15th Nov 2010, 13:42
My 2004 C8 2.2 diesel has just lost its cam drive belt at 50,000 miles. £6000 I've been quoted for a replacement engine, the car would only be worth £4500 if it ran.
I'm having to think seriously about buying another car which will be a pity, because both the wife and I have enjoyed its comfortable ride in the 6 years I've owned it.
Looking at all the other comments, I would think that Citroen are going to lose a few sales over this engineering fiasco. What a pity.
15th Nov 2010, 14:50
Our cambelt went on our 03 C8 at 67k miles. Upon investigation by a Citroen Dealership, Citroen concluded the water pump had caused the belt to fail.
I have the water pump, and our independent mechanic can see nothing wrong with it. Citroen however do not want to know.
18th Nov 2010, 14:00
I have to thank my dealership for pursuing this problem for me. Citroen have accepted a warranty claim for this snapped camshaft drive belt, and are going to fit a brand new engine to my C8 free of charge. My bank balance is breathing great sighs of relief, and wishes me to thank Citroen.
19th Nov 2010, 16:10
Yep me too, cambelt gone, 2004, 80000 miles, on the out side lane of A1; 2 kids, 1 scared wife in a howling gale.
Indie garage doing the work, hoping for a bill less than a thousand or it's going in the nearest river.
That's it, no more french cars. Renaults are just as bad. Am sticking to good old Japanese crap.
11th Mar 2011, 10:50
Hi.
Oh dear, just bought a 2003 C8, then (typically afterwards) read all your comments regarding the cambelt etc..!
So, getting the cambelt and water pump changed as part of the deal, so fingers crossed this will be OK for 40k or so!
I have read somewhere there is a cheap (£15) water deflector fix to stop the water runoff from the windscreen pooling around the cambelt, has anyone heard of this?
Thanks.
Colin - worried new C8 owner...
12th May 2011, 16:43
The intermittent power loss may be a fault in the brake light switch attached to the brake pedal. It is meant to cut power when the brake pedal is pushed. Had this happen twice with my Picasso.
22nd May 2011, 13:44
So add me to the list of disgruntled C8 customers.
2.0 HDI 05 purchased for £9000 15 months ago. 2 weeks ago, the cambelt snapped. Luckily my husband was driving on a reasonably safe road on his own, 10 minutes before I was on the dual carriage way with my 4 children, aged 12 months to 5 years. To be honest, the consequences if it'd have happened then don't bear thinking about.
We have a small independent garage behind our house who recovered it the following day (the low fuel light had just come on and he wondered if a sensor had gone and it had simply run out of fuel - if only!!!). He confirmed on Friday that it's the cambelt, and hoped it was the 8 valve version where the valves are apparently designed to break on impact and minimise any damage. Obviously ours is the 16v version, and he's got to get the engine out to diagnose all the damage.
So the situation at the moment is best case £1500 and no car for a month, upto a scenario of scrap it and buy a new one? (not a Citroen, I hasten to add - ever again!!)
Can anyone offer any advice? Am thinking I may get in touch with Citroen UK, can't believe that so many C8's have had this fault, yet there has been no recall. A different day and a different road... who knows?
Any advice gratefully received.
Thanks.
27th May 2011, 04:02
As a mechanically interested C8 owner for the last 18 months (my first ever car with a cam belt) and an avid Internet searcher, here is my advice
1. Do not remove the engine.
2. Contact C8centre.co.uk who specialise in solving this problem, and have the necessary equipment to remove your injectors without damage (Citroen's injector pullers are often not up to it), and can probably give you a quote for repair before starting work. If you let anybody else at it, including Citroen, the costs will mount possibly to beyond economic repair.
6th Jun 2011, 15:02
We have a C8 2006 model, always been 100% reliable. Was driving up the M18 on Saturday, and suddenly felt a loss of power, no noises or bangs or anything, and the car eventually cut out as I made it over to the hard shoulder. Prior to this incident, the ESP light kept coming on, and had done for a few days.
The C8 is in the local Citroen dealership, and they are suggested it's the cambelt, even after only having the car in the workshop for 45 minutes! And when I pressed them, and said is it definitely the cambelt, the response was "we think it could be". I have my suspicions that they have found something more simple and easy to fix, but as C8 has a reputation for cambelt/injectors being the problem, that they are just wanting to lump our car in with this. Please can someone offer any advice? Many thanks.
11th Jul 2011, 15:44
I loved my C8 up until today when it cut out at 65 mph on the overtaking lane of a busy motorway! I don't know how, but I managed to drift over to the hard shoulder. The car with my mechanic now, but after reading all of the comments above, I feel pointless as it is no doubt the injectors or cam belt. Is it really worth fixing? Consequences today could have been devastating, and would I really feel safe ever again in a car I now don't trust. Last Citroen I will ever own.
5th Nov 2010, 14:58
Just to give all you C8 cambelt victims some hope! I posted in June that my cambelt had gone after 40,078 miles. We had it repaired and our garage were fantastic. Citroen UK wanted nothing to do with us and told us it was water damage. I asked for all the parts and we brought them home. By sheer good luck, we found an expert on cambelts, who was willing to do an independent inspection of our cambelt. My husband took it to him and he knew what the problem was straight away. Tensile failure, nothing to do with water! He wrote us a report and we sent it to Citroen UK. They still said they disagreed, so we spoke to Consumer Direct. They gave us great advice and talked us through what we needed to do. They then passed it on to Trading Standards. Imagine my amazement on Tuesday, to find in the post, the full amount for the repair! They called it a goodwill gesture!! I thought Trading Standards had spoken to them on our behalf, but coincidentally, I got a call from them on Wednesday saying they were willing to help. Our expert was willing to stand up in court, which was where we were going next. My advice to you all is to keep your cambelt, get it inspected by Mike Booth MIMI MIDiagE Engine Consultant. He can be contacted on 01924 524201. Be prepared to go all the way to County court, and don't be frightened of persevering. Good Luck!