Sorting the paperwork

Last week, my trusty little Peugeot 206 went off to a new home where it will hopefully put in a few more miles service as a courtesy car. With a year of MOT, the buyer got a bargain. Most importantly though, instead of sitting on my drive deteriorating (cars need to be used, sitting around is bad for them) and making me feel guilty for not using it enough, it's got a new life. 

This leaves me with the job of sorting out the paperwork. Like a proper classic car owner, I kept everything. If I spent any money, the receipt went in the folder. Over the years, I built up quite a pile of dead tree. 

The new owners didn't want all this stuff. If the car is a bona fide classic then it's valuable but while the car is languishing at the bottom of the value curve, it's just rubbish. 

Most of it has now gone, but I couldn't throw everything away. Tax disks for example, they seem fun to keep, especially now you don't get one in return for hefting a chunk of cash in the direction of the government. I feel sorry for classic owners that there's no souvenir any more. 

I've kept the original sales receipt and the advert I spotted on-line too. No particular reason for this other then sentiment I suppose. The folder is now a envelope and it's pretty thin, but as least I have something physical for remember the car by. 

And yes, I am vaguely aware how sad all this seems. 

When does an old car become a classic?

 

This is my 1.6 GLX 5d (AC)Peugeot 206 when I bought it back in 2008. Now 19 years old and looking just as good as it did back (I've even repaired the wing mirror) then, I need to sell it on. 

The new job requires an awful lot of mileage and for accounting reasons, it's cheaper to stick me in a pool car than pay mileage. This means a somewhat newer Peugeot in front of the house and a 206 that didn't do many miles anyway, doing a lot less. 

Sadly, despite driving well, looking good and being a generally very nice little car - I still like the look of the design which I think hasn't dated at all - it's worth pretty much nothing. According to Parkers Guide, while it might have cost £11,145 when new, the best price you'd buy it for is £585 and that's from a dealer. Private sales are nearer £100, although the consensus among people who know about these things is I could get £300, and a popular car buying site will give me £150 if I spend money MOT'ing it. 

OK, the valuation is based on 200k miles rather than 85k on the clock (told you I didn't drive much) and a slightly lower spec than I have, but it's still not much for a nice driver where everything works (OK, the aircon needs a re-gas), timing belt has been replaced, the interior is in good nick and it's generally a pleasant place to be. 

At 19, I'm wondering how long before it becomes a "classic"? 90s classic is all the rage at the moment in Practical Classics mag but for most, it seems the 205 is rather more than exciting than the 206. These are just old. Despite that, I could see myself polishing it up and showing the car in a field somewhere as people wander by saying, "I used to have one of those" and marvelling at the 6 CD player in the boot.

What I need is either someone looking for a cheap runabout or a nice dry and free, barn to sit it in until classic status arrives. But when would that be?

(Note: If you are looking for a cheap runabout or offering free barn space near Leamington Spa, please get in touch.)

Delving inside a Peugeot door mirror

I've owned my Peugeot 206 for around 8 years now.

When I bought it, the most obvious fault was the passenger side door mirror being wrapped with black tape. Not idea but certainly not a deal breaker for me. Years before, I'd changed the same mirror on a 306, so I didn't think it held any worries.

Needless to say, the black tape didn't look too bad, and it worked OK so I left well alone. Part of the problem was that the 306 replacement mirror had been an aftermarket one. It fitted perfectly, but had a black shell, not maroon to match the car.

I decided that I preferred tape to a non-matching mirror. Anyway, it worked.

Well, it worked until recently. After all this time, the tape had started to let go. The final straw was when I knocked it while washing the car. Time for new tape. I didn't have any proper gaffa tape to hand so used some stuff from Wilco. Black and smooth, it looked great. Sadly, the glue gave up after a couple of days.

Unhappy, I decided to use silver gaffa and cover it with the black. First, I peeled and cut away the old tape - at which point I realised that the problem wasn't as bad as feared.

