Cam Belt Snapped - Notification

[Miles More]

Dear Forum,

 

I have a 59 plated Citroen C5 Tourer, which has the 2.0 HDI diesel engine.

 

I bought this vehicle as a year old ex-demo from a Citroen main dealer in Redhill.

 

I have an airport transfer business based in Norwich, which takes customers to & from the London airports.

I do around 70 to 80 thousand miles a year & mostly motorway driving.

 

Since I purchased this car, I have had this vehicle regularly serviced by my local main dealer. My vehicle is at 226,000 miles and up to last week is still in fantastic condition & a good runner. I have had a previous C5, which I achieved 400,000 miles & therefore I know these Citroen C5 HDi engines are good for many miles.

 

My problem is that as I regularly serviced my car with a Citroen main dealer, I thought that they should advise me or automatically replace the cam belt when required during the routine service. My cam belt snapped last week & it looks like it has damaged the sort of fail safe rockers. This job is still going to be expensive to put right.

I asked the garage if they had replaced the cam belt at around 150k, which is when I have been advised they should be changed. There computer system does not show that they have ever carried out a cam belt replacement.

 

Is it possible that a car can achieve 226k miles without a cam belt replacement? More importantly is my garage responsible for not advising me that the cam belt needed replacing?

 

 

[paul.h]

Welcome to the forum.

 

In the Maintenance and Warranty Guides that came with our 2011 C4 and a 2010 C3 (which applies to all Citroens), for the 2.0 hdi it has cam belt change at 140k miles or 10 years whichever is first, but for arduous conditions which probably do not apply in your case, it is 112500 miles or 10 years. It has normal servicing intervals as 20k miles or 2 years. You could look in your own Maintenance and Warranty Guide to see if these intervals are different. Many people tend to have the cambelt changed at intervals sooner than advised due to the risks and it is not that long since intervals were 40k miles and 4 years. If your cambelt was still the original one, it may have lasted so many miles due to the type of driving - not many starts/stops, steady speed, few gear changes, not old enough for the rubber (or whatever it is made from) to start to degrade.

 

I would think responsibility for having your car serviced remains with the owner, unless you have a maintenance contract or some other agreement that they just do anything needed without you having to agree to it and you will just pay up. However, at my Citroen dealer they do advise on what is needed since the service record is kept on computer - which I think is a Citroen system. Whether or not their advice is taken though is up to the customer who has to pay. If work is done outside of the Citroen dealership it would not appear on their records. A cam belt change (including pulleys, tensioner, water pump, anti freeze) at a dealer is around Â£400 so they would not do this work without prior authorisation from a customer. The same principle applies to things like brake pads/discs that cost £200 to £300 to replace, it would not be done without the customer agreeing. If your cambelt had been changed a year ago then I am sure you would have questioned the total service bill of around £700 if you had not agreed to the work.

 

It will be interesting to see what others have to add. The ideas that somebody who has no knowledge of car maintenance, maybe does not read or understand the Maintenance and Warranty Guide and hence totally relies on the dealer to advise on servicing needs will apply to many people and could be a good discussion point.

[Johndouglas]

Were you having your car serviced at a general garage I would say that the belt would not be changed unless a specific order was given. However where the car is regularly serviced by a Citroen dealer I think that the owner should have been made aware that the belt change was due. The various HDI engines have different belt change intervals and many owners will be completely reliant on the advice of the service department.

[coastline taxis]

probally be cheaper to put a second hand engine with less miles in.  What we do is chuck the service schedule away as the cars are running every day. timing belts are done every year also all fluids brake.lds, antfreeze etc etc. your in the same game as us so itl come straight of your tax bill