Citroen C4 Picasso - Broken camshaft on 2016 Citroen Picasso C4

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Mon 6 May 2019 09:12
Citroen C4 Picasso - Broken camshaft on 2016 Citroen Picasso C4 - branditx
We bought this car one year ago from Arnold Clarke in Inverness. The warranty expired in December. Yesterday without any warning as I was getting onto the motorway the engine just turned off. There have never been any check light engines on, absolutely no warning the car has been driving fine. We have RAC coverage so they came out and ran a diagnostic test and determined it was a broken camshaft.

I take it this is a very costly repair? The vehicle only has 30,000 miles and we have kept all the services up to date. Is there any way our insurance will cover this? The dealer or manufacturer? I just feel like this should not have happened on such a new, well kept vehicle.
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Mon 6 May 2019 09:25
Citroen C4 Picasso - Broken camshaft on 2016 Citroen Picasso C4 - paul 1963

Are you sure the cam snapped/seized? I would have thought that would have made a hell of a noise? maybe he was on about a cam sensor??

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Mon 6 May 2019 09:57
Citroen C4 Picasso - Broken camshaft on 2016 Citroen Picasso C4 - branditx
The RAC guy was able to show us where the pieces broke off. Am I right in saying it’s like a whee with teeth? He also mentioned something about the bottom part of the engine turning over and not the top.

I drive the vehicle every day with my 10 month old twin daughters so if there was any indication of something going wrong I would have definitely got it checked out. The motor just cut out without any warning.
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Mon 6 May 2019 10:30
Citroen C4 Picasso - Broken camshaft on 2016 Citroen Picasso C4 - Andrew-T
The RAC guy was able to show us where the pieces broke off. Am I right in saying it’s like a wheel with teeth? He also mentioned something about the bottom part of the engine turning over and not the top.

So the drive sprocket snapped off the end of the camshaft? The engine would stop then, as the valves would cease to function. There would be quite a noise when that happened. Must have been flawed from new IMHO. Or perhaps the sprocket loosened on the shaft and just spun?

Edited by Andrew-T on 06/05/2019 at 10:32

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Mon 6 May 2019 11:14
Citroen C4 Picasso - Broken camshaft on 2016 Citroen Picasso C4 - branditx
It happened so fast I’m not sure if it made a noise or not. I just spoke to my husband and he said he did hear a weird noise the previous day but he didn’t hear it again and I also drove it yesterday and didn’t hear anything.

It does seem like it is just a fault from the start but how to prove that? Arnold Clarke just phoned to say they will help with 25% of the repair regardless but they’re not sure if Citroen will contribute as we got it serviced in December by a non Citroen garage. I don’t see how this matters as they wouldn’t have touched the cam shaft? It’s also only 4 months out of manufactures warranty, which was only 3 years anyway. I don’t understand how a company can make products that expensive and only ensure them for 3 years. Lesson learned.
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Mon 6 May 2019 11:18
Citroen C4 Picasso - Broken camshaft on 2016 Citroen Picasso C4 - paul 1963

Oh dear! I fear that maybe game over for the engine ( more knowledgeable members may hopefully correct me). Not sure how far you'll get but it maybe worth contacting Arnold Clark and Citroen.

Depending on weather the valves have clouted the piston or not then you may "just" need a new sprocket???? Could do with a more someone who actually knows what there talking about to help out here......

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Mon 6 May 2019 11:54
Citroen C4 Picasso - Broken camshaft on 2016 Citroen Picasso C4 - Peter.N.

If its a diesel some of the Hdi engines have sacrificial rockers so that if the cam belt breaks which I think is probably what yours has done, the rockers break without, if you are lucky, damaging the valves or head.

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Mon 6 May 2019 12:55
Citroen C4 Picasso - Broken camshaft on 2016 Citroen Picasso C4 - Andrew-T

If its a diesel some of the Hdi engines have sacrificial rockers so that if the cam belt breaks which I think is probably what yours has done, the rockers break without, if you are lucky, damaging the valves or head.

"the RAC guy showed us where the pieces broke off". I'm not sure what broken parts could be shown very easily at the roadside ?