Basically, the mirror plastic was complete, but some fixings inside had broken. The tape tied the plastic down to the metal arm.

Spotting some star-topped fixings in the bottom, I started to take the thing to bits but it quickly became apparent that this was going to be a fiddlier job than expected. Better done on the bench.

 

Removing the mirror unit is simple. 

Unclip the inner plastic panel. Undo the big white electrical connector and then use a T15 star headed screwdriver to undo the three bolts arrowed. The unit can then be wiggled off from outside and the thing taken to the bench. 

 

To be honest, detailes of my repair won't help anyone much, but some general notes might.  

There are two T15 bolts in the bottom but you can't release the plastic with the mirror in place. It's held with a spring clip which is difficult to fathom out but if you swing the mirror so the outer edge is as far forward as possible, a small screwdriver can flick the wires out of the clip. You can see them in the photo above which should help.

Incidentally, the brown wires are for the heater. Heated wing mirrors - how cool is that? 

 

Removing the  plastic casing is made easier by releasing the motor unit using a T10 star screwdriver. It stayed intact for me with the three long screws removed. 

Inside the mirror, at the bottom, there is an odd shaped flappy thing not obviously attached to anything. From the 306 experience, I know this to be the exterior temperature sensor. I know this because the aftermarket mirror didn't include one and I had to hack the old sensor into the new wiring...

Anyway, using copious amounts of epoxy glue, I repaired all the broken bits of plastic and my mirror looks as good as a 19 year old mirror can be expected to. Sensible people would of course just bin the unit and replace it whole - a primered version can be bought for 30 quid.  Painting the top would take longer than swapping the units over. 

The moral of the story is that some jobs aren't as complicated as they might appear. I could have done this years ago!

 

Legal note: This is an accurate description of what I did. I am not a professional mechanic and these notes are offered for entertainment only. If you chose to follow them and things don't work, it's not my fault. Sorry. If you are at all unsure then get a professional to do the job. The car used was a 1996 UK spec 206, other models may be different.

Peugeot 206 rear wiper replacement

Washing your car is supposed to be good for it. Well, I beg to differ - attacking the back of my Peugeot with a sponge the rear wiper fell off.

Looking at the bottom end of the wiper where it's supposed to be attached to the car, the problem was obvious. The plastic part had broken in two. Worse, this had happened before as I found distinct evidence of old glue down there.

My first throught was to re-do the glue fix. Some slow-set epoxy, perhaps braced with some bits of wire pushed through the plastic to staple it together wouldn't have been too hard. A quick search on-line showed this to be a waste of time. Replacement wiper arms, complete with blade, were on sale for around 8 quid. I'd probably spend that much on a decent tube of epoxy glue and still have a wiper I was nervous about using.

A few minutes on eBay and 2 days later I held the replacement part. OK, it's not an original Peugeot item but the quality looked OK.

Fitting should just be a case of undoing the 13mm nut from the wiper shaft, pushing the new part in place and doing it up. Needless to say it wasn't quite that easy. Still on the shaft was the mazak (a type of metal) collar. I'd thought this would stay but it turns out it's part of the new wiper, so the old one had to come off.

I started with a few good sprays of penetrating oil (WD40, will OK, but get the real thing sometime as it's dead handy around the house and car) which was left a couple of hours to soak in. Next some mole grips were gently applied to the collar.

Mazak tends to go crumbly over time so I just waggled them back and forth until the collar fell to bits. Pliers would work just as well - you might even be able to pull it off whole although there's no need as it went in the bin. Neither shaft or collar are splined inside so should turn under pressure like this.

After that, I cleaned up the shaft a little and pushed the new wiper arm in to place. The 13mm nut was done up reasonably tight - no need as far as I can tell to go mad. In fact if you insist on going all macho with the spanner, you'll probably mess up the wiper motor. I aimed to push the arm down the shaft a little. A bit of oil or grease under the nut isn't a bad idea either as I may want to get it off again one day.

