What idiot invented the wet belt?

[BrickBiscuit]

Never heard of wet belts. Until I took a relative's Citroen to my local garage to see why the oil light was on, four months and 3,000 miles after a main-dealer service and with 30,000 on the clock. Before I finished the first sentence they said 'wet belt'. They said the belt shows cracking and wear. It's going back to Citroen for a warranty inspection. My garage has a wet-belt guy on call who does nothing but. Replacements start below 20,000 miles. With main-dealer servicing going up a third in price between service intervals, and wet belts being really needy in terms of oil quality and change frequency, this problem will only increase as people can't afford the maintenance. Having learned this, I will never buy another car without a timing chain. And if anyone knows the dumbf*ck who invented the wet belt, shove them in a bath of oil and ask them how they feel running round.

Cheap out on servicing a dry belt car and you might have problems eventually. Cheap out on servicing a wet belt car and you're stranded with a massive bill.

Not in this case. DPF/Ad Blue is environmental demands.

Wet belts are a design flaw- a completely foreseeable design flaw.

You can service, with correct oil and the correct intervals and they can still fail.

The guidance for wet belts was 150,000 miles, dropped by the manufacturer to 100,00. We recommend before 65,000 but have known them go at less than 15,000

And now it is mentioned - touch screens- they forever break, they cost thousands to fix.

Our fiesta’s went at 18,000 totally out the blue, whole engine needed replaced so it went to scrap. Wasn’t worth the repairs, would never get another car with one

Can do, on some of those shitty Peugeot engines the failing wet belt fucks up the vacuum pump and so you lose the servo assistance on your brakes.

OP here, back with an update. Main dealer diagnostic appointment (booked it six weeks ago, the earliest slot they had). They had sold me the car nearly-new, and it's still under the applicable warranty and been serviced by them all along. However they said the wet belt does not meet the criteria for replacement. There is minor surface cracking due to age. They have a gauge tool, and the belt is within the correct parameters. They told me they are looking for swelling (not wear as I'd have expected). As the warranty wasn't invoked, they charged me £150 for the diagnostic. They quoted £600 to replace the wet belt, but said it isn't needed yet. I asked about the oil they use when servicing, and its just their bog-standard tank out the back. I'm giving up and trading it in. Its replacement will not have a wet belt and will speak Japanese.

On further reading, I note that the european 'PureTech' engine, used across many different manufacturers' models, is nicknamed 'PureShit' in some quarters. It is reported to have undergone a vast improvement in its truly dreadful reliability by the wet belt being replaced with a timing chain since 2023 (not sure how it took them so long to wake up).

When I asked my dealer about a 'nearly-new' stock, they said they are flooded with wet belt trade-ins. People are ditching them before the engines self-destruct.

Like I said, designed by idiots.