New owner - read all this, if you can. Or want to

[Booster]

Hey guys.
Bought a 02, 2.0litre, silver CC three weeks ago. It has 85k on the clock and if I'm honest it does look like its a 10 year old car that's gone round the Earth 3 times. Has a small dent and some obvious lost car park battles. That said its not in too bad a shape, you wouldn't look at it and say, " That's a bit rough". It just needs a bit of TLC which I've started to apply.
So, a bit of history....I have a 100 mile round trip per day to work. 94 of those miles are on the M6 so my "Work" cars has, to date, have all been more function than form. For example the last car I owned was a diesel Fiesta on a 'R' plate with 190k on the clock. Had it three years, never broke once. Thing is though, doing 470 miles per week on a motorway doesn't need a car with dynamic handling, it just needs to drive straight and brake ok. It was an absolute shed, but did 52mpg. So last month, after an issue with a MOT being issued, or rather NOT being issued I decided to buy another car. Was looking for a reasonable spec with great fuel economy. So, started looking at diesel206s (75mpg) sounded good and I quite liked the front end styling especially. Fired up Autotrader for a gander and couldn't stop checking out 206cc. I'm a sensible bloke, quite tight as well, so looking at petrol cars with a 48mpg spec for driving 100miles a day in a straight line was pretty extreme for me. But, regardless, I bought one, for a smidge under £2k. Keep asking myself Why? Well, when I was 18 I bought a XR3i cab and absolutely loved it. Got married, had kids, bought mortgage and became sensible. Always wanted a soft top ever since losing the xr3i but things got in the way. So I'm now 44 yrs old with a wife and 3 kids (10, 14 & 14 yrs) and I've bought a sporty convertible. Read into that what you want but it is what it is.
Anyways, trying to make the car look nice now - new gear knob and gaiter, new aerial, stuck back trim that was loose, refurbed alloys, a few subtle chrome things in cabin, a starter button (always, always wanted one of those), expensive mats, proper two-day valet, USB charging system, k&n filter, chrome hoops, wind deflector (soon), upgraded ICE (soon) and I'm toying with the idea of a stainless grill (I just like the look but am conscious that it could just be too close to boy racer spec and I do like to keep cars as close to stock as poss) still more thinking and soul searching to do on that one. I am enjoying myself though. After ten years of frankly rubbish cars it's nice to take pride in my motor again.
So, if you've got this far, well done, think it might have been a slog for you. I do have a couple of questions about the car. If someone could help, I'd be grateful.
I've got an awful rattle. The sound seems related to engine revs and I'm sure it's the heat shield. Do 206s have history of anything else that can rattle underneath?
This one could be nasty! When I start it up (Hot or cold) there's a knocking it sounds like a big-end type or even a water pump type knocking noise, you know sort of substantial, sort of big-pieces-of-metal knocking. It stops knocking after a couple of seconds. Any ideas?
Can anyone give me an idea of the type of problems you should look out for particular to 206s after buying one?
I'm not usually this boring by the way. From now on I promise to keep posts to just a few lines with some daft yellow smileys if your lucky.

All the best guys, great to be part of the forum. Speak soon, if you let me speak ever again that is Mr/Ms Mods

[GrandadMonkey]

Hello and welcome to the forum.

The exhaust manifold can rattle on the 2.0 litre. I think they can be welded rather than replace with a new one. Non-standard and poorly fitted exhausts can rattle too. There is probably a heat shield near the cat which is worth checking.

The knocking could be serious - oil pressure related? Oil quality? Non standard oil filters have been known to collapse - use the genuine Peugeot filter only. Hydraulic tappets??? !!! Often a problem with earlier 2.0 engines. Oil and filter changes have been known to be overlooked with the 2 year servicing interval. I believe in changing the oil and filter at least annually or every 10,000 miles.

If the timing belt (& pulleys) and water pump haven't already been renewed then they are overdue. If the water pump is knocking and on the way out (not surprising at that age), then if it seizes it will take the timing belt with it and wreck the engine.

By the way, you won't get 48 mpg. No chance....

Good luck.