Simple and cheap. At least this bit should be OK at the MOT and the replacement looks better than the old one too.

Legal note: This is an accurate description of what I did. I am not a professional mechanic and these notes are offered for entertainment only. If you chose to follow them and things don't work, it's not my fault. Sorry. If you are at all unsure then get a professional to do the job. The car used was a 1996 UK spec 206, other models may be different.

Peugeot 206 Rear Light Replacement

It's embarrassing to fail an MOT on faulty light bulbs. Checking before the test takes no time at all, especially if you have a helper, and the fix is usually quick and cheap. Needless to say, I have been too busy and lazy to do this do this so the latest fail sheet gave me a face as red and glowing as the lights should have been.

Rear lights matter, or at least they do if you don't want anyone driving in to the back of you at night. I once worked in an office where a colleague had a bit of a rant one day because the Police had pulled her partner over due to none of the lights on the back of his car working. I'm sure she would have been just as happy had she run into someone in the dark because of their similarly working illumination...

Anyway, here's how I changed the bulb on the back of my 206. This works for both the rear lights and brake lights as they are the same bulb. The indicators are in here too.

The cover inside the book is held in place with a plastic bung. Pull the centre of this out and the whole thing should then be removed. You might need some small pliers to do this. Don't lose it as you'll put it back later. Pull the covering away so you can get at the back of the light unit.

First, unplug the electrical connection. Push the lump on top of the plug and it should then pull away. Next, undo the plastic wing nut and put it somewhere safe.

The whole unit is then pulled away from the car. It will take a wiggle and be careful not to drop it.

I was following the Haynes manual to get this far but at this point it just tells you to put the thing back in the car. That's not going to fix any bulbs...

Anyway, to get at them, undo the nut on the back. Small pliers help here. Put this in the safe place.

A bit of a wiggle (these bits have seals to keep the muck out so they should just fall apart but gentle pressure did it for me) separates the bulb and lens units.

The tail light bulb is a bit clever, it lights up for both brakes and rear lights and so has two different filaments (the bit that glows) in each one. On the sides are two projections at different heights (you can see this clearly on the Halfords website) so when you replace the bulb, it should be possible to put it in only the correct way. In aged VeeDubs, that doesn't always work but on the 206 it seemed OK. If you aren't sure, take a good look at the old bulb before you take it out and put the new one in the same way.

Before putting it all back together, I plugged the unit in and tested it. This isn't an essential step but it's not a bad idea as it saves you taking things apart again if you've put the bulb in wrong. Test the rear lights, brake lights (same bulb, different filaments) and the indicators too while you are at it.

Reassembly is the reverse of the above. Unplug the lights, put the covers back on doing the metal bolt up as tight as you can manage with fingers. Don't go mad as breaking the plastic would be easy if you screw it on too tight. Put the complete unit back in the car, plug it in and test again. If all is well then put the cover back over the lot and push that bung into place, finishing but pushing the central pin back in to hold it.

I used Halfords HBU380 bulbs. Since I only needed one, the other lives in the car for emergencies (on the road, even if you call a breakdown service, it's not a bad idea to have a spare in case they don't). The old bulb in my car looked OK but was faulty as its replacement worked fine. To be honest, these bulbs are so cheap you change them if you aren't sure.

Legal note: This is an accurate description of what I did. I am not a professional mechanic and these notes are offered for entertainment only. If you chose to follow them and things don't work, it's not my fault. Sorry. If you are at all unsure then get a professional to do the job. The car used was a 1996 UK spec 206, other models may be different.

Peugeot 206 Numberplate lights

Who knew modern cars had two lights aimed at the rear numberplate? All my old VW's only have 1, so when the MOT man handed me a fail with both nearside and offside lights mentioned, I assumed it was an error.

It wasn't though, there are 2 on the back of a Peugeot 206 and in my case, neither was operating. While not quite an dangerous a fault as some, it's both enough to fail the annual test and also provide a handy excuse for a Policemen to pull you over if he feels like it.

