$3,150 bill for Xsara 60K service

J

Juan M.

Member
Fellow Frogger
Joined
Dec 17, 2004
Messages
81
Location
Geelong,VIC
It's just amazing how my 2001 Xsara burns holes in my pocket. At a mere 60 K and I had to pay $3,150 for service. Aside from the usual oil change, I've got so many issues that I've never experienced with my previous 3 jap cars. Is your auto tranny slipping and goes to limp mode? Slight coolant leak? Noisy rotors? Front end rumble? Be ready to pay big bucks! All these were rectified to the cost of my next family holiday. My Xsara was never thrashed, it's a family car driven by a mature owner, maybe it's just bad luck :cry: but my next car is the Lancer 2.4 MIVEC with sports suspension on a 5-10 year WARRANTY.
 
Ouch!

Granted I don't think Citroëns are paragons of automotive reliability, but yours would be an extreme case. Can you provide an itemised account of your service invoice - must've had some serious work there?
 
No problems with my Xsara so far (nearly 100,000kms)... hopefully it won't have similar issues as yours.

Is your Xsara the 1.6L or 2.0L?

In regards to the auto box, well that happens to all Citroens with an auto box, it's the same with the C4 and the Xsara :roflmao: .
 
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Pug307 said:
Ouch!

Granted I don't think;
Citroëns are paragons of automotive reliability, but yours would be an extreme case. Can you provide an itemised account of your service invoice - must've had some serious work there?
Click to expand...
:roflmao: :roflmao:

So far away from most peoples experiences with Xsaras there has to be something wrong somewhere. Unfortunately due to created perceptions (as per those quoted) Citroen owners can tend to be a bit, shall we say "vulnerable."
I wouldn't have spent that amount of money in 21 years of owning Citroens and I do some fairly big miles and use my vehicles in very harsh conditions.
Who's done all the service? :confused:


Alan S
 
True Alan.

My experience with the Xsara has been that it's ultra reliable and a very comfy ride, i must say, the Xsara suspension handles potholes and rough roads WAY better then the C4... dunno why.. :confused:

I'd even go as far as calling the Xsara, the Toyota in disguise.
 
My 2001 Xsara is 1.6 A, 5 dr. Would you believe the invoice I paid was 4 pages! Aside from the usual 60 K service, my AL4 tranny was playing up. It's a "sealed-type" that's supposed to last the life of the car. The Cit. dealer had to disassemble mine, change the electro valves drain and change the oil. They also placed 2 magnets inside the tranny to catch any metal filings, new tech. for the Cit. tranny. Then my coolant was drained and thermostat housing resealed. My 4 rotors and all 4 pads were changed. The timing belt was changed too even if I'm only at 60K, the car is already 4 y.o. they said. The service was great, proffesional, and friendly... but not wallet friendly.

My Xsara has depreciated like a Korean car and had so much service like a Korean car. I'm going back to Jap cars. I've never owned a Mistu, but the 2.4 li Lancer with 5-10 warranty is just spot on for a small car.
 
Sorry to hear you had such a bad experience. It's the worst feeling when you turn up to pay the bill and numbers like that come back at you. May future work be little and cheap!:wink2:

Tony.
 
Dunno about anyone else, but I'd love to see the invoice ......

As for waranty ... Doesn't cover oils, brakes, anything that's general wear ... So I'm not sure how good the warranties actually are :confused:

seeya,
Shane L.
 
DoubleChevron said:
I'm not sure how good the warranties actually are
Click to expand...
Friend's Holden Astra in Sydney: 3 years warranty plus 3 additional years on drivetrain, providing the car gets serviced at Holden dealers.
The car is now just over 3 years old with only 21 000 km up, and went for 20 000 km service: replaced all brake discs and pads, check this, check that...over $1 000.
She won't dare to go to those places anymore, the extended warranty will just have to go.
 
My Xsara is out of warranty, it's 4 y.o. :blackeye:

Invoice goes:

Labour:

60 K service - $250
Replaced Timing belt - $350
Replaced Front/Rear Discs & Pads - $300
Diagnosed Transmission Slipping/Replaced Electro Valves - $400
Reseal Themostat Housing - $ 100
Workshop supplies - $15
Waste Oil Recovery as per EPA - $10

Parts:
Sump Plug - $2.28
Oil Filter - $22.59
Fuel Filter - 17.39
Spark Plugs -$ 62.04
Pollen Filter - $44.10
Electro Valve - $343.42
AT Fluid - $ 81.92
Magnetic Bar - $ 11.38
Housing Gasket - 3.24
Timing Belt - 162.96
Brake Disc Front - 204.75
Brake Pads Front - 109.49
Brake Disc Rear - 129.34
Brake Pads Rear - 112.16
Coolant Pro-core - 28.00
Mobil 1 synth oil - 73.80
Washer Additive - 4.80
Brake Cleaner - 16.36
Injector Cleaner - 15.45

Sub Total: 2,870.47
GST 287.05

TOTAL : $ 3,157.50
 
Clogzz said:
Friend's Holden Astra in Sydney: 3 years warranty plus 3 additional years on drivetrain, providing the car gets serviced at Holden dealers.
The car is now just over 3 years old with only 21 000 km up, and went for 20 000 km service: replaced all brake discs and pads, check this, check that...over $1 000.
She won't dare to go to those places anymore, the extended warranty will just have to go.
Click to expand...

