can anyone advise please?

[denisec]

Having just yesterday forked out £558 to get my old Fiesta through its MOT, we today discover from the garage that my partner's (equally old) Peugeot 306 has failed. It needs 2 x new headlights, a fog light and a drop link. The quote, which includes 3 hours labour and VAT, is £360.

Yesterday's expenditure on the Fiesta has all but skint us Neither of us are the least bit 'car savvy'... can I please ask, are the repairs to the Peugeot something that we can do ourselves with second hand parts (well, the lights anyway). We have a friend (who, typically, at this moment in time I can't get hold of) who is more than capable, I think, of doing the work for us but I need to let the garage know asap whether or not to go ahead.

Be most grateful for any advice.

Thank you.

 

[iwaters]

Drop links are easy enough to do, will probably only need a couple of spanners. You will need axel stands though as you will have to get under the car, don't just use the jack. You will need to jack both sides of the car up because otherwise you wilkl be fighting the pressure on the anti roll bar. There is a 'how to' here:

http://www.306gti6.com/forum/showthread.php?id=66344

As for the head lights, do you just need a new bulb or a whole new unit? What was the actual failure reason? They are fairly easy to swap although it might still fail if they are not aligned correctly. The pictures are missing but there is another how to here:

http://www.306gti6.com/forum/showthread.php?id=63655&page=1

 

[denisec]

Thanks so much for the reply. Unfortunately had to tell the garage to go ahead as we were in a bit of squeeze with OH needing the car for work and the MOT having just expired.. car-handy friend away on business it turns out.

The whole headlight units needed replacing; forgive my typically (for some) female ignorance on cars.. something to do with the orange film? Heck knows with the fog light.

Thank you, anyway, for the info and link.. it's been mentally stored away in case of future problems though I fear we're fast approaching two new cars time... or the bus

 

[Burnerman]

Budget around £60 per headlamp from a motor factor such as GSF; spot lamp about £40 (usually a dealer bit) and £15 per drop link.
Headlamps are easy to do, needing a 10mm spanner. Spotlamp is easy enough if it can be reached from under the front bumper. Drop link a bit more technical needind a 19mm socket and 5mm allen key....usually I just cut them off due to corrosion.
Usually an MOT tester will set the beam alignment up for you if you ask him.
John