Anyway, replacement is pretty quick and easy. No tools are needed.

First, remove the black plastic cover inside the tailgate. It pulls away, uncliping around the edge. I started at the top, behind the high level brake light. Be careful to pull the cover and not the light!

Squeeze the clips either side of the light housing. A bit of a wiggle and the light should pop out of the outside of the boot lid.

Unplug the connection. There is a pushable clip on the top to release the plug, you can see it nearest the camera in the photo above.

Carefully lever off the clear cover started in one end. This should come with fingers but gentle pressure with a small screwdriver blade might be needed, I used one! Be careful as it would be easy to crack the plastic. On both my lights, I found one end flipped out easier than the other, probably die to dirt ingress.

The bulb pulls out and the replacement pushes in. Cleaning the cover isn't a bad idea at this point as you aren't likely to have the thing apart in a hurry.

Re-assembly is the reverse of the above. Put the light unit back together, push it back into the tailgate and plug back in. Do test the lights before you put the cover back on though.

I used Halfords HBU501 bulbs. Time taken - about 10 minutes, 15 to do both lights.

Legal note: This is an accurate description of what I did. I am not a professional mechanic and these notes are offered for entertainment only. If you chose to follow them and things don't work, it's not my fault. Sorry. If you are at all unsure then get a professional to do the job. The car used was a 1996 206, other models may be different.

Peugeot 206 - replacing a headlight bulb

Step 1 - Pull up to the garage door, or behind another car in a traffic jam, anywhere you can see the reflection of the your headlights. Realise that one of them isn't working. Swear a bit, turn the lights off and take the key out of the ignition.

Step 2 - Go to your local motor store and buy a replacement bulb. The photo shows the one I got from Halfords for just under 14 quid. Buying a pair makes sense and there is little difference in cost between 1 and 2. More to the point, once one bulb has gone, the other can't be far behind and having a spare is never a bad thing.

Step 3 - I'm doing the driver side (UK car) bulb. Which is behind the filler pipe for the washer bottle.

At first sight, this is really going to restrict access, but for a change, someone at the car plant realised this and did something very helpful although if you have filled the washer bottle right to the top of the pipe, you might not think so.

Step 4 - The pipe unclips, you can see the bulge in the photo, from the bottle. I slid my hand down it and tugged at the clip, then wiggled the pipe and it came away.

Get your feet out of the way before doing this if you filled up to the brim.

Step 5 - Locate the wire to the back of the bulb.

To help, I've arrived it in the picture above. You might find a small torch handy as it's quite dark down there.

Step 6 - Unplug the wire. This will come away with fingers and a bit of wiggling. The bulb is held in with a spring clip so it will wobble as you do this.

Step 7 - Peel away the rubber weather protector. It will probably grip the bulb but tug and you'll get it away.

Before you do, note how it sits over a rim at the back of the light fitting. It's an important parts as without it, the headlights will fill with muck off the road. If the rubber has split, give the thing a wash and try to glue the split. Let it dry before putting it back in place.

Step 8 - Unclip the spring clip holding the bulb in. To do this, unhook the wire either side of the bulb. Carefully, those clips are plastic. Mind you, the spring is pretty stiff.

Step 9 - Take the old bulb out and replace it with a new one. DO NOT touch the glass of the new bulb. Halogen blulbs don't like finger grease on them and it can shorten thier life.

Step 10 - Clip the bulb back, plug it in and check the lights now work. If they don't, make sure the plug is properly seated. If that still doesn't work, you are into checking for power in the contacts. It might be worth checking the isn't any muck in the plug first.

Step 11 - Assuming all is well, unplug the bulb, put the rubber seal back pushing it home firmly to keep the weather out, plug the bulb in again and pop the washer bottle tube back in place.

Step 12 - Try the lights again. If all is well, have a cup of tea. If not, check the plug again. Then have a cup of tea and a biscuit.

