Citroen C4 Grand Picasso (2007 – 2013) Review

End of plastic dipstick of 1.6 HDI engine can break and drop into sump requiring removal of sump to retrieve it.

Clutch life of EGS can be as short as 24k miles. Should be a warranty issue as Citroen cannot claim driver abuse for failure of an automated clutch over which the driver has no control.

Audible signal may beep because a dog being carried loose in the rear luggage compartment has nosed or pawed the switch to lower the rear suspension for loading.

1-2-1014: Clutch of 2008 C4 Grand Picasso HDI EGC failed at 67k miles in December 2012. Replaced at cost of £715. System failed again at 78,500 miles in January 2014. May be actuator this time.

6-3-2011: Rear suspension sphere failure now an epidemic with parts on back order for 6 weeks.

26-3-2011: Fusebox prone to moisture ingress and internal corrosion. Needs cheching regularly. Any sign of moisture inside, dry out with a hairdryer on gentle heat, then reseal the box using clear bathroom silicone sealant.

23-6-2011: Waterpumps of 2.0 litre petrol engines can fail early, flinging off the timing belt and wrecking the engine.

16-8-2011: Citroen will not cover the Dual Mass Flywheel under the 3 year warranty.

26-6-2012: Yet another report of rear suspension sphere failure. Suspension will drop, then take a very long time to pump back to ride height.

25-2-2013: Another report of rear suspension sphere failure, this on a 2009. Citroen paid for the parts.

5-4-2013: Turbo of 30k mile 2008 C4 Picasso 1.6HDI failed for the usual reason of coked up oil supply pipes. Essential to idle these turbos from hot before switching off the engines.

22-4-2013: Rear suspension spheres out of stock in UK. Apparently 1,500 on back order and not likely to arrive in the UK until June 2013. Citroen now assures us the good news is that supply has been restored and Citroen working as hard as it can to get the parts to its customers as soon as they arrive. Any customer who needs advice on their order for these parts can call Citroen on 0844 463 3500 or 0844 463 3500 and Citroen will do its very best to help and assist. Citroen says it only affects C4 Picasso Exclusive 7 seat models with the pneumatic rear springs, and the company is dealing with 180 customer requests for parts through customer services here at Citroen . Hopefully additional parts production will solve the back log soon.

20-9-2013: On 42k mile 2007 C4 Grand Picasso a/c compressor failed at a cost of £1,000. Dealer offered a 10% discount.

27-9-2013: History of failures on a 2007 Grand Picasso HDI EGS Executive, now at 42,307 miles, costing £1,857.74: 17-08-2012: Replace Leaking rear shock absorber: £131.93 plus service charge. 21-10-2012: Injection Pipe fracture. £431.75; 25-05-2013: Rear Suspension failure. Plus headlight bulb fell out (broken bulb holder) New headlight. Total £698.63; 20-09-2013: All warning lights came on. Faulty EGR Valve. £595.43

6-3-2014: Repeat turbo failure on Picasso 1.6 HDi, probably because the oil feed pipe to the turbo was choked with carbon and was not replaced at the same time as the turbo itself.

2-7-2014: After a BBC 'Watchdog' investigation, Citroen agreed to pay 80% of the cost of replacing C4 Grand Picasso pneumatic rear suspension units on cars less than 10 years old with less than 120,000 miles. This is retrospective, so covers owners who have already had their rear suspension units replaced.

26-7-2015: Numerous problems reported on 2007 C4 Grand Picasso 1.6HDI: Couldn't get the parking brake off, speedo wasn't working: display just showed 2 dashes. Several hours of diagnostics said it was a wiring issue and parking brake button fault that Citroen dealer couldn't fix. Also needs new EGR valve and display screen.

6-1-2016: Electromechanical parking brake failure reported on 2008 Citroen Grand Picasso at 80,000 miles. Cost of repair: £1,000 for both sides.

3-2-2016: Turbo failure reported on 2008 Citroen Grand Picasso 1.6HDI at 66,000 miles.

5-4-2016: Report of one rear airbag failing on Citroen Grand Picasso. It was replaced at a subsidiesed rate of £75, but then the compressor failed and a replacement of that was quoted at £1,158.

26-7-2016: Diesel injector to first combustion chamber of C4 Picasso failed at 37,000 miles and owner toled best to replace all four with associated plumbning and wiring.

7-11-2016: Report of two separate injector failures on a recently purchased 40k mile 2012 Citroen Grand Picasso HDI, followed by failure of the waterpump breaking the timing belt. Suspect a possibility that it had been clocked.

14-2-2017: Report of problems with EGS transmission of 90,000 mile Citroen Grand Picasso 1.6HDI EGS. Occasional violent juddering. Clutch likely to be on the way out.

17-2-2017: Report of numerous typical 2nd hand problems with 2008 Citroen C4 Grand Picasso purchased in July 2016. Immediately needed two new tyres and wiper blades. Then suffered a clutch fault (reader did not say if it was an EGS). Back to the supplier for a new clutch. Subsequently suffered oil leak, front door creak, tailgate release failure, worn out aux belt and worn out brakes. Fixing oil leak cost £700.

22-3-2017: Report of repeated problems with actuator of 2012 Citroen Grand Picasso EGS bought used. Within within 30 days fluid was leaking onto driveway. Dealer wiped away the leak and returned the car. Every 2 to 4 months it leaks again. Second time the dealer reset computer. Third time they changed the gear actuator and said no more problems. Now warranty has expired it's the same all over again.

30-3-2017: Owner told that drivetrain, suspension and dampers are only covered by warranty for 40,000 miles and 3 years, whereas most of the rest of the car is covered for 60,000 miles and 3 years.

21-4-2017: Repeated injector failures reported in 10,000 mile 2011 Citroen C4 Picasso 1.6HDI EGS.

23-7-2017: Problem reported with EGS transmission of 2007 Citroen C4 Grand Micasso 2.0HDI VTR+. In auto mode the actuator switched over to manual then went into limp mode and will not go past 3rd gear.

13-4-2018: Report of failure of rear suspension of 2010 Citroen Picasso at 45,000 miles (we think what was meant was 'Grand Picasso'). Citroen has been offering up to 80% of the cost of the repair where the car has always been serviced by Citroen dealers, but not when independently serviced.

10-8-2018: Report of EGS of 2007 Citroen C4 Picasso 2.0HDI VTR continually changing down. Actuator problem.

30-8-2018: Report of failure of rear air suspension of 2007 Citroen C4 Grand Picasso.

1-11-2019: Rear air suspension problems reported on 2009 Citroen C4 Grand Picasso: The first problem displayed a fault regarding the ABS sensor which has been fixed now. Struggled to rise on occasion and eventually the suspension stopped working altogether. Since then, the suspension seems fixed and is working. However, owner now has daily 'Suspension Faulty' on the dash but the car drives well and doesn't seem to be broken. Googling <Citroen C4 Picasso air suspension> brings up a lot of information. Citroen eventually agreed to fix the rear suspension under its 10 year warranty on the system, even though this car was a few days over 10 years old.

5-12-2019: Report of a irbags of C4 Picasso not leaking, but car goes down and will only come back up if driven slowly or sometimes will come back up if a door is opened and shut a door.

22-1-2020: Report of juddering from clutch of 65,000 mile 2010 Citroen Grand Picasso HDi. Citroen dealer told owner "clutch activator failed, slave cylinder leaking, requires activator clutch & flywheel". The cost of repair is 'discounted' to £3500. Might be possible to convert to a manual for a lot less money.

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