1986 Peugeot 505 SW TD - update

[Joe Ernest]

Green lifeblood spilled upon the concrete driveway.

That's the bad news.

The good news – that puddle is on my driveway. In Fresno. Five hours and over 300 miles north of Yucaipa where this, my phase of guardianship, began. Yep, I drove the Puggit home, up and over the Interstate 5 Grapevine. Sometimes hitting 80 mph, down to 50 mph on the longer steeper climbs. No tachometer, lazy boost gauge, no oil pressure gauge, and a coolant temperature gauge alternating between dead, randomly spastic, and steady, possibly truthful. I climbed the Grapevine by the boost gauge and the temperature gauge, keeping the former below mid gauge and the latter at least 1½ markings below red. My 504 Diesel Wagon and I separated 25 years ago, and I'd forgotten how in an old IDI, coolant temperature is directly proportional to accelerator position, road grade, load, wind speed, humidity etc., individually and severally.

 

The Puggit just chugged on home. No air conditioning (yet) but being the tail end of winter it was plenty cool enough to cruise with the windows up, except for the driver's side rear window resolutely immobile at ¾” below fully closed......all the better to announce the approach of speedier 18 wheelers in the less slow lane. A visit to the Chevron half way between Hwy 99 Shaw Avenue exit and my house reveals 32.2 mpg from a target 70mph. Home, parked and unloaded, all's well.

 

It was still dark at 6:30 am as I rolled out for work, coffee in hand, on a not yet sunny California Monday morning. Glow plugs. Clunk. Chime, chime, whirr, rattle, rattle, rattle, click. Door's closed, smokeless smooth idle, seat-belt fastened. Lights on, engage reverse, ease off the brake, steer clear of the tree. Glance at the front door to ensure I’d pulled it closed behind me. Front door's closed.

What the bloody..?...... Green blood!

Park the Puggit, jump in the Syncro Westy and off to work.

Back home in the late afternoon, the drips suggest a leaking water pump. As luck would have it, a few short weeks ago I'd been unable to resist the ridiculously deep discount RockAuto was offering on its last and lonely XD3T water pump. Frantic phone calls to Western Hemispheres and the Parts Network had the radiator hoses and belts they had in stock winging their way to me.

 

A day or three later my neighbor to the north, owner of Tower Automotive took a look in the engine bay and reckoned an hour, maybe an hour and a half should see the new water pump installed. My neighbor across the street, employee of Anytime Towing, assured me he'd have The Puggit over to Tower Automotive first thing in the morning, for the usual paperwork avoided discount. Lunchtime the next day I drove over to the Tower District to sign the work order. When I arrived Robert beckoned me to his shop computer saying “You need to see this.” The screen flashed R&R XD3T Water pump - 4.7 hours.

I signed the work order.

The workday done, I picked up the Puggit, after paying the bill for 4 hours of labour without the 0.7. Not on the bill were all the belts and hoses I hadn't been able to source and the time to change them all. The next day when Robert came home he found 2 cases of beer on his doorstep.

 

Fast forward a couple of weeks to last weekend. The Puggit had taken me to Los Angeles and back 3 times. On one visit the A/C was recharged, on the next the A/C was repaired under warranty. My car was the first into the shop that morning - for the warranty work. By lunchtime the diagnosis had not yet been made. I advised the shop that I had copies of sections of the factory workshop manual in the back along with a copy of “How to keep your old Peugeot running” downloaded from an Aussie Peugeot Owners Club web site. An hour later I received a call informing me that my car was ready. They had found the electronic climate control ECU in the passenger foot-well, and re-soldered all the connections on the circuit board. Ta, matey, ‘n’ g’daiy.

[Bean]

Wonderful storey Joe - but it needs more pictures!

Rabin