Legal note: This is an accurate description of what I did. I am not a professional mechanic and these notes are offered for entertainment only. If you chose to follow them and things don't work, it's not my fault. Sorry. If you are at all unsure then get a professional to do the job. The car used was a 1996 206, other models may be different.

Peugeot 206 rear brake load sensing valve linkage

Last year I took my car for its MOT and was presented with a green form for a pass and a yellow advisory form listing things I should look at during the year. It said:

Rear Brake load sensing valve linkage stiff [3.6.E.4]

I had meant to look at this during the following 12 months. I really had. But I didn't.

This year I picked up a red form with some bad stuff on it starting with the word FAIL.

Among the grief was this:

Rear Brake load sensing valve linkage seized [3.6.E.4]

Or to put it another way, I hadn't bothered to look at the problem when I was told to so now it was coming back to bite me on the backside.

My first problem was I didn't actually know where this linkage was. A quick look in the Haynes manual, followed by a peek when the rear tyre was being replaced showed me it's at the back, on the drivers side (this applies to cars where the driver sits on the right, as God intended, where the thing is on other vehicles, I dunno.)



(Note: Car is on a 3 tonne jack AND and axle stand. Do not rely on a single jack when sticking you head under 1 tons worth of motor vehicle)

It's behind the wheel arch. You can just see the spring that connects it to the rear suspension. My understanding is that the linkage controls a valve that alters how much brake force is applied to the back wheels depending on the load you have. Put some fat blokes in the back seats and you get more or less brakes at the back. Not sure which to be honest, but that's not the point.

At one end there is a spring:



which connects to a lever. The other end of the lever wraps round the valve here:



As the suspension goes up and down, this lever should move a bit and presumably alter the position of a plunger in the box with all the brake pipes coming out of it. Mine had seized up solid thanks to its position under the car, right where all the wet and muck is.

Now what I should have done is sprayed it regularly with penetrating oil and then greased it up. That would have stopped the problem in the first place. Faced with a fail sheet, what I did was spray about half a can of the stuff over the pivots, spring, and pretty much anything else in the vicinity over about half a Saturday. Then I tried to waggle the lever by gripping one end with a pair of mole grips. This produced movement but not much and I wasn't sure if the metal was bending (bad as it could snap) or the pivots had freed up.

As it was I took the car to Geoff. There was a gaiter to replace as well and I wasn't in to this - VeeDubs are so much easier in this respect - and he's next door to the MOT people so I can be confident he will do the work to their satisfaction.

Geoff said that 2/3rds of the Peugeot 206's he sees with MOT fails have this problem. What he does is stick a screwdriver under the plate and waggle it about. If it's not too rusted, this will solve the problem. My oiling didn't hurt though and a future treatment will hopefully stop this appearing on the sheet next year.

Legal note: This is an accurate description of what I did. I am not a professional mechanic and these notes are offered for entertainment only. If you chose to follow them and things don't work, it's not my fault. Sorry. If you are at all unsure then get a professional to do the job.

The disappearing fuse

I am the proud owner of a rather longer MOT fail sheet than I had anticipated receiving for my Peugeot 206. This does not Phil a happy boy.

Items 1 and 2 are related. The rear fog light isn't working and neither is the "tell tale" on the dashboard.

I wasn't going to pay good money to change a bulb so set to to do this myself. A look in the manual, thankfully still with the car, showed that both were operated through fuse 19, a 5amp'er. If something electrical is duff in a car, start with the appropriate fuse as there is a good chance that's what it will be. If not, at least you've eliminated the fault that you'll kick yourself for ignoring.

So, I look in the fusebox and what don't I find ? Fuse 19. It's not blown, it's completely missing.

Putting a new fuse in place restored both fog light and tell-tale.

What I don't understand, is where the thing has gone. Presumably there once upon a time. I certainly haven't taken it out. The car passed the MOT at the same garage last year where they certainly checked the front fogs.

