Ok, my '02 Pug 307 HDi has started losing water over the last 2 days, about 0.5 litre a day.

TBH, I can't really afford to get the garage to look at it and potential have to spring for a new radiator.

So, in steps radweld / bars stop leak, whats the general opinion of this stuff?, worth a punt?, or just bite down and get the garage to sort it out £ vs £££££'s

edit : garage can't even look at it till 3rd Jan, worth trying radweld till then?

Radweld isn't bad, but Bars is great - it'll cure a leak in just about anything!!!

Read the instructions and it'll almost certainly stop [or, at least, heavily reduce] your leak. But you'll still need the garage to give it a poke when you can.

Looks like a trip to get some bars then.

Cheers tristan.

Quote from danowat :

edit : garage can't even look at it till 3rd Jan, worth trying radweld till then?

Yeah, it'll do the job til then. Had same problem with my peugeot 405 and radweld did the job well enough for a few months. Eventually gave way though... New radiator is the best cure.

Egg whites...lot cheaper than anything off the shelf in Halfrods!

Lol, I thought about mentioning eggs, but chose not to. I've never tried them, and I wouldn't like to rely on them. But apparently they do work...

And if the car breaks down, you won't go hungry!

Quote from Bladerunner :

Egg whites...lot cheaper than anything off the shelf in Halfrods!

I was gonna say that. Egg White is a god send to my knobby mate who does banger racing. Mr. Runner, I think you'll find it's Halfrauds

Edit: Yes, they do work. Tristan, stop stealing my thunder!

/me tucks more thunder under his arm and scampers away with it...

I wish I could, but I can't see it, it's SOOOO tight under the bonnet, you just can't see a thing, everything is packed in so tightly.

Quote from danowat :

I wish I could, but I can't see it, it's SOOOO tight under the bonnet, you just can't see a thing, everything is packed in so tightly.

Sounds familiar - took me bloody hours to change the rad on the 405, and I had to take bits off the front of the car and the wheel arches to do it. Even then it was a tight squeeze (amazingly, swearing profusely both at the engine bay and the french designers didn't make it any less so...)

Swearing at French designers is a waste of breath..they never listen, and continue making cr@p cars

The car isn't crap per say, it's as good as any on the road, and much better than that god awful Focus hire car I had when my other 307 was written off.

my brothers 306 had a leak in the heater matrix and because it was a pain to get to we used rad weld worked a treat

Quote from danowat :

The car isn't crap per say, it's as good as any on the road, and much better than that god awful Focus hire car I had when my other 307 was written off.

I chose a Peugeot over a Focus once too. My lovely little 306 was FAR nicer to drive than the Focus, which was wobbly, and you sat really high up. The gear change wasn't as nice, the brakes didn't have as much feel, and generally was a sorry excuse for "Best Car in it's Class" (which it supposedly was).

Quote from tristancliffe :

I chose a Peugeot over a Focus once too. My lovely little 306 was FAR nicer to drive than the Focus, which was wobbly, and you sat really high up. The gear change wasn't as nice, the brakes didn't have as much feel, and generally was a sorry excuse for "Best Car in it's Class" (which it supposedly was).

I've driven several recent Peugeots (adimatably two were 207 learner cars so probably had a hard life) but found them all horrible to drive, horrible gear changes with no weight behind them completely senseless way over assisted brake pedal, nasty cheap steering wheels and when clad with shoddy tires bags of understeer whenever you drive with a bit of pace, the only saving grace is they're cheap and have nice clutches. I think the Focus I drive has a much nicer brake pedal with some feel in it despite the assistance and unlike the Peugeot system will let you lock a wheel and only bails you out if your making no attempt to sort the situation out. The Focus also seems far better built and far more neutrally balanced with better accuracy and feedback through the steering, although you'll never get true feel in an assisted system.

The older Peugeots I've driven have been much nicer to drive and generally the trim seems better built and in a better state on a 10 year old car than a 2 year old car, which is a bit sad really.

The 206, 307 etc lost the plot for me in terms of what Pugs used to be about. I still hanker for the days of 205 1.6GTis. I drove a friends when I had my first car (1.8 NA Diesel), and it was simply awesome. I'd get one tomorrow if they weren't quite so old

The 306 was the last of the handling pugs (although it was WAY more civilised than a 205).

But I was comparing them back in 2000, and I think the Focus is a lot better these days in comparison to other 'modern' cars, but I bet it won't put a smile on your face like a proper 80s Hot-Hatch.

lol 306's and good handling ahhhh thats funny,

pugs have the worst gear linkages and always have, french cars seem to ride well (esp old citroens) but thats about it.

My car isn't a sports car, I never wanted one, I wanted a small diesel hatch, that is comfy for both front and rear passengers, and I couldnt find one that came as close to what I wanted than the 307.

The 207 is horribly cheap and nasty, it's made that way, but the 307 IMO, is much better, the steering is maybe slightly over assisted, but the brakes are fine, engines pretty decent for a diesel, and I LOVE the lift off oversteer it's got, makes wet and greasy roundabouts a real blast!!!!

my dad had a 307, and it was a great car much better than the 306, not even comparable. look good imo aswell

Quote from andybarsblade :

lol 306's and good handling ahhhh thats funny,

pugs have the worst gear linkages and always have, french cars seem to ride well (esp old citroens) but thats about it.

Don't you own an Impreza? Doesn't that mean you can't have a say on handling (except extreme understeer)?

used to have an impreza, and yes it did understeer a little

but it was a great car fast in all conditions never broke down held its money well to

I think u mite be better off just having a good poke around before u go to a garage i could just be a hose that is slightly lose or has been worn down by a moveing part such as a pully or the fan i rather try and fix it and use the radweld as a last resort.

Done that, can't see owt

Oh well it was woth a try radweld it is then Btw if u can see the water pump have a good look atround there sometimes misterious leaks can come from hidden waterpump's

Quote from tristancliffe :

The 306 was the last of the handling pugs (although it was WAY more civilised than a 205).

The 306 was also the last attractive Peugeot, compared to the 306 the current cars just look bulbous.

Quote :

But I was comparing them back in 2000, and I think the Focus is a lot better these days in comparison to other 'modern' cars, but I bet it won't put a smile on your face like a proper 80s Hot-Hatch.

No question about it, the main draw back with the first Focus is it's too heavy to be a proper drivers car at about 1200kg, put even the basic engine options in a 205 and it would fly.

Quote from danowat :

The 207 is horribly cheap and nasty, it's made that way, but the 307 IMO, is much better, the steering is maybe slightly over assisted, but the brakes are fine, engines pretty decent for a diesel, and I LOVE the lift off oversteer it's got, makes wet and greasy roundabouts a real blast!!!!

I've never driven a 307 so I've got no idea what they're like I suppose I base my opinion mainly on the 207 and 207SW I learnt to drive in, which whilst they were much easier to manage than most cars I've driven they were just horrible with no sense of feel or feedback in them. IIRC I've driven/moved about a 406, which was nice to drive and really stylish, some 306s, nicely built cars but the diesels are very diesely, a few 205s which are fun to drive and a high mileage 405 that impressed me mainly because it didn't feel like an old car at all.