My head gasket blew at 36,000 miles.
Six months later, the car had starting problems. It began to chug and lose power and idle erratically. It went to local garage who suggested it may have been a faulty spark plug and offered to change it free of charge as they had done the service a few months before.
I continued to experience starting problems for months after until one morning when it failed to start at all. It was not the battery. It went to a dealer and they replaced the manifold and something else to do with the oxygen intake. This cost me £220!
Even after these repairs, it was not running right and still cut out in the morning when attempting to start the car. It went back to the dealers 3 times in all, having a stepper motor fitted and lastly a new coil pack.
The car was on the road for a couple of weeks and the something else occurred. The dials on the petrol gauge, rev counter and speedo went to nil. This has just been repaired.
When this car is running OK it is a lovely car to drive, but due to nearly a years worth of faults, I am reluctant to keep the car.
It is a real shame as the car looks nice and has a lot of extras plus air conditioning.
You made the mistake of buying the 1400 petrol. it's the old TU series engine they've been sticking in cars since the late 1970's. I believe that Renault 14's even had them!! next time try Diesel they are Peugeots main strength.
Sorry to hear of your bad experiences with your 306. Sad to say that head gaskets failing are a result of overheating. The excess heat causes the alloy cylinder head to warp allowing the fluids to seep out under pressure. Bad/lack of maintenance is the cause regardless of engines manufacturer. The starting problems you describe are usually a result of defective ignition components or incorrect ignition timing. Mal-adjusted ignition timing invariably causes overheating.
The garage looking after your 306 would seem to have some explaining to do. The engine itself is fairly standard so any faults or potential faults should have been noticed and rectified by them.
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