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Progress over the last couple of weeks: The majority of the vacuum leak issues ended up being caused by a failing brake booster that took a few days to show itself. After a debacle with receiving the wrong booster, finally got the right one fitted this morning and things are much better: idle is smoothed out and the pulsing fuel delivery is nearly nonexistent. Replaced distributor cap, rotor, plug wires, and spark plugs. Cap & rotor looked relatively new so retained them for emergency spares. Plug wires were oil-soaked and chafed; binned them. Spark plugs were black - not the worst I've seen, but definitely needed to go. Running much better now. Fuel filter and radiator fan switch are sitting here waiting to go in when time permits. Almost all of the old fuel is out; will change oxygen sensor after first fill-up with completely clean gas and fuel filter replacement. Air filter is ordered; need to get exhaust manifold gasket.

Last weekend, we picked up a 1983 505 (XN6, manual) in Austin, Texas that had been off the road for about two-and-a-half years. When we got it it wasn't clear if it was going to be a pile of parts or a project. After spending a few days getting it running again, its status is officially 'project' I'm starting this thread in part to seek advice with issues that the car has, but also to keep track of the state that it's in and how it progresses over time. So, with that said, here's where things stand at present: The car: 1983 505, XN6, manual. Odometer says 155,400 miles but the speedo has the usual issues which mean that it could be 1,155,400 for all I know. General condition suggests that number may be about right, however. The good: Clutch, gearbox, steering, cooling, and electrics all seem to be pretty solid. Body is straight. 33 years of shopping cart dings, some clearcoat peel and minor solar oxidation, but overall it looks OK from 20 feet away. Well, maybe 30. No leaks, drips, or other haemorrhages seem to be taking place. Tyres seem to have somewhere between 40% and 50% of their life left in them. They'll do for now. The known issues: Ignition switch doesn't always engage the starter. A $10 Harbor Freight starter button is attached for the times where it doesn't do what it should. Will order new switch when I get tired of using the starter button. Starter was having a protracted death. Replaced it, everything's fine. Ignition switch problems may have been related to the tachymetric relay; repaired relay, awaiting long-term results. Tachymetric relay repair didn't hold. Replaced it. Speedo needle operates on a 'pick any number between...' basis; odometer and trip meter untrustworthy as a result. Speedo cable is waiting to go in. Tachometer is believed to be a liar. Claims cold idle speed of 2500 RPM, down to 1250 or so RPM warm. Engine doesn't sound anywhere near that. Need to get inductive tachometer to verify. Inductive tachometer confirmed that the mechanical one isn't even close to accurate below 2000 RPM; adjusted idle accordingly. Need to replace mechanical tachometer. Vacuum leaks everywhere were contributing to this. Going to manually reset tach needle to zero rpm when speedo cable is replaced and see what happens. Factory clamps on vacuum line joins are useless after 33 years; many vacuum leaks suspected as a result. Continuing to track these down; will start replacing hose clamps as I go. Failed brake booster was main cause of leaks. Replaced vacuum hoses; saw distinct improvement. Suspect one or two lingering leaks (there's one known one at the ventilation distribution controls) but overall much improved. Sensation of fuel delivery occasionally pulsing. Car came with almost a half-tank of 2.5-year-old fuel in the tank; topped it off with no-ethanol 87-octane and Seafoam. Still running the lousy gas out. Have now run out all of the old gas; car currently has a tank of fresh no-ethanol 87-octane in it. Got slightly better after half-assed throttle body cleaning with Seafoam via fuel evaporative line; will clean throttle body with entire ass and hope for further improvements. New fuel filter en route since I have no idea if the old one is full of mud or not. Replaced old filter; it was full of mud. Solved fuel pulsing issues. Electric radiator fan works when jumpered directly to battery or A/C is selected but does not automatically switch on when driving. Suspect switch in radiator; replacement is ordered and should be here next week. Switch is installed. However, the thermostat has also been replaced along with the coolant. Waiting to see if I can get it warm enough for the fans to kick in. Fan now not coming on at all; will investigate when not Winter. Suspect resistor pack. Warped brake disc at the front. Just going to replace all four discs and the pads plus flush the fluid; everything looks antiquated. Brakes otherwise functional, just not as good as they should be. Much better post-booster replacement. Speaking of the A/C, the compressor is seized and the belt to it has been cut and thrown away. Guessing that pretty much the entire system is going to need replacement. Cabin fan has exactly zero speeds. Fuses look fine. Windows roll down (and up) so will worry about this when it's not 100degF outside. Fan works on speeds 2 and 3 with some jiggling of the switch. Need to pull switch and clean contacts. Sunroof doesn't work, but, given that it's a 505, not an unexpected development. Avoiding this job unless being held at gunpoint to complete it. Still waiting on basic tune-up parts to arrive next week so haven't yet pulled the plugs, distributor cap, etc. to check them - I'd rather not start pulling things apart until replacements are on hand. Overall, it's a decent driver. Despite the running issues, it pulls surprisingly well (yes, I know how counterintuitive that sounds) and will make a decent car for getting around in. Looking forward to seeing where all of this ends up.

