Hi. I own a 2010 C5 2.0 Hdi (160 BHP) tourer. The car has 59,000 miles on it and it was used for family driving about town. I have owned it for 2 years (at 40,000 miles) and it was about to get it's 20,000 mile service until disaster happened nearly 3 weeks ago.

The car was on the local bypass when the stop light came on the dash and the engine stopped. My mother in law was driving so she pulled into the hard shoulder. She tried to start the car again and nothing happened. Her husband came out to get it towed to a local mechanic and when it was being towed, he said that the dash came up "Oil Pressure Low" warning when he turned the key. I left the car to the mechanic as the engine would no longer turn over. He stripped the engine and said that it was completely gone. There was massive damage to it. He thinks that the oil pump failed on the car and there was no oil pressure in the engine causing substantial damage to the pistons as there was no oil. He noted that the car was one of the C5 models that was supposed to be recalled to have it's oil pump replaced by Citroen, and he contacted the local dealer to confirm this. It turns out that I should have been contacted by Citroen for this, however, they sent the letters to the previous owner and not to me to get this work done.

The car was towed to the local dealer (at their request) and it has been there for two weeks as Citroen have been arguing that they have done all they had to do regarding the recall and that the problem was my fault and not theirs. They have now agreed to inspect the vehicle to determine the fault (after a lot of argument and persuasion by me) and quelle surprise! they 'do not believe it to be the oil pump'. They think that the car has an issue with the engine timing as there is damage to the pistons et al. The car has only 60,000 miles and the timing belt is in good condition according to the Citroen mechanic (after I pushed him to answer me about it).

As you all know, the timing belt change interval is recommended at 160,000 miles on these cars. Regardless of the risk of letting it go that long, I was nowhere near the interval for checking it. Further, the previous services had all been done by Citroen dealers and I have done everything in accordance with the Citroen handbook.

I would appreciate any advice on this, especially if anyone can shed any light on the timing issue and what to ask of Citroen when I deal with them again. They could well turn out to be right about the timing, however any input on this would be appreciated as it is an issue that surely should have been a while off in the car's lifetime before it came to light. Thanks.