VolvoS60:


^^^Thanks, ikenna. I'm already familiar with carsurvey - i just wanted to get detailed real world experiences of users here in Nigeria outside Abuja and the big urban centres. I am seriously considering enrolling for a technician's course so that I can troubleshoot any potential problems if i were to decide to get a lion/camel for myself. Kudos to you - I think you once said in a prior thread that you were a self-taught mechanic. That's the way to go - car ownership becomes a joy when a user/owner can take care of most of the everyday faults (or at least can hold his own against the sharks who call themselves mechanics )

P.S. I had no idea that Nigerian mechanics call catcons "indomie". . .

Ikenna351:

DIY or one knowing how to fix his car is not a big deal. Its called INTEREST. Problem with Nigerians is that they see themselves working on their vehicles as stooping too low. Even the whiteman's world that owns that technology; even the whitemen that used those vehicles for years before they get to our shores intact, were fixing the vehicles themselves. When we start making small money, we start feeling too big to do certain things ourselves, as if we are richer than those that used those vehicles from new and were fixing them theirselves, before they get to us as the 3rd or 5th owners. Check various auto forums online and see how good an average vehicle owner in the whiteman's world is in troubleshooting their vehicles. Am not even close to them, with the little knowledge i have.

Ikenna.

Ikenna351:

DIY or one knowing how to fix his car is not a big deal. Its called INTEREST. Problem with Nigerians is that they see themselves working on their vehicles as stooping too low. Even the whiteman's world that owns that technology; even the whitemen that used those vehicles for years before they get to our shores intact, were fixing the vehicles themselves. When we start making small money, we start feeling too big to do certain things ourselves, as if we are richer than those that used those vehicles from new and were fixing them theirselves, before they get to us as the 3rd or 5th owners. Check various auto forums online and see how good an average vehicle owner in the whiteman's world is in troubleshooting their vehicles. Am not even close to them, with the little knowledge i have.

Ikenna.

karaye: @ikenna what is the meaning of immobiliser and MOT

Ikenna351:

What the clowns call indomie is Catalytic Converter. Did the mechanic scan the car to know what the cause of rich running was before suggesting the replacement of the Cat Converter? What made him think only failed Cat converter would cause rich mixture? Not surprised though.

A lot of engine sensors or components would give rich mixture symptom when faulty. Cat converter is just one of them. Go and scan that car!

As for the timing belt and 6 months replacement thing. The clown was right, you ought to have replace it immediately you bought the car, unless you know the car history or the last replacement date is pasted on the belt cover or somewhere in the engine bay. Average mileage of timing belt of most cars are 60 - 80,000 miles or km. It should take 5 - 8 years to cover such mileage. Since you are in Abuja, buy the timing belt kit (timing belt, tensioners and water pump) at any of the Peugeot Dealership in town. One is at Garki II. Another is at Area 7 or 8 (not sure of the number), but its very close to UTC. They sell genuine Peugeot parts there in retails. You can even do the replacement there, if you can afford it, but its wise and safer, so that nothing will go wrong. For the clown to suggest you replace only the timing belt without the tensioners and water pump is unbelievable. Stop opeing your bonnet for them for every issue with the car. You can take the car to him for brake pad replacement, but not for things as delicate as timing belt and injection issues. What if Cat converter you replaced was still good and you now put a faulty one? How could he have tell a good cat converter, unless its a brand new one. I wont advice you to buy the timing belt anyhow, especially at that APO. I doubt their qualities, unless you plan to be replacing it everyone 6 months, as the clown suggested. Take note: 406 engines are interference engines. If the timing belt cut on you, while the engine is running, then you will have a lot to deal with, other than the belt.

Ikenna.

bigx:

Perfectly said, please can u suggest basic tools I'd need for DIY for basic mechanical things on a car? I've my allen keys and plier already. Since I got my manual & I've been following this forum, it irritates me seeing mechanics trying to confuse me with wrongly placed grammer.

