In my experience, Rare indeed! But you have a point in that it's mostly the
accessory bits that show the most failures. The starters are usually ok
(even the Paris Rhone and Ducillier), but the Alternators are relatively
crappy. Poor design on the diode pack, which ironically, is a mechanical
problem. (no matter what manufacturer)
Many of the later 505's seemed to have smaller gauge wiring for many things,
and thusly the "hot soak starter" issue is widely known. There was a
service bulletin issued and a dealer-installed Peugeot kit to add a Relay to
the starter solenoid so that it would get more than about 8 volts.
The system voltage, especially on the ZN3J, at night when the lights are on,
is lower than needed to keep the battery fully charged. My analysis was
that the gauge of the B+ alternator wires were inadequate for the design
amperage, and since the regulator senses voltage through those very same
lossy wires, it resulted in dim lights and even slower windows, wipers, etc.
How many extra batteries and alternators had to be purchased because of this
simple design oversight that went on for years?
The sad thing is that (On the ZN3J) you can actually rip out about 8 feet of
wire and replace it with a 10 inch piece and end up with a better performing
system, which also puts less stress on the alternator! So the cost-savings
argument is even invalid.
On many of the later cars (with multiport FI) they use those crappy DAV
connectors which are not water-tight and have low contact pressure. They
are used in all models to join the engine harness to the body harness, and
carry all the critical fuel injection signals. This gets wet, corroded, and
at the very least you end up with flashing codes, or poorly running engines,
even in areas with less harsh winters. The Relay board on the Turbo and V6
that sits over the fusebox is a big-time source of dead-on-the-road problems
for many cars too!
I've seen three 505 sedans (one was mine!) where the rear seat cushion
simply wore through the wires feeding the fuel pump. It results in the car
intermittently stalling, or sometimes blowing fuel pump (Tachymetric) relays
and/or fuses. The funny part is that it only manifested itself when you had
adults sitting in back. Usually friends, Relatives, or even your Boss.
VERY embarrassing!
One of my father's sedans developed this same problem when my elderly
grandmother sat in back. They got stuck with a dead car on the side of the
road.
Problems like this cannot be blamed on suppliers. It is due simply to
electromechanical design engineering faults. I would have fired the whole
electrical engineering department after the first several years of this!
-Phil
----- Original Message -----
OnFrom: "Mike Murphy" <fmmurphy@cadmus.ca>
Cc: <peugeot-L@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Tuesday, January 17, 2006 7:03 PM
Subject: Re: [Peugeot-L] Electrical Quality
> Yo, Phil:
>
> I don't want to rely on the Law of Very Small Numbers, but the electrics
> on my 84 505 GL wagon were absolutely bullet-proof for the entire 18
> years that I owned it. One thing that may have helped is that the car
> was rust-checked every year, which meant the grounds were always in good
> shape. The later cars have more electrics and are admittedly quirkier,
> but that '84 was a trooper first class. But even with the later cars,
> the heavy duty components, like starters and alternators, are generally
> pretty good.
>
> Mike Murphy in Toronto
> 5 licensed 505s - whoo-hoo!
>
>
>
> Recommended format for your email subject lines:
> Model # [Model Letters] Year Subject
>
> Examples:
> 505 88 V6 Mileage
> 405 Mi16 89 Ignition Coil source?
> ************************************************
> To unsubscribe from this list send a blank email message to
> PEUGEOT-L-UNSUBSCRIBE@EGROUPS.COM
> ************************************************
>
> Yahoo! Groups Links
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
Recommended format for your email subject lines:
Model # [Model Letters] Year Subject
Examples:
505 88 V6 Mileage
405 Mi16 89 Ignition Coil source?
To unsubscribe from this list send a blank email message to PEUGEOT-L-UNSUBSCRIBE@EGROUPS.COM
Yahoo! Groups Links
<*> To visit your group on the web, go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/peugeot-L/
<*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
peugeot-L-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com
<*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to:
http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
Received on Tue Jan 17 20:49:07 2006
