2 minutes ago, StephenFord said:

You absolutely use the crocodile clip to attach it to the chassis. Like I said look for an exposed nut or similar in proximity to the battery, see attached, circled in red a few exposed nuts to attach clip to.. You'll not electrocute yourself, it's 12v...

 

That's lovely and clean

thanks we will try this @StephenFord on a dry day ☔️

hi @StephenFord 

thanks a lot for your help. my sister’s battery is now fully charged and she can get into her car.

i was wondering if you could help with my car? its a peugeot 207 verve 2008 model. its been running fine.  we checked the battery with the testser and it says  12.4 so we were going to do the same that we did with my sister’s car & top the battery up. 

Is it ok to do this? is it the same principle as the ford or are there any idiosyncrasies that 207’s have. I am nervous as my ex once said batteries can explode and you can get shocks if you don’t connect to the positive and negative properly. would be very grateful if you could advise.

 thank you once again Stephen 

57 minutes ago, drlu said:

hi @StephenFord 

Is it ok to do this? is it the same principle as the ford or are there any idiosyncrasies that 207’s have.

Good job he's your 'ex' LOL Exactly the same principal. By the way, your battery charger has a built in protection so that if you do get the terminals the wrong way round, worse that will happen is you'll see an 'error' message on the charger screen. Connect charger +ve to +ve of battery, and -ve to a bare bit of metal close to battery, once crocodile clips are securely attached, plug the charger into mains and let it do it's stuff...

Thanks. Yes, great to know there’s even more good reasons he’s my ex lol!

On my sister’s car, she ended up having to connect the negative of the charger to the negative post of the battery. When she connected it to metal of the car, the charger just didn’t work at all. So if that ends up being the same on my car, would it be ok to connect the postivie to positive abs negative to negative charger to battery without any grounding to metal? The car is a Peugeot 207 Verve 2008.  

My sister can thank you enough for your help. You are a star ⭐️It was really good for her after surgery to be able to sort this out herself, with your help  Cheers 🍻

 

3 minutes ago, drlu said:

When she connected it to metal of the car, the charger just didn’t work at all. So if that ends up being the same on my car, would it be ok to connect the postivie to positive abs negative to negative charger to battery without any grounding to metal? The car is a Peugeot 207 Verve 2008. 

The reason it likely didn't work was that though you thought it was 'bare' metal, it likely had some paint on it insulating it from the charger. Fortunately, your Ford was old enough for it not to matter it being connected to the battery directly.

More modern cars have a built in BMS (Battery Monitoring System), so if you put the -ve on the battery, you'll bypass it, and the cars brain will not realise the battery has been charged. I've a feeling the 2008 Peugeot will not have a BMS sensor either, so should be OK connecting direct to battery.

Thanks @StephenFord for explaining. Will give it a go on a dry day. 

You really do deserve an award for your helpfulness. we are both truly grateful as you have got us out of a pickle.

Have a nice evening. 

53 minutes ago, drlu said:

You really do deserve an award for your helpfulness

Please don't encourage him, there'll simply be no living with him on the forum 🤣🤣🎉🤣🤣

48 minutes ago, unofix said:

Please don't encourage him, there'll simply be no living with him on the forum 🤣🤣🎉🤣🤣

ha ha love it!! 

hi @StephenFord

Can i ask a question about brake fluid. 

How often should brake fluid be topped up, what should it be topped up with? My brakes on my Peugeot 207 sound a bit squeaky- could it be a case of just needed some topping up of brake fluid? or does it sound more serious? 

I have had the car since 2020- its had 1 major service in 2020 and I don’t drive it for very long distances at all. 

i will be putting in for a major service soon- i just wondered if it will help

matters if i top up brake fluid- or is this usually down to a car professional to top up? thanks and hope you are well 😊

23 minutes ago, drlu said:

hi Can i ask a question about brake fluid. How often should brake fluid be topped up, what should it be topped up with?

It should be topped up with specific 'brake fluid' there are different grades for different cars. As for how often it should be topped up, well, I've had my car almost 5 years, I've never topped it up! (Nor any other car in 40+ years LOL)

You say you'll be getting it serviced soon, that should be part of a service where the level is checked, and topped up if necessary, which is unlikely.

The 'squeaking' noise you mention is likely a mechanical issue, nothing to do with the fluid in the system. Again, with you putting it in for a service, I'd mention the squeak, likely needs new pads, or the pads needing a bit of copper grease on the back of them. Hard to fully diagnose a 'squeak' on the internet 😂

18 minutes ago, StephenFord said:

Hard to fully diagnose a 'squeak' on the internet

Could be the mouse 🤣

11 minutes ago, unofix said:

Could be the mouse 🤣

Suppose instead of copper grease, you'll be needing a cat 🤣

Wow. Some of us (and you've got 3 of the worst culprits just replied) are notorious for going off the original topic, but I think this deserves a special prize!😀

Joking apart, unless the fluid level is low, there should be no need to top up. If it's significantly low, that would indicate leakage in the system. Like Stephen, I can't recall actually doing a top up myself either, unless there's been a leakage problem.

