So, it’s been a couple of weeks with the bargain basement 306, and I’ve spent enough time with it to find its faults – we’ll see how much more falls off in the coming weeks.
The radiator seems to have a leak. I’ve had to top the beast up with water a couple of times in the last three weeks. A red light flickers on the dashboard when the water level drops below a certain level in the system. Topping this up seems to cure the light for a week or so. I read on t’interweb that 306′s have a tendancy to eat radiators, and with age and mileage, they tend to leak at the bottom of the radiator. From a quick inspection this seems to be where my water is leaking from.
I can find a replacement radiator off eBay for about 40 quid, and I think i could make a reasonable crack at fitting it myself – the DTurbo is a purely mechanical beast, no crazy engine electrics or anything, but this car is supposed to be ‘zero maintenance’ for me, so I’m tempted to just chuck a can of Radweld in the rad and see how it goes…
The airbag light flickers on and off from the moment the engine is started. After a mile or two (or a few minutes – not worked out yet if it’s distance or time dependant) the light stops flashing, and stays solid. Again, Google-fu and the countless 306 enthusiast sites out there, all concur that this is a (very) common fault with these cars. There are some electrical connectors which run under the front seats which connect to the seat-belt pre-tensioners. These perish with age, and with regular use of the folding front seats on the 3 door model (which mine is). So, I’m not too concerned about this – after all, back in the day, no cars had airbags, did they? 
Radio. The radio works, and it’s quite a nice aftermarket Sony unit with a CD player. However, the dolt that owned the car before me drove the car through a car wash…forgetting to take the removable roof-mounted aerial off. Cue; one broken aerial. The lack of said aerial makes for FM radio that sounds like Atlantic 252 Longwave radio. I need to source a replacement aerial, and drill out the remainder of the aerial ‘screw’ from the roof mount. This should be a doddle, whenever I get five minutes to do it, that is.
Rear wash-wipe. The rear wiper works. The washer jet, doesn’t. I can hear the pump whirring when I activate it, just no water comes out. It probably needs unblocking, or re-connecting.
That was my list, up until yesterday evening. Since then, the front seat appears to be stuck and will not fold forward to aid someone getting in the back. I reckon this’ll just be stiff and in need of a good hard thump.
Apart from these fairly small things, it seems to be going well. Engine runs well, stops, starts, steers. Everything else works. Even the electric windows and sunroof! Of course, it all might explode in a puff of acrid black diesel smoke tomorrow, but, for the time being, the 306 of Doom soldiers on.
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