BTW Thanks, I fixed the Power steering issue myself, it was the oil that was finished.

Ikenna351: I want to share with everyone my experience with my 505 V6 in September last year, 2011, when i travelled with it to East, to spend 4 days and drive back to Abuja.

I set out for the trip on Saturday, 03/09/2011 & got to my parents house peacefully. I stayed with them for 3 days & decided to visit other people on Tuesday 06/09/2011,before i would return back to Abuja the next day 07/09/2011. I drove out in the morning of Tuesday, 06/09/2011 & drove straight to Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka, to visit a relation of mine there, a Staff, who have been looking forward to see my newly acquired 505 V6. I finished with my relation & drove off to visit other relations at Enugu town, which is about 90km, about 1hr drive on a Onitsha - Enugu Expressway. Half way, something terrible, a near death experience, happened to me.


Its a divided 4-lane expressway/highway. But because one side of the road was too bad, ever vehicle was now using 2-lane (face me & face you). There was this on-coming vehicle from afar, a Truck/lorry, & a 18 seater Toyota mini Bus (aka Hummer), full with passengers, was following the truck behind, wanted to overtake the truck. All of a sudden, the Bus driver lost patience in waiting for me to pass before it would overtake the truck. The Bus entered my lane trying to overtake the Truck before i would reach them. But i was already so close to the truck for the Bus driver to have made that move. It was as if it was a joke. We were both facing each other (both our vehicles). we were few meters from colliding/crashing into each other, face to face. He thought he could accelerate fast, overtake the truck and swerve back to his lane before i could reach them. But he was wrong; too late for him to realize his poor judgement. Few feets away in colliding with the Bus, I swereved out of the road & Hell was let loosed! The two tyres on the right side (front & rear) jump onto the side of the road (the tared road was too high from the untared side of the road) which was full with gravels. The car lost control, still at top speed. The car tail shifted by the left, the front end pushed to the right. The car repeatedly was moving sideways and back, to & fro. The right side 2 tryes were still on the untared road while all that was happening, making screeching loud noise, the passengers in that Bus were screeming. I thought the car would somersault. Those same moments, there was an explosion! The car, all of sudden on its own, became stable again. I steered back to the road & the speed by then had started to reduce. All those while, i didnt touch the brake. I allowed the steering wheel to be steering the car itself (no input from me) & the car was steering itself sideways & the car became stale again all by itself. Wonders shall never end! The car came to a halt when i finally applied brake, though the steering wheel was vibrating all those seconds it was happening. I parked & came out. Went round the car. The right front tyre was the cause of that explosion i heard and the source of the steering wheel vibration. It was flat. The edge of the road must have punctured the tyre when it jumped from the road to the untared roads, full with pieces of small stone/gravel and very unlevel ground. All these happened in seconds. In seconds, my car would have somersaulted; in seconds, i would have lost the car; in seconds, i would have been become a History! All, if not for the PEUGEOT 505 V6, would have happened!


I could hear the occupants of the Bus wailing inside the Bus as the Bus was fading, believeing that something terrible must have happened to the 505 & whoever was driving it. The noise from the screeching of the tyres was too loud for any living being around to hear. The Driver of the Bus didnt stopped. He was too scared to face what he caused, if something had happened, I believed.


I waited for my spirit to come back after some mins, jacked the car, removed & put the spare tyre. Continued with the the journey to Enugu, got to my destination, drove straight to Coal camp, bought another brand new tyre & replaced the damaged one with it, since I would be driving back to Abuja the next day. This was one of the 4 brand new Tyres i replaced 3 days before I set out for the trip. Hmm! Anyway, the next day, i drove off again, back to Abuja, which was 7 hrs highspeed highway drive (532 km). Life on the highway!