Final crosspost to the various North American Peugeot sites / groups / lists about this one... I promise Since there are more than a few of us on here who would benefit from this, I've uploaded two documents in PDF format to Dropbox that may be of use. The PDFs aren't searchable so you'll have to scroll to the relevant section, but that shouldn't be a big deal. Download link is at the end of the message, but you may want to skim the descriptions to get a rough idea of what the content of the documents is. 1) 405 & 505 Diagnostic and Test Procedures.pdf: this is a guide to pretty much every electrical connector on the car that matters, how to pull and interpret the CEL and ABS codes, and more. Page numbers in the table of contents don't really have any bearing on the numbers on the pages themselves, but that's no big deal. Areas covered: - LU-Jetronic ECU Tests for the N9T/N9TA/N9TEA and ZDJL 505s. - LH-Jetronic ECU Tests for the ZN3J 505s. - Motronic ECU tests for the XU9J2 and XU9J4 405s. - Climate Control on 505s and 405s. - 505 ABS System (Teves). - 405 ABS System (Bosch)*. - 505 Variable-ratio Power Steering. * This section was particularly invaluable to me since I've had an ABS light on for several months and haven't wanted to take the throw-parts-at-it-and-see-what-sticks approach to troubleshooting it. At least now I can have some starting points to look at before hurting the wallet again. If you've got a 405 with ABS, this might also be of interest to you. 2) 405 CEL Code Retrieval Procedures.pdf: how to pull and interpret the CEL codes from the 405's ECU. Can't remember who sent this to me originally, but thank you - it was really useful for chasing down an intermittent code 34 a few months back. - The document is headlined for the XU9J2 (8-valve) engine, but the procedures are exactly the same for the XU9J4 (16-valve). - No TAD99 tester is required to pull the codes; it explains how to do this by grounding a pin on the diagnostic connector. I found that a really long piece of wire to the strut tower bolts worked well since it put me close enough to the CEL to be able to read the codes from it. Enjoy. As promised at the start, the link is: https://tinyurl.com/405-505-Diagnostic-Procedures

Might have found an engine... More news to follow as I have it.

Yep, heard from Mike this morning. He has one Mi16 block, but someone cracked it when they torqued down the head bolt without reinstalling the fat washer. My block is good, but there's not much point in combining the two when I could just rebuild mine. I'm basically hoping for a drop-in replacement, which is looking less and less likely. Funny you should mention the XU10J4RS - I thought about going that route as well, but the Mi16 is my fiancée's daily driver. Having it down means we've only got one running car, and while we can get by with that, it's definitely far less than ideal. Getting it back up and running ASAP is what I'm shooting for.

In this case, I think it was caused by a little of bit of both an unknown issue that was eventually going to raise its head and the track day. Realistically, the track day was pretty light - this was an introductory-level course (light skidpad, short track), and the car was fine until about 30 minutes before the end of the day. I really don't think that that alone could have toasted bearings, etc. - the amount of actual abuse on the car would be about equivalent to driving fast back roads for a couple of hours. Either way, it's engine-shopping time. Ugh

Hey Rabin. Thanks for the condolences I'm waiting to see if Savo has anything to add; he's definitely within driving distance for me. Ukit has one, but the head gasket may be gone on it. I'm going to swing by his place tomorrow and check it out, but that could potentially mean Frankensteining the two together to get one good engine - and at that point a rebuild of the current one would be about the same amount of work. Funnily enough, a couple of engine swap ideas also crossed my mind. The Alfa 164 V6 was briefly considered (and strangely enough I know where there are three supposedly-good ones), but that just sounds like a packaging nightmare waiting to happen. I've heard mixed things about the 1.6 turbo used in the Mini - some have been bulletproof, others have been grenades. I do like the torque figure on them vs. the XU9J4, though. Realistically, I'll probably hold out for another XU9J4. They are out there; just need to find the right one. Worst case, the one in there now may get a rebuild. It won't be cheap, but factoring against finding another driveable car and keeping that running given what we've put into the Mi16, it just makes more sense to keep the Mi16 going.

Long story short, the '91 Mi16 has developed some serious rod knock. We don't really have anywhere to pull the engine and tear it down, so I'm looking into the possibility of doing an outright replacement. If anyone has an XU9J4 engine near-ish to L.A. (I'm willing to drive some distance to collect one) in good condition, please let me know. It's not 100% certain that we'll be going the replacement route yet, but I am trying to figure out what the options are for getting it running again.