The clue is probably in the low usage  - rusty discs, dirty pads, etc can lead to "squeeky" noises.

Might be a good idea to ask your garage to do a thorough brake check/strip/clean as necessary, also to test the brake fluid and again, replace it if the water moisture content is above limits, brake fluid being hygroscopic.

Lucy, I hope you're not offended, but you sound as if you are a 'beginner' on looking after a car. If so, there are a series of 'YouTubes' done by a guy who specialises on doing shorts on simple maintenance jobs, 'CarSpyTV'.

This is a link to his Ford Focus Mk2 videos, I have often referred to them myself...

https://www.youtube.com/@CarSpyTV/search?query=ford focus

Even one on how to check the brake fluid!

 

Thank you Eric and Stephen for being super helpful again & making me laugh.

yes i’m new to looking after cars, i’m mid forties and only passed my test a few years ago. its soo nice not to get the bus any more 🤣 

Thanks for all that info- as usual super helpful. 

thanks for your kindness 

squeak squeak 🐁🐁

Ps- i’m the technical geek in our household- i fix boilers, washing machines and tech stuff generally doesn’t faze me. cars are quite new to me as i’m a new driver. I change my fuses, replace lights on my car too. 

You lot are so helpful on here- i trust your opinion. 

Lucy aka mechanic in the making 🤣

hi everyone  and my helpful friend @StephenFord

i have a question about my 207. took it for an interim service at a local garage and they said there is oil in coolant. they put some water in it- to clear it a bit but they didn’t flush the system- as it would take too long.  they suggested I run the car for short runs to see how it goes and see if more oil seeps in.

Stupidly, i didn’t take a photo of the coolant when it was newly filled/ from garage. Its been on a few small journeys over the weekend. Today- coolant looks brown- see photos. dipped rag shows pink coolant  so - this looks promising. 

there is no white smoke, the oil looks good too as per photos. the car has been running well. 

the headgasket was replaced in 2021. 

since owning the car - it doesn’t drive massively long distances.

since this coolant issue, I obviously don’t want to drive the car if head gasket looks likely to go. 

Can anyone advise what they would do?

i’m thinking if getting an independent diagnostic check with either AA or RAC to see what they think.

if any of you have any suggestions- that would be fab too

cheers. 

My immediate reaction with oil in coolant is a blown head gasket, but you've said it's been replaced and you'd have to be very unlucky to have it go again. Though if it was done incorrectly in the past, I wouldn't strike it off the list. The head may not have been properly skimmed to give a sound seal, so it still may be the fault.

I'll let other, more seasoned mechanically minded members throw their hat in the ring before you continue the diagnosis...

The TU engine is well known for blowing headgaskets.  (And has been since the 90's!)

They really need to be warmed up fully before any hard driving.  Lots of short cold runs don't them any favours.

The gasket probably has failed again.

If you've got a dishwasher, crush up a dishwasher tablet and drop into the coolant reservoir then run for a few miles.  Then drain the whole lot and refill with clean water.  The dishwasher tablet should remove any old oil & grease.  So if it goes brown again, there's definitely new oil getting in.

I don't think there's an oil cooler on this engine, so the only way for oil & coolant to mix is via the headgasket or occasionally a cracked head.

hi everyone  and my helpful friend @StephenFord

i have a question about my 207. took it for an interim service at a local garage and they said there is oil in coolant. they put some water in it- to clear it a bit but they didn’t flush the system- as it would take too long.  they suggested I run the car for short runs to see how it goes and see if more oil seeps in.

Stupidly, i didn’t take a photo of the coolant when it was newly filled/ from garage. Its been on a few small journeys over the weekend. Today- coolant looks brown- see photos. dipped rag shows pink coolant  so - this looks promising. 

there is no white smoke, the oil looks good too as per photos. the car has been running well. 

the headgasket was replaced in 2021. 

since owning the car - it doesn’t drive massively long distances.

since this coolant issue, I obviously don’t want to drive the car if head gasket looks likely to go. 

Can anyone advise what they would do?

i’m thinking if getting an independent diagnostic check with either AA or RAC to see what they think.

if any of you have any suggestions- that would be fab too

cheers. 

thanks both for your replies.

i’ll keep you posted. have a good day