How long should a head gaskett last?

rdwarr

I know of at least one car that did over 1 million miles without a problem. It was a BMW used by Mobil to test Mobil 1. In fact, nothing on it broke down at all - it was just serviced regularly (every few days as it was driven all the time).

tomstickland

A head gasket should last for a long time, say, 200K. If it fails before that then check the reputation of the engine (ie: design) or they can fail due to a problem like overheating or the engine not running properly.

plane_boy2000

As the car is in the main dealer then I would assume that you have had it maintained there from new. Given that this has failed befoe I would approach the dealer / Citroen for a good will gesture as this is premature failure. Maybe a case to claim this is covered under the sale of goods act i.e. fit for purpose, and "reasonable" expectation?