What is life like with your car? Let us know and win £500 in John Lewis vouchers | No thanks
Ford Fiesta/Peugeot 308 - Ford Fiesta/Peugeot 308 Engine query - Honest Question

Hello, I am looking at buying a second hand cars, but I am not very knowledgeable about vehicle technical matters.

I have recently viewed a 2011 diesel Ford Fiesta and a 2012 diesel Peugeot 308 and I noticed something in common with both of them, which didn't seem normal to me. They both seemed to have part of the engine covered in a knobbled casing which didn't look quite right.

I have included photos of the individual engines and a close up of the section I am referring to in the links below, so hopefully they work! Is this normal and if not, is it something that I should be concerned about? Also if anybody sees any other issues please let me know.

ibb.co/kQcQ5F

ibb.co/ipkZza

ibb.co/cKecKa

ibb.co/itTyQF

Edited by Honest Question on 15/07/2017 at 22:54

Ford Fiesta/Peugeot 308 - Ford Fiesta/Peugeot 308 Engine query - RobJP

Heat shields. Basically they are there to prevent transmission of heat to areas that may be vulnerable to heat.

Ford Fiesta/Peugeot 308 - Ford Fiesta/Peugeot 308 Engine query - Honest Question

Thanks Rob for the quick response. So is that how they normally look? Nothing of concern with their appearance?

Ford Fiesta/Peugeot 308 - Ford Fiesta/Peugeot 308 Engine query - SLO76
Hold your horses! This will be the same PSA 1.6 diesel that's often written about on this forum. It has a terrible reputation of mechanical failure and should be avoided at all costs.

I'd stick to petrol unless you're doing a massive mileage, a 5yr or older usd DPF equipped diesel is more often than not a complete false economy. I advise a rethink and some time spent googling Peugeot 1.6 HDi or Ford 1.6 TDCi engine failure/faults to see the scale of the problem. It's widespread.

Edited by SLO76 on 16/07/2017 at 08:20

Ford Fiesta/Peugeot 308 - Ford Fiesta/Peugeot 308 Engine query - Peter.N.

Probably the best diesel engine that PSA ever made was the 8 vlave 2.0. Hdi, they were used in Peugeots and Citroens up until about 2004, the have no DPF and are practically bombproof

In fact I would say that the Peugeot 406 Hdi is probably the best car they have made, good for well over 200k many doing in excess of 300k and they just don't go wrong - not seriously anyway. The 306 uses the same engine as do several Citroens.

Ford Fiesta/Peugeot 308 - Ford Fiesta/Peugeot 308 Engine query - SLO76

Probably the best diesel engine that PSA ever made was the 8 vlave 2.0. Hdi, they were used in Peugeots and Citroens up until about 2004, the have no DPF and are practically bombproof

In fact I would say that the Peugeot 406 Hdi is probably the best car they have made, good for well over 200k many doing in excess of 300k and they just don't go wrong - not seriously anyway. The 306 uses the same engine as do several Citroens.

Correct. I've seen one of these 8v 2.0 HDi's with well over 800,000 miles and I've sold E7 taxis with in excess of 300k and running fine. Do not make the mistake of confusing the excellent 2.0 8v HDi with the later 1.6 HDi's though even in the later 'improved' 8v form. This is a notoriously fragile engine and is very much disliked by the trade. They can expire before 60,000 miles.
Ford Fiesta/Peugeot 308 - Ford Fiesta/Peugeot 308 Engine query - Gibbo_Wirral

On this picture:

ibb.co/cKecKa

The soundproofing at the back of the engine shouldn't be in this poor state.The plastic scuttle at the bottom of the windscreen also looks like its not been cleaned in a long time. Avoid.

Ford Fiesta/Peugeot 308 - Ford Fiesta/Peugeot 308 Engine query - Andrew-T

Probably the best diesel engine that PSA ever made was the 8 valve 2.0. Hdi, they were used in Peugeots and Citroens up until about 2004, the have no DPF and are practically bombproof.

I have owned various Peugeot diesels, starting with a 1990 205 Dturbo - the famous XUD 1769cc - followed by a couple of 306s with the larger 1905cc version. Then a 306 with the 2-litre HDi engine (one of the earliest examples) which I kept for 7 years. Finally a 207SW with the 1.6 HDi which seems to cause so much aggro, tho mine was/is early enough to have no DPF, probably a plus. That has been with me for 13 years.

All these cars have behaved impeccably for me, so from where I sit these gloomy tales look like a myth. My explanation is that Peugeot's recommended oil-change intervals were too long; I have cut them from 12K miles to 8K or less, and the 207 engine has never given me any cause for criticism. So, as is often said, when buying a used car, avoiding a lemon comes down to how the car has been maintained.

Ford Fiesta/Peugeot 308 - Ford Fiesta/Peugeot 308 Engine query - Gibbo_Wirral

My explanation is that Peugeot's recommended oil-change intervals were too long; I have cut them from 12K miles to 8K or less

Spot on. Peugeot made a huge mistake in claiming 20,000 miles was suitable. They obviously never did any long term testing and saw that the turbo oil feed pipe would block up.

I have two Peugeot documents for the same car which contradict each other with the mileage too!

Ford Fiesta/Peugeot 308 - Ford Fiesta/Peugeot 308 Engine query - enochabollockoff

Hi i had a fiesta 1.4 tdci a few months ago and with a peugeot engine in it and they are s*** hard to work on and unreliable why the hell ford did this god only knows and i would never have another diesel ever again. give me petrol cars any day. it went into crawl mode about 4 times and the injectors for them are about £300 each and they do seize up and the DPF has to be kept clean. trouble is even with cars that age there is far too much to go wrong on them. give me an analogue car any day you can work on them and not all this electronic ECU crap to go wrong on them. i had an 18 year old astra and a 99 corsa B. i never had a problem with either except that the crap roads wrecked the shockers and linkages or i.d still be driving them about. it will be fun when everyone is expected to buy an electric car. because they will break down and the batteries will go etc.