It's starting to look as though the ignition switch on our 1991 405 Mi16 is coming due for replacement. In a way, this is almost convenient, since I need to replace the headlamp switch stalk as well (which, fortunately, I happen to have). The ignition switch has been pretty easy to find online, and it looks as though most (if not all) of them come with keys. However, those keys probably aren't going to match the existing ignition lock, which means that they won't match the door locks either. Is it possible to either locate a lock with the key pattern pre-matched to our existing keys, or have the new lock's tumblers matched to those keys? Worst case, can the existing door locks be matched to the new keys, or am I looking at replacing all three locks to get a matched set? It's been years since I've had to do this (and it wasn't on a Peugeot), but my overwhelming recollection is that the car in question ended up with one set of keys for the ignition and one for the doors, which was decidedly less than optimal.

The Best of France and Italy show is on again at Woodley Park in Van Nuys, CA on November 2nd. Last year saw 400 cars in attendance, with a good turnout from the Peugeot contingent. Hope to see more there this year; we'll be bringing the Mi16 and probably a Citroen as well. Registration and more details: http://www.franceanditaly.com/ Also on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bestoffranceanditaly/

I really hope so. God knows that Peugeot could use someone who actually loves cars - and driving - at the helm. I've driven the 406 and 407, both as HDis. Nice cars, but there's a definite progression from the 405 to the 406 (Coupé excepted) to the 407 of the cars becoming more and more interchangeable with pretty much anyone else's car in the same class; there's less and less as time goes on to really identify them as Peugeots. Also, as the ex-owner of a 205 XRAD van, past driver of a 206 turbodiesel, and someone who has never touched a 207 or 208... They really lost the plot. The 205 was a brilliant little car, but the 206 (which is a good car in its own right) didn't *quite* have the same feel. It's like the mid-'90s hit and Peugeot just started losing its identity. I'm actually really interested to hear your opinions of it. Certainly, I think it's the best-looking car in the range - but what I've been reading about what it's like to drive has left me a bit cold on it. Hopefully I'll have my hands on one later this year, but that's looking like a very remote possibility right now. For reasons I can't quite explain, I'm kind of liking the 508. It's not very exciting-looking, but with the right spec it could make a good Q-Car. But overall I have to agree that the real problem here is that Peugeot seems afraid to stand out: they're building and putting Euroboxes on the market in a sea of other Euroboxes. Until there's something to give their cars both a sense of identity and uniqueness again, there's not much hope for a recovery. And as someone whose family who has owned Citroens (myself included) since before the Second World War, don't even get me started on them. If PSA had any sense, they'd give freer rein to them to build cars on a common platform that truly come from Planet Citroen again, but that's a different rant.

Just (finally) following up on this: it looks as though the issue may have been a failing battery. If memory serves, about two weeks after the previous post the battery went completely dead; since replacement, the seatbelts have been working perfectly. I know... A US-model 405 with automatic seatbelts that work as intended 23 years later. I assure everyone that it is, in fact, true

Okay, I know I'm necro-threading this one, but... That's my Supermotors account I found that one in a Sun Valley, CA junkyard years ago, and had to document it. With the exception of the plastic sheet acting as a rear window, it was actually pretty well done. The wood would have been a lot better had the owners bothered to keep it treated, but it was at least reasonably well-assembled. No idea what the body cuts under the wood were like, but it was at least an interesting modification. Oh, and to clarify the question re: Euro lights: it definitely didn't have them - if it had, I would have taken them...

Dumb question: do they still make you exit through the incredibly patronising 'vehicle safety' exhibit at the end? I haven't been there in years, but always disliked being filtered out through that. Of course driving cars is inherently unsafe, which is part of what I love about them. There used to be an incredibly nice Peugeot 202 Eclipse (cream with a red leather interior, IIRC) on display a few years back. As a fan of prewar streamlining, this is one of my favourite cars - right up there with the Tatra T87 and Chrysler Airflow. Got to drive a red-on-black RHD Citroen Traction Avant convertible from Port Hueneme to the Petersen for Rendezvous 2002 (or was it 2003?). Absolutely fantastic. Ended up leaving the car there for the owner to collect, and coming back a week later for the actual gathering in the Mi16 when I did get to meet the owner. Had the only Peugeot in attendance!

Alternatively: can anyone let me know the location of the automatic seatbelt control module? My last Mi16 was an '89 (which means manual belts), so I have no idea where to look for it.

Cool, thanks. There's a local parts car that I'm going to check out this weekend - I'll let you know after I have some idea of the shape that it's in.