That's about the same age as my wife's Astra, and I just changed the front brake pads. The discs were OK to be skimmed at the local engineering machining place, and it's done 60,000km. The rear discs were OK when the dealer replaced the pads free of charge under warranty (just before it ran out) as there was a noise from the discs being fixed under recall. I reckon she got ripped off. BTW ours is an auto, so the discs wear more quickly, too. And I don't drive slowly in it, either.

Stuey
 
Pug307 said:
Ouch!

Granted I don't think Citroëns are paragons of automotive reliability, but yours would be an extreme case. Can you provide an itemised account of your service invoice - must've had some serious work there?
Click to expand...

I wouldnt call Peugeots exactly reliable either:D
 
You know, looking at that list of parts/labour it doesn't seem completely unreasonable. I think it is more the shock that it all happened at once. Sure the gearbox shouldn't be having issues so early in life but it had to happen at some stage. Other parts like brake pads and discs are standard fare at certain intervals and those prices aren't completely unreasonable. Timing belt wasn't unreasonable at just over $500. Our Honda Accord is due for its timing belt (100,000km/6 Years) and it will be $740 then add on that the rest of the 100,000km service.
 
Hi All

Does it seem a little strange that the removal rapair and refit of an auto box is $100 more then changing 4 disks and pads?

$300 to change rotors is a bit steep isnt it? :2cents:

cheers

matt
 
mattg said:
Hi All


$300 to change rotors is a bit steep isnt it? :2cents:

cheers

matt
Click to expand...

What I was thinking. $167 for a timing belt is right up there too.

I think I am just used to paying Ken the Legend Carrevelle prices... :rolleyes:
 
mattg said:
Hi All

Does it seem a little strange that the removal rapair and refit of an auto box is $100 more then changing 4 disks and pads?

$300 to change rotors is a bit steep isnt it? :2cents:

cheers

matt
Click to expand...


There's no way in hell they removed the whole gearbox for those sort of $$$$. The parts must be accessible with it still together....

Was the gearbox really slipping ??? How come you didn't notice any problems with it. My biggest issue would be work done that wasn't required. eg: Why do they all change the brake rotor and pads.... Rotors used to nearly last the life of the car, no one single brake pad change. I wouldn't be surprised if my '63 ID19 still had the brake rotors it left the factory with in it :confused:

Must admit though, at 140,000kms my Xantias rotors look buggered (and they were no doubt changed at every opportunity prior to my father buying it .... I think my father bought the car at 70,000kms with brand new brakes fitted). That's only 70,000kms again ... The rotors have worn quite badly on it (ie: they worn at different heights all over the pad area). CX disks tend to wear down dead flat until the so thin they MUST be replaced .... at more like 200,000kms :rolleyes:

Why do these modern brake parts wear so poorly :confused:

seeya,
Shane L.
 
Clogzz said:
Friend's Holden Astra in Sydney: 3 years warranty plus 3 additional years on drivetrain, providing the car gets serviced at Holden dealers.
The car is now just over 3 years old with only 21 000 km up, and went for 20 000 km service: replaced all brake discs and pads, check this, check that...over $1 000.
She won't dare to go to those places anymore, the extended warranty will just have to go.
Click to expand...

That's nothing, my wife was charged $550 just for pads all round on her Astra. If I had known this cost I would have invested in a work shop manual (couldn't work out how to pull the pads out). All it needed was rear pads, the fronts were only half worn.
Luckily the only thing to fail in 5 years was the coil pack and this was replaced for free.
Graham
 
Brakes on the front of my Xantia were done at 215,000 but I re-used the rotors as they were still within specs; I'd guess at about possibly another 50K they might be getting close. I could be wrong, but the pads were so daggy looking I reckon they may have been original but my car was used mainly for highway work and I did once drive an old Mazda van over 600,000 klms on original brake linings so I'm fairly easy on them so I have problems with worn out brakes at that mileage, although being auto does give them a pretty solid working over.
The cambelt may not be quite as bad as it irst seems as I understand some of these had a modfication done to them and a quick check of GSF in the UK shows Xsara belts being sold as a "kit" which I presume means tensioners and possibly even water pump. Providing all that was used, then the price isn't all that bad and should be a lot cheaper in future, but if it was just for a belt!! :confused: :eek:
Overall, still sounds hellishingly expensive and overkill to me.


Alan S
 
DoubleChevron said:
Why do they all change the brake rotor and pads.... Rotors used to nearly last the life of the car, no one single brake pad change. I wouldn't be surprised if my '63 ID19 still had the brake rotors it left the factory with in it :confused:
Click to expand...

With the advent of modern systems such as ABS & EBFD (electronic brake force distribution) brake rotors are pretty much treated as a consumable. It's probably another reason why you wont buy a new car Shane :)
 
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