citroen warranty question

jgra1 · Post by **jgra1** » 17 Jan 2008, 11:19

chaps, just got this from another forum I am on.. sounds quite odd...

Having got to the end of the road with this company. I feel duty bound to warn all. That this companies warranty is garbage. Having had a £3000 quid odd repair bill for something that went wrong with the front end of a 18 month old car while driving. The registered garages report was we "We can't find anything that caused this mechanical failure, and as such it is not covered by Citroen warranty"
A very bitter pill to swallow.

All I know was driving along when suddenly one of the wheel bearing started screeching then the other, as I was only 1 mile from home I carried on. The net result was both drive shafts wrecked, as was the gearbox due to the latent heat in the shafts destroyed the plastic gear cogs in the gearbox, the brake shoes and discs were blue with the heat generated and all the bellows over the UJ's were melted. Oh and when I stopped the hub caps were melting before my eyes.
The odd thing there was no sign at any time what I would associate with a brake fault, as there was no pulling or strain on the 1.1 engine that would say there was a fault. The only thing was this horrible screeching.
IMO the garage did not like the attachment of the A frame even though the brake cable was not connected. I had not towed the car in 3000ish miles.

Citroen quote " As we can not determine what component failed. The warranty is not valid" I would have expected that with a Trabant or a Wartbourg but not this shower.
Had I been warned of this warranty I could have had it repaired half that price.

The car is a C2 manual gearbox 1.1 petrol engine 18000 on the clock and 5K of that towing all over northern Europe.

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Post by **CitroJim** » 17 Jan 2008, 12:43

Yes, it does sound odd John

I cannot imagine that all that carange could have happened without at least some prior warning. The first sign, the screeching bearings a mile from home, just does not ring true.

Unless the driver was in another world completely, there must have been some warning.

I expect that in truth Citroen have declined a warranty claim because of blatent negligence on the part of the driver. Somehow I dont think the post contains a wholly honest and unbiassed account...

rowanmoor · Post by **rowanmoor** » 17 Jan 2008, 13:42

Presumably the noise was the wheel bearings finally giving up under the heat that had already been there for some time.

Is the hand brake on the front on those?

citronut · Post by **citronut** » 17 Jan 2008, 13:52

this is almost like a mun dayo i fixed last week, the owner phoned me asking if he could have the recovery truck drop it of to me, the N/S front hub nut was missing, bearing completly colapsed, drive shaft pulled fully out, brake disc ground away to notthing on the outer face (ventted disc),drive flange completly trashed and calliper only hanging on by one mounting, funny that he said he had no prior warning there was any problem at all
regards malcolm

citronut · Post by **citronut** » 17 Jan 2008, 14:06

ps.

customer said
i didnt notice any wheel wobble as i was working to hard trying to keep the car in a straight line

jgra1 · Post by **jgra1** » 17 Jan 2008, 14:39

thanks all..

Rowanmoor... yes that all starts to make sense.. I did wonder the relationship between the brakes and bearings.. I bet hes driven with the handbrake on for miles... how he didnt notice it with a 1100cc is anyones guess..

scary amount of damage tho ! a lesson to all..

John

Post by **CitroJim** » 17 Jan 2008, 14:50

citronut wrote:ps.

customer said
i didnt notice any wheel wobble as i was working to hard trying to keep the car in a straight line

jgra1 · Post by **jgra1** » 17 Jan 2008, 15:10

his response to possible handbrake mistake..

Many thanks for the input and your time in getting it. Very interesting.

I am convinced I had the hand brake off as the tell tale light was off, and having tried once to drive with it on, it was obvious it was on. The 1.1 engine acted like a 25cc.

The so called experts in my local garage assured me the hand brake only operates the rear wheels and they inspected the rear one and there was no sign of wear or heat build up. Could mine be on the rear because I have ABS? Now I am really wondering over their technical ability or prowess
With kind regards

jgra1 · Post by **jgra1** » 17 Jan 2008, 15:12

jim.. malcolm

jeremy · Post by **jeremy** » 17 Jan 2008, 19:58

I'm sure the handbrake will be on the back - its only on the front on hydraulic Citroens to avoid conflict with the height control mechanism. Hydraulic Citroens have training arms - and if the handbrake was on the back wheels - they would rise at the back when the car was stationary with the brake applied when facing uphill. The height corrector would then open and try and lower the car - which wouldn't happen due to the back wheels been locked by the brake - and so the suspension would depressurise. Release the brake - and it drops right down. - Simple solution - put the handbrake on the front! (Which contributed to the problems of Xantias running away)

So - what's happened here - bearing collapsed - leading to one pad contacting the disc due to the whole thing tilting - thus overheating everything. I'd have thought the fault was very obvious long before it got so hot that the heat spread along the driveshaft and caused the rest of the problems?

Or brakes sticking on - due to a master cylinder problem - but I bet its got a diagonally split system - in which case the back brakes would have to be on as well. Had one brake boiled the fluid the excess pressure should have escaped through the master cylinder recuperator port rather than allow pressure to build up in the system.

Homer · Post by **Homer** » 19 Jan 2008, 02:36

A few things which jumped out at me.

IMO the garage did not like the attachment of the A frame even though the brake cable was not connected. I had not towed the car in 3000ish miles.
......
The car is a C2 manual gearbox 1.1 petrol engine 18000 on the clock and 5K of that towing all over northern Europe.

Now at first I thought the 5K towing over Europe was towing a caravan, but with an 1100cc C2.

So I'm guessing he's had it hitched up behind a campervan, with all 4 wheels on the road.

A lot of cars don't like this, the gearboxes don't lubricate properly. I think Citroen think he damaged it by dragging it all around Europe.

jgra1 · Post by **jgra1** » 19 Jan 2008, 13:18

sorry yes should have said, its from a motorhome forum.. well done Homer

J

deian · Post by **deian** » 19 Jan 2008, 15:17

3k miles is a 'lot' of miles to tow a car on 4 wheels for.

I think it's a sad story really, a bit of incompetence on both sides, some of which you can expect from a customer who may not mechanically minded.

Citroen seems to have gone looking for an excuse NOT to fix the car, rather than looking at why the car broke down in the beginning especially if the car owner took it to the garage for an inspection before.

A bit of common sense and customer loyalty could give Citroen some good press here as the story will probably be doing the rounds on the forums for a good while.

I wish the man in question the best of luck on his mission to fix his car. Lesson learnt huh, not to tow a car on four wheels, it must say something in the owners manual, if not then I suggest he goes to Citroen and point this out, and start getting heavy with them.

john alexander · Post by **john alexander** » 19 Jan 2008, 20:21

Hi I think The Caravan Club once stated that it was illegal in europe to use an A-frame , a trailer should be used. I could be wrong though. regards john.

jgra1 · Post by **jgra1** » 20 Jan 2008, 11:00

John, the words 'open' 'worms' and 'can' spring to mind

contentious subject in the Motorhome world.

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