 on a timing belt kit.

So £306 all together (Heh? Chances of that).
And the car sold for £750, much better than I expected to be fair!

Caddyshack

Well done. I was about to suggest a terraclean but you sold it for more than others said.

Love the £306! AND you saved a car from the breakers!

Stu @ M Developments

iTrader: (12)

For future reference, we use the BG engine decode system and it works a treat. Google it.

Bailes1992

I used a lot of BG products on my Mondeo to keep it top.
The car always ran much smoother after using them.
I used to use the engine flush and BG244 every 12k.
Too expensive to buy for the 306 though.

gcfcos

Nice job mate, always good to listen to the mechanics with a lifetime of experience, it's a shame not many people do listen to them anymore, especially the office staff where I work they are diagnosing cars before I even see them and just getting us to fit bits, it makes me laugh to the point I'm so fed up I just fit bits now and say "that didn't work" and the blames on them.