Please can anyone help? My wife was driving our petrol C8 during the snowy weather on Friday, apparently the car started sounding like a diesel and then came to a stand still. The AA towed her to a Citroen garage and they have confirmed that the cambelt has jumped and the pistons have damaged the valves, although they have not yet taken it apart they have just tried to put the cambelt back on.. They have said it will be in excess of £1500 to repair? The car had a new cambelt 18mths ago by an independent local garage, and the citroen garage had it just before xmas to look at a water leak from a pump which was replaced. Can anyone advise if this all sounds fair and reasonable only I am keen to know what else to do..
Any help gratefuly received.
Kind Regards
Paul
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Cambelts normally come with a guarantee, its very unusual for one to fail if its been correctly fitted. The problem is you need to establish who's fault it was, was it a faulty belt or did something else fail causing the demise of the belt? Se if you can get some information as to the likely cause of failure.
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I have just re read your post and realised that the belt slipped and didn't break. This would usually only happen if the tension was incorrect, either when fitted, unlikely, or that something has caused loss of tension, a tensioner or idler, or that something has got under the belt and dislodged it. You need to talk to the garage that diagnosed the problem and see if they can throw any light on it.
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Peter, I cant thank you enough for your response... I have spoken to the garage and asked them to confirm what work was completed recently, they confirmed that they replaced an alternater tensioner on 20th November 09, but said that would have had nothing to do with the cambelt... ?? He also said that it could have jumped due to the weather or ice getting on a tensioner?? I agree with you that if my mechanic fitted it over 18mths ago it is unlikely to have been fitted incorrectly and that the only changing factor is the alternator? He is going to take the engine cover off to assess the damage and has informed me that I am already incurring costs. I really appreciate your comments or advice if you can spare me the time.
Kind Regards
Paul
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Paul,
On most engines now the water pump is run off the cam belt. You need to establish if the belt was loosened or removed when you had the water pump replaced. If it was then the repairer who replaced the water pump is liable.
Hope this helps
Robin the Technician
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Robin, many thanks for taking the time to respond. The garage have confirmed that they thought the problem was the water pump but actually changed the alternater tensioner. Although they have told me that this would not have affected the cambelt?? Can you confirm if this is the case?
Much appreciated.
Paul
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Paul,
If it was the Alternator then its unlikely this has caused the problem. Your alternator belt will be separate from the cambelt so will not affect the running of the cam and associated components. From what you say its likely that snow and ice has got between the belt and the crankshaft pulley and lifted it off the gear. Modern belts are designed to be 'curve' notch to drive out water - which it tends to do effectively. However snow and ice are harder to shift.
It might be prudent to source a secondhand or refurbished complete head - probably via the net. Unless the pistons are severely damaged a straight swop of the heads will be your cheapest option.
Robin the Technician
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Many thanks Robin, very kind of you to spare the time. This is the first time I have used the site, what a great community....
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Hello, could anyone tell me if replacing an alternator tensioner would affect the cambelt. 10 weeks after it being replaced the cambelt has jumped damaging the valves.. and costing circa £1500. Peter.N and Robin have been a great help aleady today.
Kind Regards
Paul
{Merged with previous question as related}
Edited by Dynamic Dave on 11/01/2010 at 12:36
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Hi Paul
Unlikely, the alternator will be driven by the auxilliary belt which is not connected with the cam belt. What can happen though is if the auxilliary belt fails bits can get into the cam belt causing it to jump.
Peter
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there is a known problem with some c8/807 models that water coming into the engine bay from the windscreen runs down onto the cambelt and can lead to early perishing/failure. There is a plastic guard which can be fitted which deflects this water.
I'm not sure of the exact details or engines which are affected, but I suppose that if water has been dripping into this area there could have been an ice buid up - perhaps a lump of ice then fell into the t/belt?
Quick search finds this thread www.honestjohn.co.uk/forum/post/index.htm?t=68332 which references it. The eurovan2 forum is where I saw the reference I think
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Paul,
Secondhand cylinder head available here:
www.autopartstrader.co.uk/carparts/citroen/c8/cyli...d
Or:
www.karengine.co.uk/cylinderheads.htm
If none of the above are any good, then just type reconditioned cylinder heads into Google.
This is still your cheapest option.
Hope this helps
Robin the Technician
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Paul
On your car both the waterpump and alternator are driven by a serpentine belt (not cambelt). So its unlikely anything the dealer did is responsible for your problem.
Is the serpentine belt still intact, they can fail or shred, bits get behind crank pulley and cause havoc with the cambelt. We have seen this on a few engines.
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