50,000 miles and its all falling apart

[NCTay]

Afternoon, I would be interested in feed back from others and any experts on the "state" of my c5 Aircross. I bought it in Nov 2019 from a main Citroen dealer, it is a '68 Reg and at the time had 18500 miles on the clock. Today 3 years and 2 months later it has 50,093 miles. I have always returned it to the main dealer each year for its MOT and service. Last August is had the full bells and whistles service. A month or so later I happened to call in my local Kwikfit garage to get my tire pressures checked as I was driving over to Ireland and they were horrified at the state of one of my tyres. Hands up it is also my fault, but the car had been in the Citroen dealer less than a month earlier for the full service and no one mentioned to me that my tyre was going to need attention. As Kwikfit said your tyre did not get in that state in the last 4 weeks anyone looking at your car for the service would have seen that and should have pointed it out. So I was less than impressed with the main dealer because I was paying a premium each time for the service and MOT to ensure the car had a full service dealer history and to make sure the car was always in perfect condition. So when it came to my MOT at the end of January 2023 I actually asked Kwikfit to do it as the guys in there never mind me just popping in and asking a question, they are a lot closer than the main dealer and they are car nuts inside and outside of work. The car passed - but only just - with lots of advisory's. This is a January 2019 registered car with just 50,000 miles. The first advisory was the brakes I was going to need front and rear pads and discs. As I was planning another trip to Ireland although they said it was not urgent I decided to take the car back in the following week. When they stripped the wheels off it turned out the brakes were in a horrific state far worse than they had imagined. £670 later they come to me with more bad news. the rocker cover gasket has gone there is oil everywhere (ok thats not major I can cope with that these things disintegrate eventually I accept that) but the fly wheel also needs changing urgently which suggests the clutch will have to be done too, as does the cam-belt. So I ask, could the flywheel and cam-belt wait till I came back from Ireland? The answer was if you were my daughter I would not want to driving this car to Ireland. They ask me when I last had a service and I say last August the full expensive one and he raises his eyebrows. So I get home and speak to my dad he immediately says a car less than 4 years old with only 50,000 should not need a new clutch, fly wheel and cam belt and how were your brakes in such a bad state. I work from home, in the normal course of a week I maybe go to the nearest town 3 times a week (8 miles return), 1 longer trip to college son from college and drop off at boxing (25 miles round trip) once every 3 months to Manchester and back via Heathrow Airport, and twice a year to ireland and back. I am not bashing the living daylights out of this car. So I guess my question is should a car less than 4 years old, which has had a full dealer service history, is currently sitting at just 50,000 miles suddenly need all new brakes, cam belt, clutch, and fly wheel (not to mention that during the recent cold weather when the temperature was below Zero the gears froze and I had to run the car for 20 minutes to free them up so i could actually drive the car - or should I be taking this up with Citroen (sorry for long explanation), thank you

[Juan Sheet]

First I find this incredible, as Citroen in all my experience provide a health check on every car when it gets booked in - they should provide you with a full check of all the components on the list which includes tyre tread wear and condition and brake pad wear etc. So I would report this to the service Manager and also to Citroen Head Office as they should of at least picked up the tyres and brakes and the oil - unless it happened after the service.

As for the clutch and DMF, there is no such thing as a standard mileage for these components. Clutched can fail in under 20k miles or last over 100k miles. How long they last is entirely down to driving style, riding the clutch, towing, carrying excess weight, tackling lots of hills etc. etc.

Of course, the DMF should also be replaced with the clutch to save on labour as it will unlikely outlast 2 clutches.

Also, watch for the crank case oil seal - if that fails it will contaminate the clutch and will cause the slipping (most notably in 5th and 6th gear).

[NCTay]

Thank you for this. Although the service was in August 2022, I think the point Kwikfit were making firstly in September was that between the service and me asking them too check my tyre pressure no matter how I drove I did not kill my tyre in 4 weeks it would have been noticeable during the service, and even though the MOT was in January 2023, again the brakes, cam belt and fly wheel situation did not appear overnight given the low mileage I do these would have been starting to show signs of needing attention back in August too they again are not overnight issues especially with my low milage. I shall add the crank case oil seal to the list

[routemaster1]

You don't state whether your car is a petrol or diesel. If it is a 1.2 petrol, the rubber cambelt runs in oil I don't know what the original cambelt change mileage was, but there have been issues with rubber particles coming off the belt, then potentially blocking oilways in the brake booster pump, and also blocking the lubriating system, causing low oil pressure and potentially badly damaging the engine. For this reason, the recommended belt chane interval is now 50,000 miles.
#This issue does not affect diesels. The belt interval used to be 120,000 miles, but many people get it changed far earlier.

[NCTay]

Thank you for the reply - it is a 1.2 Petrol, Flare + Puretech

[JFS Dorset]

Sympathy. Just had my car in yesterday as brakes were failing …pedal to the floor, although fluid reservoir was ok. My MOT was carried out 26 May with a pass until 19 Jun 24, and only one advisory Front Disc Worn but not excessively (1.1.14(a)(i)) at 34215 miles. Car mileage now at 38125. All four brake discs and pads were changed with a change of Brake fluid. Car is C3aircross Feel spec bought with 14551 miles as a year old on 20 Jun 2020. I have extended warranty so tried to get a contribution of costs £844.99. But they wouldn’t have it. I paid of course and accept discs are a wear item but I tried to plead the car was only on 38k miles and needed discs all round so would they offset some of the bill, no. So tried Citroen Customer Care and they responded quickly but couldn’t held as it was a matter for me and the dealer who were sympathetic but as extended warranty had said no, hands were tied. At my age 70 I have had a few cars and its only my C3aircross and one other that has needed brake disc replacement but that was at around 100k+! So sympathy for you and your predicament. My car too has had full service done by main dealer and two MOT’s. I am on my second extended warranty with Citroen Warranty Administration and until now never needed to claim. But appreciate discs are a wear item so i am snookered! If discs had been cracked or warped they would entertain a claim but not For wear, just astounded that car is only just in to its 4th year! Life goes on though eh!

[Juan Sheet]

That's not unusual to be honest!

My discs went at 18k - more grooves than Madonna, so ripped them off and put some Brembos on along with Brembo pads.

Warranty will never cover wear and tear items and seeing as you got double the mileage out of them than I did, I'd say you were very lucky! My C5 needed pads every 10k miles and discs about 15k.

[DACS]

Like the clutch, brake wear depends on driving style. I find that the adaptive cruise control tends to brake quite hard in traffic so this will also increase brake wear.