Following Bernie's thread about his Laguna and accompanying comments about Espaces and with my experience of ZXs, I think it would be fair to say that anyone considering buying a French car at about 100000 miles should be very wary of vehicles that haven't had the matrix changed. Given the value of these cars and the cost of replacement it has to be a major consideration.
OK so service history, condition and so forth are highest on a list but these seemingly little things I believe are also important. Coupled with those dash lights which seem to fail so often. But then that's just annoying!!
One more thing. In the last week I have seen 2 206s stranded on the motorway with seemingly collapsed front suspension on one side. Is this a trait, bad driving or just coincidence?
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Did you really mean 100k miles? at that mileage my CX dial-a-temperature heater was fine, so were the hydraulics, but the internal waterways, the rear susp arm bearings (£500 job at Citroën), the abs and ZF autobox were not.
Re the 206s, let's hope it isn't a trait. Anyone with a passing interest in cars in the early 1970s must surely remember the very common sight of a BL 1100 stranded with one front wheel tucked underneath.
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Obviously each car is individual but give or take 20k, I think that 100k is a fair estimate for expectations of failure. Perhaps it's a supplier thing, Valeo manufacturing radiator parts amongst others for the french car makers.
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Not just the French suppliers. Junior's car is in that ball park for mileage; it's a Honda Civic vti, and he was surprised to see that a good third of the radiator finning has disintegrated, leaving just the tubes.
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Do you guys think this heater matrix failure issue has anything to do with folks/garages not changing the coolant two yearly if they think they'll get away with it?
David W
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Methinks ye have hitt ye naill squarely on ye headd. I have encountered many MANY french cars with a cooling system full of 'muddy' water due to corrosion of the waterways etc. I seem to remember a thread in the distant past that the initial 'fill' of antifreeze was lacking in corrosion inhibitors so I made a point of changing the coolant in my Espace at the earliest opporunity and again 2 years on. Result: clean green coolant at 50k.
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Now you've given me Matrix Failure Paranoia! As an owner of a 98 Laguna 1.6 rt on 53k, what preventative measures are there in addition to coolant replacement? - I assume there are different standards of coolant available?
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Johnny,
My personal precautions would be to drain and flush through the system with tap water, do not use any flushing solutions.
Re-fill with a quality glycol anti-freeze and de-ionised water to the correct concentration for your car (40-50% perhaps).
Ensure the air is carefull bled from the system and then do the same at two yearly intervals, if you're brave enough to keep it that long. ;-)
David W
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David,
My Pug had one go at around 240,000. A day's work to replace. (I then read on the Pug yahoo group that an aussie got one out by un-riveting the glovebox inner and pulling it out that way. No need to remove the dash and supporting cast. Drat!)
Just a rubber seal job, it seemed.
My point is...
I would question whether the glycol/flushing had that much to do with it, but that it was just down to "heat cycles" degrading the rubber as per hoses. (Bring back the copper/alloy ones as per the HC Viva!)
Anyway, while I'm at it...
ABS on the Monterey. Occasional error light indication. Sure, I need the laptop and package to interrogate, but is anything tweakable? Like any wheel sensors cleanable? Or is it a "throw away" job? I have no idea how there work.
Rob
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I don't know this specific system but bet it is the same as most others. As you say the ECU needs checking for fault codes, there are gap measurements for the sensors but usually they are not adjustable, just replace them.
The front wheel sensors are the most likely fault on most ABS systems.
David W
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A while ago I posted the contents of a TSB from Valeo, explaining exactly what was involved in changing coolant, and how the items came to fail. But they forgot to mention that their c*** manufacturing, coupled with cost restraints from the manufacturers, was probably the main reason they failed.
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My 1998 Laguna with 44,000 miles and full service history, the heater matrix packed up, so did my water pump and Air con. (all listed in car-by-car breakdown!) Fortunately, it was under warranty! So I would'nt place your bets on them failing after or around 100k! Very expensive non-warranty jobs.
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Heater on my old Laguna still seemed OK at 87k although I flushed out enough brown cak to stain the area outside my garage red for a month.
On the other hand the Audi I bought to replace it is suffering from this wonderful problem at 55k. Audi dealer seemed to think there was a equal change of it being the matrix or the hose but as neither of these costs anything compared to the 600 quid they wanted to dismantle the dashboard to find out I declined their offer while I think about it. Halfords Radiator seal currently doing a sterling job in the meantime.
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