Timing chains

[Pete i]

Hi all.

Another question about my new to me Citroen C4 Grand Spacetourer, I keep reading about "wet belts" fitted to these small petrol engines that are in vehicles these days. They do not seem to be holding very well which I suppose is to be expected to an extent. I think that they will be made of oil derived materials and to run them in oil would cause problems I would have thought. Anyway that is just my opinion but I also read that Citroen now fit a small petrol engine to most of their newer models which has one of these wet belt systems. I have a 2021 Spacesaver that has a 1.5 Blue diesel engine. Does this engine have a wet belt system or is it a timing chain.

[RichardW]

The only 'wet belt' system in the PSA range is the 1.2 Puretech petrol engine. The 1.5 diesel uses a timing belt. And a timing chain The main drive is by belt, but this is a twin cam 16V engine, and there is a short chain that drives the second cam. On early versions of the engine the chain was 7mm and this was not big enough and was prone to snapping - later engines have an 8mm chain which should avoid this issue. however, stick to the oil change intervals and oil spec to maintain the chain life. The timing belt is also quite narrow at 19mm (compared to 25 on earlier versions of the DV engine) to is prone to early failure it's wise to have it changed before the official 10 year / 100k interval.

[GiveMeABreak]

Models of DV5 engines from late 2023 have the 8mm cam chain fitted, but there is some extended warranty on 7mm versions at PSA's discretion where they replace the lot.

[Mihael_M]

Hello, I am the owner of a C3 1.5 BlueHDI 2021 with 125,000 km and I know that I have a 7 mm chain. For the last couple of days, during the first start in the morning, the chain is scraping for 3 seconds. After that everything is normal . What should i do ?

[RichardW]

Get it replaced.... If it's been properly serviced, Citroen may cover the cost of the repair ( which is not insignificant if you upgrade to 8mm!)

[Mihael_M]

Thanks Richard, I definitely plan to replace it with an 8 mm chain. I have no warranty and I have to pay.
I'm worried about how urgent it is .

[GiveMeABreak]

I would check with Citroen first, as they are covering these for an extended period of time (5 or 7 years - can't remember at present), but they'll need the vehicle to test it for the prescribed noises and if it meets the conditions, they should cover the upgrade. There is a caveat though - the vehicle must have been services correctly and on time (annually or at the set mileage - whichever comes first).

[Mihael_M]

The car was in a leasing company, but in France, and it was regularly maintained. The car is now in Serbia .Since 8 months have passed, I know that I have to pay for it myself. Now I'm just worried if it's urgent. Since the scraping sound is only heard for 2-3 seconds at the first ignition in the morning.

[GiveMeABreak]

I would still check with the main dealer as they are upgrading these where it meets their conditions (knocking noise from the cylinder head on the upper timing side). The noise may be coming from contact of the valve rockers with the valves.