Sure. My car has the black interior, so looking for them in that colour. - Ashtray - Glovebox door (complete) - Front windscreen valance - High-mount stop light housing - Steering column shroud (both halves) One thing I could really use: either the motor and worm gear for the driver's side power seat front-to-back motor (it looks as though both were removed at some point and never replaced, so likely the entire assembly for that particular motor), or a manual front-to-back adjuster. Just need the seat to stay in place under braking and acceleration. This is in no real order of preference, but the damn seat is driving me crazy. By any chance are any exterior trim bits also available?

Looking for the motor and worm gear that drives the power seat in an Mi16 front-to-rear. Height seat back adjustment are fine; I just need the one that runs longitudinally. Ideally, this would cost less than $Dumptruck, and be in working condition. If there's one in the L.A. area that I could pull, I'll bring tools. Failing that, I'll take a manual seat fore-aft adjuster to graft onto my existing slides-at-will seat as long as it can be grafted on. Please let me know what you may have.

Apologies for the repost from peugeot-l which some of you may have seen by now, but this is really driving me mad after having looked into it for a couple of hours. Original post follows: Been having some interesting behaviour in the automatic seatbelts fitted to my 1991 405 Mi16. Hopefully someone can provide some insight as to where to start troubleshooting; I'm thinking it's an electrical gremlin but am not certain as to where to start looking. Note that up until today, both of the mad mice were typically working (more details to follow). The tracks do not seem to be gummed up with debris, etc., and they moved at a fairly high rate of knots through them with no unusual noises or stuttering in their motion. Symptoms: A few weeks ago, the passenger-side automatic belt just stopped working one day. It was stuck in the open position, but pressing the release on the mad mouse let it move freely back along the track to the locked position. This continued for a couple of days, at which point it decided to start operating normally again. This sporadically continued on and off over a period of a bit over a month or so. Today, I climbed into the car and the driver's side mad mouse didn't work, but the passenger's did. Ran a few errands in the car; after about 30 minutes of this, both had decided that it was time to no longer operate as usual. The fuse (F7, shared with the hazard lights per the owner's manual, IIRC) is fine. Hazard lights also operate as intended, so I'm suspecting either a ground issue or relay. Problem is, I don't have a wiring diagram for the car and no clue as to where the grounds (or live feeds, for that matter) for the seatbelts would be. I'm not even sure that they are relay-driven, but don't recall seeing any mention of relays for them in the manual. Right now I have some spare time on my hands and rather than converting them back to manual belts would like to take a shot at troubleshooting. I realise that they were never reliable in any vehicle ever equipped with them, but if anyone can give me pointers as to where to begin the investigation I'd certainly appreciate it.

In the same boat as N9TE - specifically looking for '91 405 Mi16 items, including some (black, not red) interior trim bits.

This weekend, I bought another 405 Mi16 - this time, a 1991. The last one I had (a 1989 model) was purchased in 2001 and sold in 2006, and the notes I kept from then are long since gone. While a lot of parts can be found through the usual US suppliers (Rockauto, etc.) with some patience, I'm having difficulty with tracking down the following: - Strut mounts - Struts and coils - Heater valve - Steering boots My guess is that the heater valve and steering boots are probably generic to US- (or other) model 405s, but that the suspension bits are definitely Mi16-specific. If anyone can help with tracking down proper equivalent bits for them, I'd appreciate the help. I'm OK with using pattern parts rather than OEM Peugeot bits, but want to keep within OEM spec - and particularly where the suspension is concerned. Having owned both 8-valve cars and Mi16s, I really love how the Mi16s ride and handle, and would prefer to not use 8-valve (or softer) springs and struts. Any help on this is gratefully welcomed - haven't bought a Peugeot in 12 years, and am really looking forward to getting this one back to where it should be.

Please let me know more; I may be interested.

For anyone in the Southern California area who owns or appreciates (mostly) French and Italian cars, the Best of France and Italy show is back on November 4th. I believe this is its 13th year, and the past few years have seen up to 400 cars in attendance. More information, entry forms, and directions can be found at http://www.franceanditaly.com/ . Hope to see a good Peugeot turnout this year!

Hello all, After a few years away from Peugeots (I'm a past owner of 505s, 504s, 205s, 405s, and a couple of others), I'm considering picking one up again for a daily driver. Right now I'm looking for clean, solid vehicles in the (mainly) Los Angeles area, but may be willing to consider ones in other areas depending on condition. Gas turbos are not preferred, but are not necessarily a dealbreaker. 405s are great, but I'm really only interested in Mi16s (or possibly a Sportwagon, if there are any left). Diesels are fine, particularly if it's a late 505 Turbodiesel. Wagons are definitely interesting. In all cases I'm looking for a clean, high-spec vehicles - the white 504 diesel wagon that keeps cropping up on eBay is an example of what I'm not quite interested in. A/C is a huge plus, working preferred, repairable possibly OK. If you have anything that might fit the bill, please feel free to either reply to the thread or shoot me a private message. Thanks!