Citroen Fixed Price Service

Has anyone used Citroen's fixed price service package (the generic one designed for cars outside the specified servicing schedule)? Link here: https://info.citroen.co.uk/servicing-offer/

I have an old, second hand C3 pluriel (2003, 1.4i, 50,000 miles). Without knowing much about its maintenance history, I've had to get a few things done at my local independent garage, detailed in this thread:

petrol-citroen-c3/cold-damp-starting-badly-t1867.html

I've since had the sump replaced, and its running much better. (On which subject, a quick mention for Euro Car Care - https://www.eurocarcare.net - who have a good range parts)

But for £195, changing things like plugs, gearbox oil as well doing slightly more involved jobs like checking valve clearances, seems a reasonable price. It also says they check for technical updates. I presume this might mean tweeking the ecu settings - something my garage obviously can't do.

C3Safari wrote:But for £195, changing things like plugs, gearbox oil as well doing slightly more involved jobs like checking valve clearances, seems a reasonable price. It also says they check for technical updates. I presume this might mean tweeking the ecu settings - something my garage obviously can't do.

At 50K, the gear box oil should be ok, but it won't do any harm to the car to change it.

Do you think they will just listen to top end tapping to check the valve clearance - because its not adjustable what good would breaking the cam cover seal do? It sounds like an excuse to give you a price for a new cam and followers

There are no tweeks to do to the ECU, only an update may be available to counter any issues. If the car is working ok, it may be best to not do any updates?

What would be useful is the diagnostic read, but they don't usually pass this information on to the customer anyway. This is why I like having my own lexia clone tool from Amazon because I can do a diagnostic read as often as I like for no fee payable to Citroen.

But £195 is peace of mind and a second pair of eyes on the car (other than the MOT tester), so it may make you feel better about the car.

C3Safari wrote:Has anyone used Citroen's fixed price service package (the generic one designed for cars outside the specified servicing schedule)? Link here: https://info.citroen.co.uk/servicing-offer/

I have not used that, but at 50K, you are still within a service schedule. Official Citroen schedule never expires. This is a marketing tool to generate business and compete with the independents. At a particular age or number of owners some people just give up on servicing their cars. I don't know why, but I guess it comes down to the cost of replacing the car vs the cost of keeping it serviced and dismiss the reliability.

Giving a 'fixed price' can bring older cars in for work and generate leads and sales, even sell new cars

But it can also encourage people to get a minimal servicing - like oil and filters that often get skipped and then you build up problems.

Thanks, thats useful. Mine is the 8v version of the TU3 engine, on which the valves are adjustable. The cylinder head cover just has a rubber seal, which I presume is reusable. The process involves rotating the crankshaft, which would also need to be done to check the belts. Nevertheless, actually measuring the clearances is a bit more involved. I'll have to ask.

Barring the diagnostics and 'technical updates', every thing else is easily doable at my garage.

C3Safari wrote:Thanks, thats useful. Mine is the 8v version of the TU3 engine, on which the valves are adjustable. The cylinder head cover just has a rubber seal, which I presume is reusable. The process involves rotating the crankshaft, which would also need to be done to check the belts. Nevertheless, actually measuring the clearances is a bit more involved. I'll have to ask.

Checking the gap is only a case of measuring with a feeler gauge. Adjusting will take more time.

You can't really inspect the cam belt, its done on age or miles because a belt that is just about to fail doesn't look any different to one that still has life left in it. Its the teeth that sheer off and cause the belt to fail.

C3Safari wrote:Barring the diagnostics and 'technical updates', every thing else is easily doable at my garage.

Yes ish. The garage can do diagnostics with an OBD reader and record and codes found - and quite for the work.