405 Diesel Engine / Gearbox / Performance Information

There have been 5 different diesel engines used over the years, all being from the legendary Peugeot XUD range, these being designated as following:-

1.8 (1769cc) Turbo engine  -  known as A8A  or  XUD7TE/L

1.9 (1905cc) non-turbo, non-catalyst/EGR engine  -  known as D9B  or  XUD9A/L

1.9 (1905cc) non-turbo with catalyst/EGR  -  known as DJZ  or  XUD9Y

1.9 (1905cc) Turbo, non-catalyst/EGR engine  -  known as D8A  or  XUD9TE/L

1.9 (1905cc) Turbo, with catalyst/EGR  -  known as DHY  or  XUD9TE/Y

To identify which engine a car has, you will find the three letters A8A, D9B, DJZ, D8A or DHY stamped on a plate which is attached to the front of the cylinder block. This can be found reasonably easily as it is at the front of the engine (facing the engine bay from the front of the car). The Catalyst fitted cars are the very latest ones. My Sep 95 car (N reg) is a non-cat D8A engine. Obviously, this means I won't have to worry about the cat going wrong on mine, but if you are an anti-cat person make sure you find out whether its got one before buying. The engine type should tell you this.

There have been two different gearboxes used on the Diesel cars. Early ones had a type called BE1 where as the majority of cars have the latter BE3 box. All the differences are essentially internal, and the latter one is better. Early ones (BE1) can suffer from syncro-mesh problems, so watch out. You can easily tell which box the car has because selection of reverse gear requires the use of a collar on the gear lever on BE1 box cars. The later BE3 does not have a collar on the gear lever. If you can, go for a BE3 box car, otherwise you may have some bills to pay later.

Generally speaking, the gear change on 405's is not the best around. It is what I would call a 'heavy - slow' change and can be a bit clunky / balky when cold. If you are used to a flick switch change (like I was on my 205XS) it can take a bit of getting used to. Try to rush the gear selection and your likely to crunch it! Best driven with a leisurely attitude to gear changing. If however, it is very stiff, i.e. it hurts your arm changing gear, the linkage is probably seizing up. There is a fair bit to the linkage so slapping plenty of grease on it regularly is not a bad idea.

As far as performance goes, there is very little difference between the 1.8 and 1.9 Turbo versions. The big difference is between the turbo and non-turbo fitted cars (as you would expect). If you are really going for economy as a first priority and performance as a second then the non-turbo 1.9 would be perfectly adequate. However, if you want to move along swiftly - even when fully loaded, the Turbo engine cars are for you. The Turbo itself does nothing until around 2250 RPM, at which point the car really takes off. The is no turbo lag detectable when accelerating briskly when above the 2250 RPM. The difference in price between identically specified cars, except one with a turbo and the other without is around £800 for a car costing in excess of £6000. I personally probably couldn't live with a non-turbo - but that is my personal driving style I guess. See the figures below and make you own mind up!

I am as yet to come across one fitted with a Catalytic converter. The cars fitted with these must be the very last ones, for my Sep 95 GLX TD has not got one fitted. There is not a great deal to worry about if it has got one - the scares of Cat failures (although they can happen) are pretty exaggerated really. New engine 'breathing' mods done to the head and cam mean that performance lost should be unnoticeable.

* Fuel consumption is government figures. Figures quoted are the estate models. Saloon cars are marginally faster 0-60 and have a slightly higher top speed.