cambelt

[Old-Guy]

I'm very wary about extended service intervals generally.

I am too. I well remember my horror when my Montego diesel estate was in for a 6,000 mile service (company car) getting a phone call to tell me that Rover had done away with intermediate services, "Did I still want the service done?" "Yes!" An off the record conversation when I picked up the car produced the opinion the reason behind the change was that Rover were losing fleet sales to Ford simply because Rovers needed twice as many days off the road for servicing as Fords.

Having recently bought a modern car (2011 Grand C4 Picasso 1.6HDi), I've pondered this further. I'm not totally convinced that with ever-increasing specific outputs (e.g.1995 Xantia 48bhp/L to 2011 GC4P 71hp/L) from ever-lighter diesel engines with smaller sumps, oil technology has done more than keep pace. Motability share this view and insist on annual oil changes on their leases (penalised by a reduced or zero residual at the end of the lease). The price of only 1 extra oil change every 2 years is small beer in the long term.

On the subject of belts, Paul-R has a good point. Belt failure has long been a problem, and his arguments makes sense, so I'm half-convinced to stay with Citroen's recommendation, but from experience with the Xantia (changed not a moment too soon at 69k and 11 years) I'd be a bit conservative about years, say 8 rather than 10.

[Paul-R]

I also had a Montego turbodiesel estate car and only ever changed the oil at 12,500 miles. This was easily achieved in year for me so I never bumped up against an annual change as such.

Motability share this view and insist on annual oil changes on their leases (penalised by a reduced or zero residual at the end of the lease). The price of only 1 extra oil change every 2 years is small beer in the long term.

I don't have the service schedules to hand but I'm fairly sure that the X7 specifies a service every year even if the mileage isn't sufficient. I'm willing to be corrected though.

Peugeot 308's on-board computer keeps track of the oil condition somehow and it's difficult to find out what the maximum oil change interval is. I think it's something horrendous like 17,000 miles.

On the subject of belts, Paul-R has a good point. Belt failure has long been a problem, and his arguments makes sense, so I'm half-convinced to stay with Citroen's recommendation, but from experience with the Xantia (changed not a moment too soon at 69k and 11 years) I'd be a bit conservative about years, say 8 rather than 10.

If the Xantia was an XUD then that's about right surely? Especially if it had had a hard life. If it was an HDi then that sounds very early.

[GiveMeABreak]

I also had a Montego turbodiesel estate car and only ever changed the oil at 12,500 miles. This was easily achieved in year for me so I never bumped up against an annual change as such.

Motability share this view and insist on annual oil changes on their leases (penalised by a reduced or zero residual at the end of the lease). The price of only 1 extra oil change every 2 years is small beer in the long term.

I don't have the service schedules to hand but I'm fairly sure that the X7 specifies a service every year even if the mileage isn't sufficient. I'm willing to be corrected though.

The C5 X7 service intervals are:

Under Normal Conditions:
Petrol (except 2.0i 143 hp) Every 30k km or 20k Miles or every 2 years.
Petrol 2.0i 143hp Every 20k km / 12.5k Miles or every 2 years.
Diesel (except 1.6 HDi and 110 hp) Every 30k km or 20k Miles or every 2 years.
Diesel 1.6 HDi 110 hp Every 20k km / 12.5k Miles or every 2 years.

Arduous Use:
Defined as:

• Urban use primarily (door to door, i.e. Taxi)
• Countries with very hot climates
• Very dusty atmosphere (building sites)
• Regular short journeys (engine cold)
• Doubtful quality of used fuel (sulphur content above 500 ppm)
• Use of lubricant not satisfying our recommendations.
  
  If the vehicle is used in particularly harsh driving conditions, the frequency of the service intervals should be modified as follows:

Petrol (except 2.0i 143 hp) Every 20k km or 12.5k Miles or every year.
Petrol 2.0i 143hp Every 15k km / 10k Miles or every year.
Diesel (except 1.6 HDi and 110 hp) Every 20k km or 12.5k Miles or every year.
Diesel 1.6 HDi 110 hp Every 15k km / 10k Miles or every year.

[Old-Guy]

The Xantia is indeed an XUD but the car had had a cosseted life - FSH and MoTs, average 6,000 p.a., garaged, serviced by the supplying Citroen dealer every year at MoT anniversary. Genuinely one owner from new; registered in his name, but sold by his wife (I assume) with the last invoices in her name too. Never driven hard - she had a slight thirst for oil when I first had her, but a couple of thousand miles later, mostly long fast runs, bedded in the rings and she stopped using oil.

My point on belts is that years are as important than miles, perhaps more so. Low mileage may well mean regular short runs, long enough for the engine bay to get hot, so the belt gets a disproportionate number of cold starts and cold-hot cycles.

In contrast, my and many other 'business' cars lead an ideal life. Warmed up gently, 50 -150 mile 'commute', spend hours parked before either returning, or a mid-day trip to spend hours parked somewhere else.