Repair or scrap

robbiejustice

Hi there,

I have a 2008 Peugeot 207 with 115,000 on the clock. I've had it from 30,000 miles and has never broken down on me. I've had the clutch done and the head gasket/water pump/cam belt done at about 80,000 miles. I have recently had a burning smell coming from the engine (I believe it is oil spilling onto a hot part of the engine but there is no oil being left by the car) and a (different) garage that did the original work has said that I need the head gasket/cam belt/water pump doing to get rid of the smell at £900. This garage do seem trustworthy (which recommended).

I am still thinking that I will repair it as otherwise the car has been good and I think better the devil you know. Am i crazy to get the repair done at that cost?

Master_Munchkin

Get at least another opinion. To spend so much money on a car this age and comparatively low value is probably not worth it. 115k on the clock is pretty modest for a French diesel. Commiserations that you're in this position.

Mistral001

Get another quote as has been said. You would not need another pump fitted if it was a blown head gasket.

Before doing that I would check if the head cover breather pipe is not damaged. I had a Citroen (same company now as Peugeot) and a leaking breather pipe caused a burning oil smell. It cost just the price of a roll of electrical tape to fix.

PS I once had a Citroen diesel (non-turbo) which did over 160k miles.

robbiejustice

Thanks I'll get another opinion.

This a petrol by the way so perhaps not as sturdy as a diesel.

AdrianC

If the HG is gone, then the head needs to come off.
If the head's coming off, the cambelt needs removing - it's pointless putting the old one back on.
While the cambelt's off, it's a sensible precaution to change the water pump, since it needs the cambelt removing to replace it...

So changing the belt and pump will only cost you the parts prices if they're done now.

It might be the HG that's weeping from an oilway to outside - or it might indeed be something else. We've not looked at it. The engine in your 207 will be the venerable TU - a bloody good lump, and one which will go on for a long while with very little work. The most likely ultimate death of your 207 will probably be electronic, not something as trivial as a minor oil leak, unless you simply decide not to spend on it.

robbiejustice

Thanks AdrianC, this echoes what the garage said.

I've never had an issue with engine other than oil leaks. I am prepared to spend the money to get it fixed, it's just whether it's worth it or to scrap and cut my losses.

It will only be used as a run around. The alternative is to scrap it and buy another small car for 2-3k which may come with its own set of problems. This car has generally been reliable and sailed through Mots with minor repairs. There have been springs and bearings go but the only significant spend has been HG and clutch.

AdrianC

robbiejustice wrote: »

The alternative is to scrap it and buy another small car for 2-3k which may come with its own set of problems.

Exactly... And let's be honest, even £2-3k is a significant amount of betterment. A mate has recently sold a perfectly tidy 207 estate due to a job change bringing him a work vehicle. It was <£1k. So if you look at a like-for-like replacement...

...but the only significant spend has been HG and clutch.

The clutch is simply a consumable, non-scheduled maintenance, not a failure.
The HG is a failure, but the marginal cost of doing that over the scheduled maintenance of cambelt and water pump is not particularly high.

Norman_Castle

You need to find out exactly where its leaking from, it might be a cheap fix. Could you ask the garage that did the original work?

Ebe_Scrooge

robbiejustice wrote: »

The alternative is to scrap it and buy another small car for 2-3k which may come with its own set of problems. This car has generally been reliable and sailed through Mots with minor repairs. There have been springs and bearings go but the only significant spend has been HG and clutch.

This, really, is the nub of it - and with older cars it's very much a case of "better the devil you know". If the car is otherwise sound (and you've owned it long enough now to have a pretty good idea of whether anything major is on the way out), then I'd personally spend the money and keep it going. 115,000 miles is not inter-galactic mileage by today's standards, and if you were to buy another used car, there's every chance that you'd be hit with similar or larger repair bills in the very near future.

(Just out of interest, a friend of mine just posted a picture on Facebook this morning of her Toyota Verso dashboard that's just hit 250,000 miles ! By all accounts she's never had any major problems, and it's still plodding along as good as gold).

robbiejustice

I get the impression that Toyota's generally last much longer than Peugeot's!

AdrianC

robbiejustice wrote: »

I get the impression that Toyota's generally last much longer than Peugeot's!

When we sold our H-reg TU-engined 205 a couple of years ago, it was on 180k - and still behaving itself just fine.