Oh well, at least that's two items off the list. Now a new tyre, gaiter and freed up brake load linkage and I'll be legit again. Pity all these are the expensive ones !

(I know the photo shows a 4 amp fuse, the spare 5 amp is going to live in the car so I had to use this one for a picture. Yes I know I could have gone and got the right one but that would have meant going downstairs and unlocking the car, and I couldn't be bothered.)

Changing the battery in a Peugeot 206

The cold weather has finally killed the battery in my Peugeot 206. If left a couple of days the engine cranked asthmatically and would fail to start. Charging it up again would give me another day or so's grace but this couldn't go on. Time to swap the heavy lump for a good one.

To be fair I have no idea how old this battery was and I'm not using the car very much at the moment, so it's not a huge problem but when I do need to drive I prefer not to have to plan a few hours ahead to ensure my portable electric supply is full.

First up, access the battery. Pull the lever found in the wall of the passenger foot well to pop the bonnet and then at the front of the car release the catch by pulling up the plate just above the nose badge. Finding this always takes me a bit of scrabbling around but don't try and force things - if you do manage to open it then you'll have broken something.

The battery live under a plastic cover on the right hand side of the engine. This pulls off revealing to top of the battery and the strap that retains it. If the cover is missing, try and get a replacement. Bridging the terminals on a car battery can cause a fire - I once spotted a woman looking at the back of her Golf which had flames coming out. She was carrying golf clubs and a motorised trolley. To put this in the back of the car she'd taken the battery out and put it in the boot first. The clubs had rolled on top of it and voila, flambe VeeDub. Luckily I stopped with a little fire extinguisher and dealt with the flames but it taught me that car batteries should be covered !

The strap has to be removed by undoing the two 10mm blots on either side. Put these and the metal strap to one side, the upturned plastic cover is good for this. If they are stiff, spray penetrating oil or WD40 over them and let it soak in. Don't force these as they are set in breakable plastic.

Next use an 8mm spanner to disconnet the negative terminal. Tuck the lead out of the way down the side of the box. You don't want it finding its way back to the terminal earlier than expected but this can happen as the leads are stiff. The negative (-) should apparently be taken off first to avoid the chance of short circuits.

The positive terminal is a lift off connector, just pull the plastic tab up and it should snap clear.

Next lift the battery out and drop a new one in.

Easy you would think except that when I tried it I found the the new battery was shorter than the old one. It seems that the books all suggest the shorter battery for a 1.6 206. Use this though and it will slide back and forth in the box every time you accelerate or break. I couldn't get the leads to streatch either.

The man at Halfords suggested I could cut the box down in some way, which worried me as I can't for the life of me see how you are supposed to make it 4cm sorter ! Looking at the two batteries side by side shows the problem clearly enough.

Anyway, I went shopping looking for a 24cm long battery offering at least 300A. After visiting a couple of places I found one that offered 450A (this is the max current available) the right size. This dropped back in the box and the strap was replaced to stop it moving up and down. This is a requirement for an MOT so don't leave it off. Again, do not do up the retaining bolts too tightly, I found finger tight plus a tiny bit to be enough.

Put the positive terminal (+) back on followed by the negative. There might be a slight spark when the metal touches but I ignored this as I assume it to be the electronics getting power. Snap the cover back on and test the starting. If all is OK the car should turn over nicely (mine did) and all will be well.

Now you need to unlock the radio.

Legal note: This is an accurate description of what I did. I am not a professional mechanic and these notes are offered for entertainment only. If you chose to follow them and things don't work, it's not my fault. Sorry. If you are at all unsure then get a professional to do the job.

Peugeot 206 wiper blade fitting

Some of you will be thinking, "Why is he bothering with this ?" Well, there are a couple of reasons for this post. First, after a hard winter my wiper blades needed to be replaced. They were OK but only just and didn't really clear the screen as effectively as they should. Second, I heard someone at work express the need to "get a man" to change the wipers on her car. That's a phrase that always annoys me, after all if men are (rightly) expected to be able to cook, clean and look after children then the flip side is women can do minor car maintenance.