It was when i got back from the trip, to Abuja, that i reflected on what really happened that day. First, God played a role that day in the event (Gods miracle). Two, 505 miracle! Then 3, my long experience with highway driving (always be ready with quick decision with unexpected/eventuality on a highway). If I wasnt experience enough, I would have touched the brake pedal when the car lost control for a while & that would have made the car to completely lose control. But like I said, God made it possible by taking control of the steering wheel, the tyres, the complete car while it was moving side by side.


That day, that afternoon, it was face to face with death, prevented by God & my 505. I have driven so many cars & knew how they
would
have behaved in such incidence, even on a little incident, with low speed. But this, i couldnt imagine what would have happened if it wasnt 505. I know what i have suffered in the hands of this car since i owned it, trying to fix numerious issues it came with. But that day made me realised its all worth it! I have had accident twice before, with non Peugeots, with just little incidents not even close the deadly one of this nature. One, i was the one driving, the other.That incident on the 06/09/2011 made me realised one thing " i sowed & reaped something valuable".

The nature of our highways was what made me to change my mind from purchasing quick 505 GTI I4 (ZDJL) & instead, chose a quicker 505 V6 (ZN3J), that will be quicker enough, when needed, to overtake a long queue of trucks on our highways. If the Bus had had a fast accelerating engine, that incident wouldnt have happened. But a driver should be experience enough to know how good the engine of a car he is driving is in acceleration before he makes such move to overtake a long truck or queue of trucks when there is an on-coming vehicle. Patience is what & all it takes for a driver to keep himself alive whenever he or she is on a highway. Not everyone driving a car on a highway knows this. Besides, not everyone on a steering wheel is a Driver.

Not every car , even the modern ones, can handle as good as predictable as 505 in an unpredictable situation. I used to believe in "Always go for a Reliable car". But since that incident with that car, the perception has changed. I love Long distance driving. In fact, ist a hobby to me. For that, all i care about to have is a car that is designed for highway, no matter how unreliable people would claim the car would be. Each time i look at that car; each time i remember that I ownsuch a French car, I would just smile. I couldnt help it but to name it MY BABY!


I dont know about you and your experience with your Lion. Good or bad, lets share it.


Ikenna.

Ikenna351:

I wont advice anyone to buy auto trans 406. Reviews from previous owners showed that most of their auto trans failed before 100,000 km. The auto tranny, AL4, in phase 2 406 is very smooth and sportier to drive, but the most unreliable. Though its rebuildable. Whether it can be done well in Nigeria, is what I do not know, unless if Nisspart can also rebuild 406 auto trans. If not, you are on your own. In Australia, the phase 2 406 auto trans owners dont wait for the transmission to fail on them before rebuilding them. Even transmission sensor failure or when about to fail, will put the car in Limp mode.

Days were gone when Peugeot used reliable auto transmission on their cars: the ZF auto Transmissions. The 3-speed auto tranny (ZF 3HP22) was the most reliable of them. It was used on 404 (American spec), 504 and the early 505(phase 1) as optional. The facelifted 505 (phase 2) had 4-speed auto tranny (ZF 4HP22) as optional as well.

I dont understand what you mean by "not very stable"? The unreliability of 406 auto tranny has nothing to do with stability or non-stability of the car, when in motion. I really dont understand the question.


Ikenna.

Ikenna351: I want to share with everyone my experience with my 505 V6 in September last year, 2011, when i travelled with it to East, to spend 4 days and drive back to Abuja.

I set out for the trip on Saturday, 03/09/2011 & got to my parents house peacefully. I stayed with them for 3 days & decided to visit other people on Tuesday 06/09/2011,before i would return back to Abuja the next day 07/09/2011. I drove out in the morning of Tuesday, 06/09/2011 & drove straight to Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka, to visit a relation of mine there, a Staff, who have been looking forward to see my newly acquired 505 V6. I finished with my relation & drove off to visit other relations at Enugu town, which is about 90km, about 1hr drive on a Onitsha - Enugu Expressway. Half way, something terrible, a near death experience, happened to me.


