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Peugeot 406 td poor fuel economy - mclacj
I have recently purchased a 406 1.9 td, 60,000 miles full history, have just fueled up & the car has covered 336 miles for £40 in diesel (32 mpg) i am informed it should be averaging near 40 mpg? Any advice/help would be greatly appreciated.
Peugeot 406 td poor fuel economy - Spanner
I would agree that 32mpg is a bit low for this model of car.
Check to see if any of the brake calipers are binding and make sure the handbrake mechanism is releasing the rear calipers.
I know this may seem a silly question but has your driving style changed after buying the car. If you are using the extra power afforded by the turbo it will increase fuel consumption. So will regularly carrying passengers, or fast motorway trips.

Spanner
Peugeot 406 td poor fuel economy - Dartrader
I have a P reg 1996 Peugeot 406 1.9 td thats covered 167,000 miles and is returning me 40mpg just running about. If I go on a longer run it usually gives me 50mpg +. These figures are when driven reasonably. You can get more mpg by driving lighter, not too heavy with the right foot, but that's not the way to drive these or any other diesel.
Dartrader.
Peugeot 406 td poor fuel economy - Fetch

I know that this post is very old but needless to say that it is because of this I am here. I too was suffering the same issue. Great mileage 55mpg was the norm and easily going from Calasis to the South of France on a full tank. Bliss.... but then it all changed and I was only getting half that at best.

I went through the list:

1. Tyres - Under inflated slightly but pumped them up.

2. Checked the tracking - Toe-ing in on the left and slightly out on the right. Not by huge amounts but enough. Needless to say it needed to be done as the full suspension had been replaced (struts, springs, bushes and ball joint).

3. Filters - needed a service any way so they were changed but they have been annually anyway.

4. Clogged exhaust/inlet - no to both. A new exhaust was fitted so I could discount that part.

5. Brake binding! Now there is where it gets interesting especially on the rear!

Jacking up the car, taking all the usual precautions, and spinning the back wheel would normally free wheel with the slightest bit of rubbing if your brake shoes were ok. But there is where the problem was as the rubbing was not the brake shoes after all. Upon removing the disc I noticed that there was a fair bit of rust build up on the inner edge with a slight shine to it. Upon inspecting the back plate of the said side there were two very distinctive rubbing marks! BINGO! To top that the opposite side was the same too.

I have attached a link to the video I made so you can see what I am refering too but included in there is a good instruction guide to how to change the brakes yourselves!

www.youtube.com/watch?v=psObQwmg_4s

Peugeot 406 td poor fuel economy - Peter.N.

I don't think that under inflated tyres or binding brakes, unless they are very bad i.e to hot to touch, or wheel alignment unless the tyres are wearing severly on one edge, is going to make that much difference. To get an accurate assesment of consumption you need to drive at a steady speed on a level motorway, you should get around 60mpg at 60 mph, if you are getting substantially less check the engine temperature and possibly the EGR valve.