Citroens....

[MazakMan]

... as a general rule, are they easy to work on?

I ask because my mother has been asked by a work colleague if I would change a cam belt for him.

The exact year and model of the car are unknown as dear old mummy "can't remember" (for 'remember' read 'be bothered to listen when being told important information' ) , although she "thinks" that it's about 15 years old.

I'm fairly familiar with working on engines in general, I've rebuilt a couple and do all the maintainance on my family's cars so i don't want comprehensive instructions, i'm just looking for handy hints or warnings of potential pitfalls.

Cheers chaps (and chapesses!)

MazakMan

[Avocet]

Depends on which model and which engine. Citroen have been using Peugeot engines for the best part of 20 years now. Some are relativley easy, some are a complete pig of a job.

[flossythepig]

Changed the cam belt on our old F reg 205 diesel. Relatively straight forward, no special tools if you follow the Haynes manual.

That car was traded in against a 307 turbo diesel. Superficially the same engine but someone at PSA redesigned how the cam cover is attached to the engine. There is a screw only accessible after removing the alternator drive pulley from the end of the crank. Admitted defeat on that one as I din't have all the tools.

[MazakMan]

Right, so basically it could a peice of piss or an absolute of a job!

I guess I'll have to just take a look.

Thanks for the info

MazakMan

[Mr Whippy]

Find out which one it is.

Xud9 derv is one of the easiest, as long as there is room to work down the side of the engine with the cam drive stuff on.

Dave

[Alpineandy]

you could ask on here : www.pistonheads.com/gassing/forum.asp?f=160&h=0

[CombeMarshal]

Yup, boggo Standard ones are easy as pie, If for some reason she has an Activa, RUN!!!!

[sideways500]

Stop me if you've heard this one... I used to work for a mechanic who hated working on Citroens and maintained that genuine Citroen mechanics were grown in vats with extra thumbs on each hand.

[CombeMarshal]

Citroens are only bad to work on if you don't know what your doing, I would have serious reservations about taking any car to somewhere where the mechanic doesn't know what he's doing!