Its a divided 4-lane expressway/highway. But because one side of the road was too bad, ever vehicle was now using 2-lane (face me & face you). There was this on-coming vehicle from afar, a Truck/lorry, & a 18 seater Toyota mini Bus (aka Hummer), full with passengers, was following the truck behind, wanted to overtake the truck. All of a sudden, the Bus driver lost patience in waiting for me to pass before it would overtake the truck. The Bus entered my lane trying to overtake the Truck before i would reach them. But i was already so close to the truck for the Bus driver to have made that move. It was as if it was a joke. We were both facing each other (both our vehicles). we were few meters from colliding/crashing into each other, face to face. He thought he could accelerate fast, overtake the truck and swerve back to his lane before i could reach them. But he was wrong; too late for him to realize his poor judgement. Few feets away in colliding with the Bus, I swereved out of the road & Hell was let loosed! The two tyres on the right side (front & rear) jump onto the side of the road (the tared road was too high from the untared side of the road) which was full with gravels. The car lost control, still at top speed. The car tail shifted by the left, the front end pushed to the right. The car repeatedly was moving sideways and back, to & fro. The right side 2 tryes were still on the untared road while all that was happening, making screeching loud noise, the passengers in that Bus were screeming. I thought the car would somersault. Those same moments, there was an explosion! The car, all of sudden on its own, became stable again. I steered back to the road & the speed by then had started to reduce. All those while, i didnt touch the brake. I allowed the steering wheel to be steering the car itself (no input from me) & the car was steering itself sideways & the car became stale again all by itself. Wonders shall never end! The car came to a halt when i finally applied brake, though the steering wheel was vibrating all those seconds it was happening. I parked & came out. Went round the car. The right front tyre was the cause of that explosion i heard and the source of the steering wheel vibration. It was flat. The edge of the road must have punctured the tyre when it jumped from the road to the untared roads, full with pieces of small stone/gravel and very unlevel ground. All these happened in seconds. In seconds, my car would have somersaulted; in seconds, i would have lost the car; in seconds, i would have been become a History! All, if not for the PEUGEOT 505 V6, would have happened!


I could hear the occupants of the Bus wailing inside the Bus as the Bus was fading, believeing that something terrible must have happened to the 505 & whoever was driving it. The noise from the screeching of the tyres was too loud for any living being around to hear. The Driver of the Bus didnt stopped. He was too scared to face what he caused, if something had happened, I believed.


I waited for my spirit to come back after some mins, jacked the car, removed & put the spare tyre. Continued with the the journey to Enugu, got to my destination, drove straight to Coal camp, bought another brand new tyre & replaced the damaged one with it, since I would be driving back to Abuja the next day. This was one of the 4 brand new Tyres i replaced 3 days before I set out for the trip. Hmm! Anyway, the next day, i drove off again, back to Abuja, which was 7 hrs highspeed highway drive (532 km). Life on the highway!


It was when i got back from the trip, to Abuja, that i reflected on what really happened that day. First, God played a role that day in the event (Gods miracle). Two, 505 miracle! Then 3, my long experience with highway driving (always be ready with quick decision with unexpected/eventuality on a highway). If I wasnt experience enough, I would have touched the brake pedal when the car lost control for a while & that would have made the car to completely lose control. But like I said, God made it possible by taking control of the steering wheel, the tyres, the complete car while it was moving side by side.


That day, that afternoon, it was face to face with death, prevented by God & my 505. I have driven so many cars & knew how they
would
have behaved in such incidence, even on a little incident, with low speed. But this, i couldnt imagine what would have happened if it wasnt 505. I know what i have suffered in the hands of this car since i owned it, trying to fix numerious issues it came with. But that day made me realised its all worth it! I have had accident twice before, with non Peugeots, with just little incidents not even close the deadly one of this nature. One, i was the one driving, the other.That incident on the 06/09/2011 made me realised one thing " i sowed & reaped something valuable".

