Citroen Cactus Adblue Fault. Who's to blame?

sarahnancarrowwow

First time poster so thanks for the help in advance. I purchased a second hand Citroen Cactus in February 2017, my vehicle is a 65 plate. I have tried to contact the dealer I purchased the vehicle from and they have tried to deny all responsibility for the fault, when the vehicle has been subject to a recall owing to a known fault with the cap of the AdBlue tank. I have attached the email I have sent to them, but have still received no response regarding the issue. Any advice would be appreciated.


Hello

I am emailing in regards to a complaint that I would like to make. I have had a fault light illuminate on my dashboard, error code P20E8, which is showing as a low pressure fault with the UREA system, there is also an additional fault showing as P0421.

I have spoken to an independent garage who kindly diagnosed these faults for me and he has advised that my vehicle, registration PE65 XXX has been subject to 4 recalls. I purchased my vehicle from Perrys in February 2017, and I understand that the recall letters would be issued by Citroen and not Perrys themselves.

I would like to know why the details of my ownership were not passed to Citroën? I have not received anything at all regarding a recall, and was advised that it is the responsibility of the dealership to update the details of ownership to Citroën to enable recall notices to be sent.

Having investigated the problem, it may now seem that my vehicle needs a new AdBlue tank which is going to be incredibly expensive to replace. I do not feel that this is my responsibility to pay for as the negligence has been on the side of Perrys in not updating Citroën with the details of the ownership of the vehicle.

I can be contacted o at any time. I look forward to a swift and satisfactory response and resolution to this matter.

AdrianC

So why not just book it in with a dealer (perhaps a different one), and get the recall done...?

There's two type of "recall". There's safety recalls - you can check those - with VINs - here...
https://www.gov.uk/check-vehicle-recall
https://www.check-vehicle-recalls.service.gov.uk/recall-type/vehicle/make/CITROEN/model/C4%20CACTUS/year/2015/recalls

And then there's manufacturer tech service bulletins, which should be done at service time when serviced within the dealer chain.

A quick google suggests some cars had an unvented cap, which could lead to "a vacuum" within the tank. If caught in time, just replacing the cap with the updated vented version is fine. If not, the tank can collapse (has yours?), or the pump can be damaged by trying to "suck too hard".

facade

Good luck!

Citroen will, of course, deny any and all responsibility, and say thing like "out of warranty" and "tough luck".

The recall was to get the early adblue pumps through warranty, as lots were failing when Citroen were liable for them.

Basically, there are several problems.

The first and worst is the pump is integrated with the tank, and you can't get any spares to repair what is an £800 assembly (probably only a few pennies worth of parts have actually failed).

The second is that despite wee having been around for millions of years, Citroen had absolutely no idea that it would corrode the metal parts of the early pumps.

The third is that there is a problem with the venting system to the tank, the pump has to work quite hard to get adblue out, which causes excessive wear on the already weakened parts.

The P20E8 fault means there is low adblue pressure, caused by either a lack of adblue (which you know it isn't) or a pump too worn to function.

The quick fix to get Citroen out of trouble was to swap the cap for a vented one- it has a white raised button in the middle. If they swapped it early enough then it reduced the wear on the pump enough to get it through warranty.

Current tanks have the vented cap and a pump that uses more plastic parts so it doesn't corrode. The ecu needs a small update for the newer pump, done when they fit the new assembly, so the overall cost is around £1000

You can get a second hand unit from a newer car - 2019 or newer, but these sell for stupid money and you don't know how worn out they are.

facade

Oh, if you ignore the light, the car will grind to a halt 2400km after it came on and refuse to start again. (Unless you can reset the counter via the obd)

sarahnancarrowwow

AdrianC said:

So why not just book it in with a dealer (perhaps a different one), and get the recall done...?

There's two type of "recall". There's safety recalls - you can check those - with VINs 

And then there's manufacturer tech service bulletins, which should be done at service time when serviced within the dealer chain.

A quick google suggests some cars had an unvented cap, which could lead to "a vacuum" within the tank. If caught in time, just replacing the cap with the updated vented version is fine. If not, the tank can collapse (has yours?), or the pump can be damaged by trying to "suck too hard".

Hi Adrian thanks for the reply. I have checked into the issue previously, and what seems strange is that my vehicle  seems to have one of the newer AdBlue tank units. However on investigating the issue when it first arose it seems to have one of the older style un vented caps. My main question in relation to this is whether Citroen or the dealership group should be notifying me as to whether recall work needs doing? I have had cars previously  and have always been notified by either manufacturer or the dealership group that work needed doing.

facade

Does the car have a full & complete Citroen service history?

The modifications should have been done at dealer services, as Adrian says, recalls are for safety related items.

The vented cap appeared early 2018, so it should have been swapped at your first service.

AFAIK, Citroen are under no obligation to publish technical bulletins to third party garages.

sarahnancarrowwow

facade said:

Does the car have a full & complete Citroen service history?

The modifications should have been done at dealer services, as Adrian says, recalls are for safety related items.

The vented cap appeared early 2018, so it should have been swapped at your first service.

AFAIK, Citroen are under no obligation to publish technical bulletins to third party garages.

Thanks for the reply - I was told by another dealership group that they would routinely inform customers of any work that needed doing, especially in the sense that they knew that the end result could be a particularly expensive repair bill.

neilmcl

sarahnancarrowwow said:

facade said:

Does the car have a full & complete Citroen service history?

The modifications should have been done at dealer services, as Adrian says, recalls are for safety related items.

The vented cap appeared early 2018, so it should have been swapped at your first service.

AFAIK, Citroen are under no obligation to publish technical bulletins to third party garages.

Thanks for the reply - I was told by another dealership group that they would routinely inform customers of any work that needed doing, especially in the sense that they knew that the end result could be a particularly expensive repair bill.

You didn't answer the question. Have you always had your car serviced via the Skoda dealer network?

molerat

I thought postal recalls were generally done through obtaining registered keeper details from DVLA, was this  a recall or just a dealer TSB ? What does it show for outstanding recalls on the .gov website ?  Did you buy the car from a Citroen dealership ?  Has it been serviced at a Citroen dealership ?

AdrianC

molerat said:

I thought postal recalls were generally done through obtaining registered keeper details from DVLA, was this  a recall or just a dealer TSB ? What does it show for outstanding recalls on the .gov website ?  Did you buy the car from a Citroen dealership ?  Has it been serviced at a Citroen dealership ?

I linked up there to the only two safety recalls applicable to a 2015 Cac - they were both related to the bonnet catch.

neilmcl said:
You didn't answer the question. Have you always had your car serviced via the Skoda dealer network?

Why would servicing a Citroen at a Skoda dealer bring up Citroen TSBs? Perrys do run Citroen dealerships, too.