So, here is wiper blade replacement without any need to use a willy.

Step 1: Get the right blades. A Peugeot 206 has different sizes each side so you can't buy a handy and cheap set from Halfords. On the drivers side the blade is 19 inches long and for the passenger 26 inches. Please note I am talking about a right hand drive car here although I suspect left hand drives are the same.

Step 2: Remove the blades from the end of the wiper arms. Pull the arm toward you and at 90 degrees to the windscreen. The blade should slide off if you pull it along the arm towards the glass leaving a hooked metal end. There might be a tab to squeeze to make this release but finger pressure ought to be enough. Be careful - do NOT let the arm slap back or you'll be calling a nice man to replace your windscreen. If you want to be sure, a wad of newspaper where the wiper blade will normally be isn't a bad insurance policy. Also, do not operate the wipers until the job is done unless you like scratches in your vision as you drive.

Step 3: On the drivers side, the wiper blade unit comes with a couple of plastic adaptors. Use the big chunky one and hook it over the metal bar in the wiper. Then slide the whole lot into the metal hook on the wiper arm. The photo shows the job half done. Don't worry, the rubber blade will bend to allow you to do this.

Engaging your brain when doing this will mean you won't end up putting the wiper on back to front as I might have done in the past...

Step 4: The passenger side blade comes fitted with an adaptor. It caused me a fair bit of head scratching at first as I couldn't work out how it fitted to the wiper arm. Eventually I removed it from the blade as this made trying different orientations easier.

As you can see from the picture the arm goes up the middle with the adaptor surrounding the hook. Note: it's at 90 degrees to final orientation in this photo.

Putting the blade back into place I hooked the unit over the arm. It's quite a wiggle to get the thing to fit but fit it does and snaps into place nicely.


Step 5: Check the blades don't slide back along the arms - be fairly brutal here as you don't want them moving when doing 70 on the motorway in the rain. I had a blade move in the snow and it was bad enough to have to stop in a side street and get out of the warm to fix it.

Step 6: Now test your wipers. If they are fine, fire up the windscreen washer. Can you see ? Are they still secure at the ends of the arms ? Congratulations, you've saved yourself a few quid and can now replace a duff wiper at a service station in the middle of nowhere when "a man" is not available.

Step 7: A final touch is to oil all the pivots in the mechanism that you can see. While not essential, it's a good time to do it as we don't want anything seizing up in the wet do we ? 3 in 1 oil is good here, don't use WD40 as while it will clean out water and even muck, the lubricant properties for this application aren't that great.

Legal note: This is an accurate description of what I did. If you chose to follow these instructions and things don't work, it's not my fault. Sorry.

Unlocking a Peugeot radio

Modern cars are funny. In an effort to reduce the incidence of car radio thefts, the devices need a code entered in them every time you remove the live power feed. In practical terms, if you disconnect the battery, or it runs flat, you have to re-enter the code to get some music.

That's not a huge problem if the car is new. On a second hand car it's no so good.

I disconnected the battery when I fixed the mileometer on my Peugeot 206, the radio stopped working. Luckily for me a previous owner had taken the time to write the four digit code in the manual. Unfortunately it was the wrong code.

I know this because when I entered the digits the radio didn't unlock. And when I did it again, twice, it locked up properly. I was not a happy bunny. Searching the web didn't help much either - no one seemed sure what to do. So I read the manual instead. Properly. Eventually. OK after 2 hours fruitless Googling...

First the right code was required. If you don't have it, the trick is to remove the radio, look at the numbers stamped on the case and then enter them into one of the many sites that will be presented if you enter "unlock peugeot radio code" into your favourite search engine.



To remove the radio, poke a long thin thing into the holes either side in the faceplate. A screwdriver worked for me but a knitting needle might be just as good. This releases the catches and the entire unit can be carefully slid out. Do not pull hard or quickly as it's still attached to the car with a lot of wires. You don't need to unplug anything as the codes are on the top of the case.