The nature of our highways was what made me to change my mind from purchasing quick 505 GTI I4 (ZDJL) & instead, chose a quicker 505 V6 (ZN3J), that will be quicker enough, when needed, to overtake a long queue of trucks on our highways. If the Bus had had a fast accelerating engine, that incident wouldnt have happened. But a driver should be experience enough to know how good the engine of a car he is driving is in acceleration before he makes such move to overtake a long truck or queue of trucks when there is an on-coming vehicle. Patience is what & all it takes for a driver to keep himself alive whenever he or she is on a highway. Not everyone driving a car on a highway knows this. Besides, not everyone on a steering wheel is a Driver.

Not every car , even the modern ones, can handle as good as predictable as 505 in an unpredictable situation. I used to believe in "Always go for a Reliable car". But since that incident with that car, the perception has changed. I love Long distance driving. In fact, ist a hobby to me. For that, all i care about to have is a car that is designed for highway, no matter how unreliable people would claim the car would be. Each time i look at that car; each time i remember that I ownsuch a French car, I would just smile. I couldnt help it but to name it MY BABY!


I dont know about you and your experience with your Lion. Good or bad, lets share it.


Ikenna.

samoy: Thumbs up for d work u're doing Ikenna. Pls,my 406 steering shakes when i'm at 100km and above but my car is non-converted;its PAN. Pls,what might be d problem and possible solution to this. Also,my car displays ABS fault when d engine is started.

Ikenna351:

Have you done wheel balancing on the 4 wheels? That should stop the vibration, as long as none of your tyres is wombling and that your front end bushings are ok.

As for the ABS, did someone tampered with the wheel sensors, the last time you worked on any of the wheels?

Ikenna.

midpoint:

what if the tyres are wobbling. what could be wrong?

samoy: Thanks for d reply Ikenna. My lion has been so fantastic especially on a journey. Pls, wat are d other routine checks 2 be done on d lion asides changing d engine oils,fuel filter, oil filter and d plugs? Can u also post d pix of EW10 engine so as to know if mine is EW10? Thanks

Ikenna351:

You will find images of various 406 engines in the link below, which was provided by Thomasjohn

https://www.nairaland.com/973041/peugeot-406-ew10-engine-against#11249041

Ikenna.

samoy: Ikenna,u've not answered my question concerning other routine checks apart from changing engine oil,oil filter, fuel filter and d plugs. Waiting 4 d reply. Thanks

eamodu: I av a 406 wit a EW10 engine.i was avin gear problems.was unable 2 use,gear 1,4n 5.i wast told it was d gear cable.so i changed it.n d problem continued.so i was asked 2 change d gearbox,did dat also.but stil avin d gear problems.nw am bin told dat d gear cable i bought was bad.am tired of spendin money.wat should i do pls?

Ikenna351:

Are you in Abuja? If yes, I will have to see the car & check it myself to really know what the issue is.

But did they check the gear selectors/linkages before replacing the cable & the gearbox? The 2 gearboxes giving the same failure symptoms is weird.

Ikenna

eamodu: .am not in abuja.d is no leakage.som1 told me,its hard n difficult 4 a 406 2 develop gearbox problems.

Ogbajie: Ikenna, pls re u in abuja? if so, may i hav ur contact number or address so that u can have a physical overview of the problems am experiencing. thanks.....

Ikenna351: For every French car owner,

http://www.aussiefrogs.com/forum/index.php

I encourage that you register in the forum. Its an Australian French car Forums: Peugeot, Renault, Citroen, Simca, etc. You can get your car electric and workshop manual from the forum for free, as long as you are a member. You also meet Peugeot freaks there who can tell you, in a second, what is wrong with your Lion and simple, easy and cheaper way of fixing it.

Ikenna.

karaye: What is immobilized in Peugeot ikenna ,