Mitigate when shopping around
Thanks to everyone who has been contributing to this excellent forum.?
I am shopping for an MPV and have landed on a low-miles C4 Space Tourer as the best option (20-35,000 miles)
I would like to mitigate the mechanical risks with and would love your advice on the following:
- For the 7mm cam chain issue with BlueHDI 1.5, are there any C4 Space Tourer engine vintages that are NOT affected? The L’argus article (https://www.largus.fr/actualite-automob ... 79390.html) mentions the issue affects the Euro 6.3 (or Euro 6.D) engines produced between 31.12.2019 - Jan 2023. This would imply that all cars registered in 2018/2019 are OK. Can anyone corroborate this?
- And is it possible to check for this issue without getting the VIN of each vehicle? (I know that upgraded engines will have the slightly different cam cover, but that would not come stock on the C4 Space Tourer, which ended production in 2022, before Citroen upgraded to the 8mm chain)?For example, I noticed that some C4 Space Tourer BlueHDI 1.5 have Autotrader showing 99g CO2/km or 106g CO2/km or 136g/km, all for the same engine, trim and transmission. Could this provide an indication of which generation engine it is?
- If I buy an affected BlueHDI 1.5 with the original 7mm chain, when should I do the upgrade? 30,000 miles? 40,000 miles? 60,000 miles? Ask mechanic to check the chain and teeth at every service? Or can you just “listen” to wait for the knocking?
- Would buying a BlueHDI 2.0 be a good way to avoid having to deal with the BlueHDI 1.5 cam chain issue, i.e. can you wait until 100,000 miles to replace that chain, as stated in the manual? And does that engine bring its own risks e.g. fewer parts available because less common?
- I have heard about a few other common issues with C4 Space Tourer diesel e.g. Adblue tank pressure sensor (now Stellantis will do compensation up to 8 years), injector issues (https://www.largus.fr/actualite-automob ... 38390.html). Is there any way to screen for these batches or to ask about the relevant preventative maintenance?
- Our driving style would be better suited to petrol (8-10 short city trips of 2-3 miles, followed by an occasional road trip of 40 miles). But the PureTech 1.2 has its own issues. Would inspecting and replacing the wet belt approx 50k miles be sufficient preventative maintenance for this engine (along with correct oil), or would this remain a less reliable option than the diesel?
- Is there anything else I can do when inspecting a C4 Space Tourer vehicle that I am looking to buy? For example, I noticed some oil leaking from under the cam cover on one car I inspected. Is there a way to check for cleared codes, or scan for warning codes without bringing the whole Lexia + laptop + software package to the test drive?
- Is there any London-based PSA mechanic that someone would recommend for maintenance or inspection of such vehicles?