To return the radio, compress the long thing catches either side of the case, the ones you opened with your screwdriver, and slide the unit back. It should lock in position.

Once you have the correct unlocking code, power up the car (position A on the ignition) and enter it. Then listen to those bangin' tunez.

Unless that is, the display still shows "Radio locked" as soon as you turn the key. That means you've entered the wrong code too many times. The solution is to use the spare key to turn the ignition to A (one click) and leave it in this state for a whole hour. Since you still have the main key handy, lock the car up and go and have a cup of tea. If you only have one key, sit in the car and read a book for an hour.

At the end of this period the central display should be asking you for the code. Enter the right code and all will be well. Then write the code down somewhere you'll remember it if required again.

Oh, and if you've read anything online about sticking the radio in the freezer to achieve the same effect, forget it. That hasn't worked for many years. In fact you'll probably stuff the thing up as moisture will form inside and do the electrics no good at all.

Happy listening.

Legal note: This is an accurate description of what I did. If you chose to follow these instructions and things don't work, it's not my fault. Sorry.

Peugeot mileometer repair

The mileometer (odometer for US readers) on my Peugeot stopped working, or at least that is how it appeared. Normally when the ignition is turned on, the thing lights up showing how many miles to go until the next service. Then the display changes to give you either total miles covered by the car or the trip mileage. In front of me the display was blank.

OK, you say, it's an old (10 years) car so you expect stuff to break. Live with it and shut up.

Well it's the youngest car I've ever owned and the MOT man expects to look at the total mileage later in the year, so it's not like this thing is a luxury. Besides, it's a fault and right in my face every time I drive. That makes me want to fix it.

Time spent on Peugeot forums revealed that the LCD display doesn't work quite how I expected. The LCD bit acts like a mask and behind this is a bulb to show the display. If all is dark, shining a bright torch at an oblique angle reveals the numbers, just don't try this while driving !

So my guess (hope) wast that all I had was a duff bulb. A trip to Halfords later I had two internal bulbs which looked a bit big but according to the chart in the shop, would do. Back on the drive, I opened up Haynes and started work.

First job, prize off the plastic cover above the steering column. A flat bladed screwdriver inserted into the gap at the bottom left and right seems to work well. If you don't have a gap, push the plastic pod up a bit and you'll get enough space for the tool. A gentle tweak was enough to release it for me. If you struggle then something is wrong. I was surprised how easy it was to remove quite a big chunk of interior.

The book tells you to undo the negative side of the battery. I did and regretted it as the radio lost it's code and I'm now trying to work out what it is. A biro note in the manual isn't right so I'm searching the web for help on this. I think you will be OK because although you need to release the instruments for access, they can stay plugged in.

Anyway, to get access to the back of the instruments, you unto the single star bolt at the top. T20 screwdriver I think for this. Then a little wiggle and it unclips.

Crane your neck (a mirror is handy but not essential) around the back and the rear of the bulbs are revealed. Each can be removed by rotating 90 degrees with your fingers. The bulb and plastic casing will just fall out. At this point I discovered I had the wrong bulbs and had to put it all back together to go and get more.

From the Halfords range, code number 509T will work. It's not perfect, the gap between the contacts on each side benefit from a tiny amount of squashing to close it up. This means the unit locks back positively onto the instruments. Without this they wobble - probably OK but it might flicker as you drive.

Reassembly is the reverse of the above. Clip the instruments in at the bottom and then the top. Do the bolt and test the car. Turn the ignition key to A and the mileometer should, if it's behaving like mine, light up. If that is OK, clip the pod back on and go and have a cup of tea. If not, twiddle the bulb in case you have a lose contact.

Good luck.

Legal note: This is an accurate description of what I did. If you chose to follow these instructions and things don't work, it's not my fault. Sorry.