[DRAPER]

get about 30mpg in mine lol

and mine rattles too tbh i dont worry about it till the roof is off but once warmed up the rattle stops

[Booster]

Thanks for replies guys. The rather freaky but nether-the-less magical, sunny weather a couple of weeks ago (We scraped 23 degrees up here in Warrington) allowed me to get the top down for a a few days and you're absolutely right, all the things that are wrong that wind me up, suddenly didn't wind me up at all.
On the mpg thing, the first week of ownership wasn't too economical (As I explored the cars dynamic limits) but in week 2 I did 48.6mpg, week 3 (With a proper effort) I managed 50.95. I've just filled up, done the calculation (To 2 decimal points) and posted 48.6mpg. I usually get about 450 miles on a full tank. Dont forget though 422 of those 450 miles were done sat in the inside lane of the M6 at no more than 60 mph. In addition to that there's a great big hill near Stoke On Trent on the southbound M6, a couple of miles long that I tackle in neutral (So that's 10 miles a week done on tick-over) I always short shift as well, never going above 3000 RPM. You dont want to be a passenger in my car - people die of boredom. But as I said in my intro' post - I'm tight. I'm being a bit harsh on myself a bit. I've just bought a clay block, T-Cut, and McGuires 2 stage polish and wax "Systems" and some touch-up paint. Going to pick a nice sunny weekend and clean the damn thing to within an inch of it's life. Then possibly feel bad because every subsequent mile I drive (At 50mpg) will be destroying all my hard work as it gets progressively dirtier. Still, it needs doing. At present I'm waxing over the top of contaminated paint work. Dirt is still dirt wether it's shiny or not.

John

[Chushpie]

Hi Booster

How much did it cost to have your alloys refurbished? I wouldn't mind having mine done as a couple of wheels really let the car down, especially as I had 4 new tyres fitted on Friday. I think the woman that owned the car before me had 'parking issues'!!!

Slight change of subject, cute dog - is it a Puggle?

[DRAPER]

how the heck ya get that mpg lol highest ive had is 33mpg and the lowest is 22mpg hehe

[Booster]

Prices vary with how much you want done. If you get the whole wheel stripped, skimmed, painted and lacquered they look brand new but can cost neary as much as a new set. +400 quid. But if it's just the tyre rim that's damaged it can be sorted for about £50 a wheel if you use a mobile service or as low as £40 a wheel if you take the wheels / car to the garage. Spose prices vary with location as well, further south you go more it is. Darwins pretty northern and damn nice countryside as well. Better driving round there when it's hot than the Manchester/Liverpool/Wigan conurbation I drive through.
Good wheels make such a difference though.

Dogs a Jug BTW (3/4 Pug, 1/4 jack Russell. He is absolutely fantastic best £300 I've ever spent. 2 yrs old and more human than some humans I've met. When I take him out he's a Jug in a Pug. Really sorry about that - pretty weak I know. But he doesn't like walking so much, likes sitting in the passenger seat with his head out the window. God only knows if I can take him out with the roof down. Fear he may jump out. We'll see

[Booster]

Mpg - its easy given the type of journey I do. 100 miles a day, 96 on the motorway, 6 days a week, not very fast? If I don't do owt on the 7th day Bob yer uncle. I'm under no illusion though, when the weather picks up and we go out and about it'll drop massively, I've already started saving up for that. But don't get me started on fuel prices. Any folk out there that remember the eighties in some fashion will know fuel's risen in price completely disproportionately to everything else. It was 40p per litre in 1989 and just 79p 10 years ago. It's nearly doubled in last 12 years - how's that fair. Beans haven't doubled! TVs haven't either. Nor toothpaste.
Rant over. Apologies.

[Booster]

Draper, got to admit summat here though relating to mpg. That day I talked about in my first post where I "checked out the dynamic handling" for a bit. I did a two mile journey in 'Boy racer on Asda car park mode' and posted 14mpg, took a mil of the fronts and had the block ticking like a clock - in about four minutes. My wife shouting at me very loudly and very (I didn't know she had it in her) abusively made me stop and say sorry. I certainly didn't teach her words like that, didn't know a lot of em so have looked them up. Good grief, enough said.
Only let my kids in the car now as passengers. And don't drive fast just in case I learn more words from them.

[GrandadMonkey]

And the timing belt etc?

[stokes]

have u got any photos mate with the mods u have done