Peugeot 205 oil burner, What to look for when buying please?

[andyborris]

As the title says really, anything I should look for on a 1994,86,000 mile car, apart from the usual stuff?

Have a nice picture.


or two.

[welshpug]

Rust, creaky or tired rear beams, smoke on startup.

[Mike]

Rust-wise they go on the inner wings behind the headlights, and despite the "they're galvanised" rumours, the sills do rust (I scrapped a 4-door that had huge holes in the sills) in front of the rear arches. Tired/knackered beams will have camber on the rear wheels (I had one where you could lift the wheel 3-4 inches when the car was jacked up, all in the play on the beam). Sunroofs can leak, as can the rear lights, and round the boot opening, so check for water ingress in the back (It can pool under the rear seats).

On the plus side, they are excellent little cars, have a comfortable ride, comfy seats and a diesel should do 50+ mpg and go quite well.

[jrevillug]

IIRC XUDs like doing headgaskets if the cooling system is neglected, so check that the coolant isn't like ditchwater.

[Kieran]

My dad had one a while ago. I think the vacuum pump seals failed on it, allowing it to do a full on diesel run away a couple of times till we Sussex what was wrong.

[composimmonite]

We had a E reg 205 GRD that did just under 300,000 miles. It was my fathers company car before I had it with 225,000 miles so full history known. It was amazing that despite the stop start abuse my father gave it the clutch had only been changed once and then I had to do it again. Obviously various small jobs done over the years but it was rust free, original gearbox, rear beam struts, rack etc. In fact the worse aspect was lack of power steering made my wife dislike it and we moved onto a Golf instead. So my experience is just normal checking rather than an specific area of problems.
BTW my father then had another new 205 diesel (K reg) and again ran that to intergalactic miles without an troubles.

Paul h

[Ratchet]

Other then what has been said above, they are pretty bulletproof,


one thing bear in mind if you intend on running it on biodiesel, that you can get Lucas and Bosch injection systems in them, only the Bosch ones will run on bio

I bought one with Lucas injection that someone had tried running on bio, it destroys the pump in minutes, swapped over the pump and drained the tank and it ran perfectly (if it had been a 3 door i'd probably still have it)

[andyborris]

Thanks everyone, bid's in.

Holding breath!

[pseudonymous]

Not much to add, other than to back up what was said above. I had a '90 205GRD and pound for pound it was one of the best cars I've ever had. Nippy, reliable, ridiculously high MPG, comfortable as only an 80's French car can be and above all else, a hoot to drive. It didn't have a spot of grot on it either, just the factory fitted faded cherry red paint.

[composimmonite]

I should add I ran ours on 75:25 mix of veg oil and pump diesel for 10,000's of miles. Yes - the 225,000 CAV pump did leak but if did on ordinary diesel anyway and a new seal easily fitted solved the problem. The 205 has a heated fuel filter as standard. I've run numerous CAV pumped diesels on veg oil mix without a problem. My secret is mix the oil with diesel in a container and not simply pour it into the tank hoping it'll mix itself ! If you do that then pure oil will settle at the bottom of the tank so sucked up into the pump and that is what does the damage.
Others might not agree / had other experiences but this is my real life running of around 50,000 miles on veg oil & diesel mix in a variety of vehicles over a 15= year period without problems other than my Aixam taking longer to start then normal in cold weather !

Paul H

[murdock]

Is it a turbo or non-turbo model?

The seals around the top of the windscreen can perish, but are easy-ish to replace, the seal around the arial is likely to need replacing too, otherwise it'll drip through the interior light, every single 205 I've ever owned has had to have the track rod ends replaced at that kind of milage if they haven't been done, though they are an easy job.

As others have said, they can rust, despite what some will have you believe, although most are remarkably rust free, do check it over to ensure there are no nasty surprises.

At 86,000 miles it will just be getting run in, change the coolant at regular intervals and do regular oil and filter changes and you'll have few problems with the engine, ensure there is no air in the cooling system after changing though.

Oh and if it is a turbo, ensure the engine is warm being booting it, and let it idle for 10-15 seconds before switching it off (30 seconds or so if you've been going quickly) standard practice for all turbo'd cars, but it really helps these engines last.

One of the best are ever made IMHO

Cheers

Ian

[andyborris]

And as a thanks for all the advice, here is the wee beastie itself.

[Brian Damaged]

You may well have struck gold there with that, it's very very tidy and the Mardi Gras had a very comfortable set of seats in from memory (I've had several oil-burner 205's and a 1600 Auto Mardi Gras). Comfortable (outrageously so for such a small car) and economical mile-munchers. If it's got PAS you're onto an even bigger winner!!!!

[andyborris]

Yes, PAS and the girlfiend pointed the more common 1.9 GTI lurking in the background of the picture!