Ownership Verified: My 1990 Peugeot 205 XS

[Animate]

And a more current image

Animate, taking pictures of people's cars while they're away since '14. I even considered brushing all the snow away, but then I was like nahhh. :--D

 

[nicjasno]

Yeah, he can do that himself.

 

[public]

A few weeks on the countryside by itself and two of the Hankook winters had flattened. What gives? Jacked the car up and inflated the tires at the nearest service station.

 

[public]

Fast forward a few months and I have mainly just had the car sit outside, as I've focused on getting the MX-5 and getting it serviced and registered. But now that it's proven itself to be useable and reliable, I need to check up on the 205.

Who knows how long the car sat there without me even starting it? Still, it started like I had left it there yesterday. The last time I drove it, the driver side front brake was dragging and smoking a little, but new brake pads are on the shelf so that's something I'd like to tackle with a friend at some point.

In any case, it was long overdue for summer tires and I swapped those on today. Another thing was the slightly less cracked hatch plastic that I put on, along with cleaning the accumulated muck from under the old one.

Some chafing.

And the stickers haven't weathered too well.

I also swapped on a new blinker and headlight, the former a new Taiwanese one and the latter a better-condition junkyard Valeo than the old one. They were quite easily tackled, but I was miffed by the windscreen washer. The pump works, the hoses are clear (I blew on it to make sure), so maybe the jets are clogged. At least the headlight washers work, so removing them isn't maybe the most crucial thing.

The brake didn't drag when I drove it around the block, and it was nice to be back in the car again. I should give it more attention more often.

 

[nicjasno]

The headlight washers are awesome! Don't you dare removing them.

 

[public]

Well, since they work it would make sense to keep them. But I prefer a cleaner front.

And clearly since the headlights come off with little more than a wave of your hand, you're practically given a clear view of some of the bumper bolts.

 

[Perc]

Random thought: The headlight sprayers on the XM have the bolts mounted really close to the headlight glass. All it takes to crack the lens is a supermarket-grade bump. Apparently.

 

[eizbaer]

stumbled across this, decided i should post it here:

seems to be old peugeot advertising material + ridiculous synth music

 

[Posmo]

How fucking awesome is that video..?? :lol:

 

[public]

So good

 

[public]

I've been driving the 205 again, as it nears inspection and I'd like for it to go there all loosened and warmed up, instead of having sat outside for months with tree residue and poo on it. A car feels better when it's been driven recently, and I did a 200+ km roundtrip with it yesterday to burn off some carbons. It works fairly faultlessly, there's something wrong with the wiring on the front blinker and the front suspension makes a loose noise on uneven surfaces, but nothing that annoys you too much. I'm fairly adamant it'll fail inspection, but I'll go there all tactical, as Monday's the last legit day to get it done so there'll be a month of fix-up time. If I were to go there on Tuesday, it would be overdue and not allowed on the road until repaired and passed.

I really like being behind the wheel of the Pug again. It's just as good to drive as on the roadtrip, or better, now that the engine mounts have been done. There's still a clunk if you lift the clutch carelessly, but you need less effort to drive it smoothly than earlier. The plugs could probably use a change again, and I should change the oil, but first I'll just see what they say at the MOT station and work forwards from there. That means, if the rear axle has suddenly developed the characteristic bearing fault, all bets are off and the car will become more of a project car instead of a daily driver with a couple small faults.

I'm also really happy I put the stripe on the front, it belongs there :lol:

Headlight stuffs:

The fluid reservoir is right there under the headlight, which is a short distance for it really...

 

[public]

Very nearly a pass, if it wasn't for this:

The bushing was bad in February last year, now it was worse... It did fine in Romania, though

Anyways, with minor demerits we're good to go after I find a replacement bushing or get replacement rear shocks (depending what is available). A pair of Sachs from the nearest shop is 100e, they even have them on the shelf. And the front blinker worked on the way home from inspection...

Edit: Online shopping shows rear shock prices at 20 to 35 eur per piece, with cheap shipping...

 

[tquattro]

Taking that nut off looks like a fun job.

 

[public]

Yeah totally, it probably needs a torch for it.

 

[public]

There's a Peugeot dealer in Southern Finland that has the bushings in stock for 10 eur apiece. I do think it would make more sense to swap on fresh shocks since they're not that much more expensive per side.

 

[Galantti]

10 eur is really cheap

Taking that nut off looks like a fun job.

only a nutjob would try to open it.

 

[Posmo]

Be sensible and just replace the entire shocks

 

[Polkky]

^ what he said.

 

[IceBone]

The man buys cars at a ratio of 1 hp/euro. Sensible?

 

[public]

The man buys cars at a ratio of 1 hp/euro. Sensible?

Isn't that exceptionally good value?