My Citroen C8 2.2 HDi is getting on for 8 years old but has only done 60K miles so, although the cambelt was advertised as lasting for 100K miles, I think 8 years old meant the belt was due for a change. A nearby Peugeot dealer quoted £650 for belt, idlers and water pump. My favourite indy ummed and aahed about doing the change saying they hadn't got the right tool so I took it to another garage I haven't used for a while, but was I sure that I wanted a water pump? £480 to replace the belt, idlers and water pump with Motaquip parts and do an air-con service, and can I have the old bits back please?
The belt looked pristine, no dust or cracks even when bent backwards; the faces of the teeth were polished. The fixed idler could be spun by hand and was silent. The adjustment idler was also silent but a little sticky when rotated. The water pump couldn't be spun at all, it had a nasty, sticky action and wasn't silent but I couldn't detect any play.
I think I may have given the old girl a new lease of life considering that a few C8s with snapped cambelts have cropped up on Ebay. By reputation a diesel C8 is scrap, or needs a new engine, if the cambelt snaps. Something to do with the injectors siezing in position.
The only gripe I have is that whoever put the plastic scuttle trim back trapped the windscreen washer pipe under one of the trim screws. This pulled the pipe off the wiper arm when I used the wipers. A 2 minute fix but it makes you wonder what else the mechanic missed that can't be seen.
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...The water pump couldn't be spun at all, it had a nasty, sticky action and wasn't silent but I couldn't detect any play...
Some new water pumps I've handled could be described in that way.
Yours obviously has 60K/eight years wear, but it doesn't look like it was about to fail.
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I’ve just had the same job done on my petrol Xantia; it’s 13 years old and needs a belt every 72k. The first one was done at 68k,just in case. A local indi did the job, and I asked him to check/replace tensioners etc if they needed it. The water pump had just started weeping so it was changed. This time I asked for the pump and tensioners to be replaced as a matter of course, with 127k on the clock and given that the extra cost isn’t much, in my opinion, it was worth doing. My annual mileage has dropped off so it was as much a time thing as distance. The total cost, including new auxiliary drive belt and antifreeze was £350 including the compulsory donation to hmg. Your £480 with the aircon doesn’t seem too bad.
I think the drag you can feel on the water pump is the shaft seal “They all do that, Sir”
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>> I think the drag you can feel on the water pump is the shaft seal
>> “They all do that, Sir”
>>
I have fitted 2 x new waterpumps to different cars: all were sticky.. There are lots of seals...
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The problem with the Diesel C8 in right hand drive form was that rainwater was allowed to get on top of the engine due to the absence of a cheap, retro fitted plastic deflector. Water gathered round the injectors, which are about a foot long, causing rust and subsequent seizure in the engine. Water was also able to get on the belt, with subsequent rusting to the steel re-inforcement.
The head wouldn't come off so there was no chance of checking the valves, etc, in the event of cambelt failure.
This happened to my daughters car about 4 years ago. Fortunately the selling garage eventually agreed to repair the car at no cost. The engine was sent off somewhere,
luckily a good dosing with 4 star Coca Cola eventually broke the grip of the rust.
She didn't trust it any more and they took the car back and cancelled the payments. I think she was lucky to get out of that one so cheaply.
Ted
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A former colleague had the belt fail on her 5 year old C8 diesel at 56,000 miles, whilst doing 70 on the motorway. It wrecked the engine, and the repair bill came to almost the value of the car. Citroen UK weren't interested, despite the presence of a full Citroen main dealer history, and the belt being only half way through its service life in terms of miles.
If you google 'C8 diesel timing belt problems', it seems premature belt failure is very common on these. I recall she mentioned something about water ingress onto the belt at the time, which was documented on several websites frequented by disgruntled owners.
She had lost all faith in the car at that point, and flogged it as a non-runner on eBay for spares or repair. Got less than a grand for it.
It was a good call for the OP to do the belt early.
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No wonder PSA have a poor reliability record and are losing market share.
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I would be and have been in recent years very reluctant to buy any vehicle ( with my own money ) which has a cambelt. I know there are those who say they are no bother if properly maintained but over the years I've had them let go on three separate cars despite having rigidly followed servicing schedules. In all 3 cases the belts went at fewer than 50k miles on cars less than 2 years old at the time. in all cases major engine damage and immediate immobilisation of the vehicles resulted.
No thanks !
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You'd prefer a Nissan with a Renault chain-cam engine perhaps or a Vauxhall chain-cam with loose cam bearings?
I thought only Lud had enough dosh to avoid all common engine problems.
;>)
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>> I would be and have been in recent years very reluctant to buy any vehicle
>> ( with my own money ) which has a cambelt. I know there are those
>> who say they are no bother if properly maintained but over the years I've had
>> them let go on three separate cars despite having rigidly followed servicing schedules. In all
>> 3 cases the belts went at fewer than 50k miles on cars less than 2
>> years old at the time. in all cases major engine damage and immediate immobilisation of
>> the vehicles resulted.
>>
You need to stop going through tunnels, dropping the clutch and banging those petrol engines off their rev limiters.
Petrol cars are femur wee beasties they need a gentle touch, add a turbo and you're just asking for bother.
I can't think of a chain cam engine I've owned, lots of belts and never one gone. Petrol turbo, don't get me started. Money pits the lot of them...Never had one last more than 90k miles without smoke plumes.
Tin hat, coat, door, gone...
Last edited by: gmac on Fri 27 Jul 12 at 20:32
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I had one belt fail, on a 1600 Sierra. It went at idle, and after timing everything back up and fitting a new belt kit, it started first go and ran perfectly OK.
Otherwise, I've never had a cambelt related problem, touch wood. Just changed them when the manufacturer stated, or ASAP if I'd bought a car without a solid service history.
Unless it snaps prematurely, the costs associated with cambelts are trivial when factored in to the general ownership and maintenance costs of a car. I can't say the cam drive system even enters my head when deciding to buy a car, unless it's due a belt, and therefore is a handy bargaining tool. Knocked the seller down £300 when buying my Golf GTI for that exact reason.
Of course, some cars / engines are known for cambelt problems. The Ford 1.8TD engine is one classic example. I believe many professional mechanics recommend they are changed at 30,000 miles. The engine in my Mondeo was a later type which had a thicker belt, and a revised cover which better protected the belt from the elements. Even so, they are not the most robust camshaft drive set up, which is frustrating when the engine is otherwise almost unbreakable.
Last edited by: DP on Sun 29 Jul 12 at 22:48
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>> would be and have been in recent years very reluctant to buy any vehicle ( with my own money ) which has a cambelt<<
I was of that mindset, and I swore I'd never be persuaded otherwise, until I bought a Mitsubishi Lancer.
:}
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Citroen C8 MPV - New cambelt and bits for the old hack - Iffy