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Mon 6 May 2019 15:29
Citroen C4 Picasso - Broken camshaft on 2016 Citroen Picasso C4 - branditx
It was a rubber piece he pulled to the side and used his flash light to show us.
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Mon 6 May 2019 15:40
Citroen C4 Picasso - Broken camshaft on 2016 Citroen Picasso C4 - John F
It was a rubber piece he pulled to the side and used his flash light to show us.

I think the title of this thread should therefore be named ' broken cambelt...'. Dear oh dear - are the French still using cheese rind for their cambelts?

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Mon 6 May 2019 16:47
Citroen C4 Picasso - Broken camshaft on 2016 Citroen Picasso C4 - Andrew-T

<< I think the title of this thread should therefore be named ' broken cambelt...'. Dear oh dear - are the French still using cheese rind for their cambelts? >>

" a rubber piece he pulled to the side " doesn't sound like a broken cambelt to me, if it was broken it wouldn't need pulling. PSA cambelts are now expected to last for over 100K miles or 10 years - that's the recommended change period, so this is not likely to have failed in normal use at 30K. I think we must wait for expert diagnosis on site.

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Tue 7 May 2019 15:18
Citroen C4 Picasso - Broken camshaft on 2016 Citroen Picasso C4 - edlithgow

<< I think the title of this thread should therefore be named ' broken cambelt...'. Dear oh dear - are the French still using cheese rind for their cambelts? >>

" a rubber piece he pulled to the side " doesn't sound like a broken cambelt to me, if it was broken it wouldn't need pulling. PSA cambelts are now expected to last for over 100K miles or 10 years - that's the recommended change period, so this is not likely to have failed in normal use at 30K. I think we must wait for expert diagnosis on site.

I don't know this engine, but " a rubber piece he pulled to the side " sounds like an inspection port cover to me.

I have one giving access to the timing marks on the flywheel. Little oblong rubber plug.

Oh wait, I think I forgot to replace it last time, so I may not have one any more. Drat!

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Tue 7 May 2019 15:39
Citroen C4 Picasso - Broken camshaft on 2016 Citroen Picasso C4 - Andrew-T

<< " a rubber piece he pulled to the side " sounds like an inspection port cover to me. I have one giving access to the timing marks on the flywheel. Little oblong rubber plug. >>

If you are looking at the timing marks on a flywheel you won't see much of any damage to the camshaft. I don't think the cambelt cover on a 206 has any sighting apertures, but I may be wrong. The 205 doesn't, and the engine is much the same.

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Mon 6 May 2019 13:00
Citroen C4 Picasso - Broken camshaft on 2016 Citroen Picasso C4 - branditx
It is a diesel. Arnold Clarke said they phoned a few Citroen garages and they’ve never heard of this happening? Would it be worth getting in touch with some type of consumers rights group?

Arnold Clarke has offered to transport it to the nearest dealer garage with is about 40 minutes away so that they can investigate but if we refuse the repairs we would be responsible for transporting it back down.
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Mon 6 May 2019 12:08
Citroen C4 Picasso - Broken camshaft on 2016 Citroen Picasso C4 - SLO76
If it’s a 1.6 VTi petrol it could be a snapped timing chain. Very common on this flawed engine. Is it a petrol?
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Mon 6 May 2019 19:57
Citroen C4 Picasso - Broken camshaft on 2016 Citroen Picasso C4 - Brit_in_Germany

Sure he said camshaft rather than driveshaft?

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Mon 6 May 2019 20:09
Citroen C4 Picasso - Broken camshaft on 2016 Citroen Picasso C4 - elekie&a/c doctor
This is a Psa engine fitted in many makes and models. The cam belt is good for at least 100k miles. Looks like you have had a major failure of the camshaft drive system. Possibly the result of a problem with the poly vee aux drive belt that has detached itself from the pulley system and found its way into the cam belt drive area,
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Mon 6 May 2019 22:00
Citroen C4 Picasso - Broken camshaft on 2016 Citroen Picasso C4 - branditx
Do the drive belts tend to fail that often on a vehicle with such low mileage?
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Tue 7 May 2019 00:03
Citroen C4 Picasso - Broken camshaft on 2016 Citroen Picasso C4 - elekie&a/c doctor
I believe there is a problem with the poly vee belt tensioner on these. If it fails , the belt comes off.
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