Peugeot 208 – Servicing Schedule

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Quick answer: your Peugeot 208 needs a minor service every 12,500 miles or 1 year. It needs a major service every 25,000 miles or 2 years. Cambelt and water pump should be changed every 64,000 miles/6 years for petrol and 112,500/10 years for diesel. Other components vary with mileage and how you drive the car and should be replaced when they're worn.

Servicing your car is something you should be doing regularly to maintain its value and ensure that it is kept in optimal running condition. However, there’s often conflicting information about exactly when you should service a car, and at what point certain things like brakes, timing belt and coolant should be replaced.

In this article we go through all the consumables of the Peugeot 208 and document exactly when they should be replaced. This includes things like engine oil and filter, tyres, brakes, timing belt, battery and more. I’ve used my years of experience having serviced and maintained countless Peugeot 208s, as well as owning one for around three years, to put this information together. 

Some of this is official guidance from Peugeot and some of it is my own experience - so you may find that I’m recommending things to be replaced earlier than Peugeot is. There’s a reason for this and it’s because I’ve seen these parts fail before the service interval - so if you want to err on the side of caution and ensure your car lasts as long as possible, keep reading.

Engine Servicing

An engine service always consists of an engine oil and filter change. It sometimes (depending on the level of service you pay for) consists also of an air filter, fuel filter, pollen filter and spark plug change (petrol only.) 

In this section we’re going to go through the service intervals for petrol and diesel models, including exactly which service you need to have and when, and what parts need to be replaced. This information is a combination of official documentation from Peugeot as well as my own personal experience owning a Peugeot 208 for three years.

It goes without saying that servicing your car depends on the duration and mileage you do. For example, if you only do 4,000 miles per year, and the service interval is every 12,500 miles or one year, you still need to get your car serviced every year. 

Petrol (inc. GTi)

Diesel

It’s worth pointing out that if you drive in what’s called “arduous conditions” you will need to have your car serviced more often. Arduous conditions are defined as the following:

• Consistent slow speed driving - under 12mph

• Start-stop driving and short journeys where the engine cannot fully warm up 

• Countries where fuel quality is poor

• Countries where the environment is dusty

• Usage such as a driving school car, taxi or delivery vehicle

If any of these apply to you, half the service intervals above - so 12,500 miles becomes 6,250 miles.

Timing belt/chain

Petrol

I’ve written extensively about the timing belt on the petrol version of the Peugeot 208. Generally this depends on the year your car was manufactured, as newer models are more robust and don’t require the belt changing as often.

Generally if you have an older model with the 1.0 or 1.2L Puretech engine you should have the timing belt replaced every 64,000 miles or six years. This has been revised downwards since the car was manufactured so if your manual gives the standard interval of 112,500 miles or ten years, ignore it - it needs to be replaced more frequently. 

I won’t go into all the individual reasons why this is the case here but it’s because the belt runs in the engine oil, and the oil delaminates the belt and causes bits of it to break off, which can cause the belt to fail. This can also throw up an engine fault code. As this is such a critical part of your vehicle, don’t delay having it changed when it’s due.

Later models of petrol 208 have a longer timing belt interval of 112,500 miles or ten years, which you can stick to as this problem has largely been resolved with the newer model 208. Check with your local Peugeot dealer if you are unsure.

Diesel

The Peugeot 208 diesel has a recommended timing belt change interval of 112,500 miles or ten years. This has not been revised downward over the life of the car like the petrol one has, and this is because the belt does not run in oil and so does not suffer with the same issues that the petrol one does.

I will say that if you do a lot of stop-start driving, ten years or over 100k miles is a long time for a timing belt not to be replaced, and if you are doing a lot of town driving, irrespective of whether you have a petrol or diesel 208, I would suggest you look at getting the belt replaced at around 70,000 miles or seven years. 

Brakes

Brake servicing on the Peugeot 208 has no set service interval - they get changed when they need changing. When your brakes need changing largely depends on your driving style - if you use a lot of engine braking and don’t brake harshly you should get much longer out of a set of discs and pads than you would if you were a more aggressive driver.

That being said, I’ve done discs, pads and brake fluid on a countless number of Peugeot 208s (including my own) and there are patterns in terms of when brakes are likely to need replacing, which we’ll go into here.

Brake pads and discs

Depending on your driving you will likely get between 30,000 - 40,000 miles out of a set of brake pads. You will notice when the pads have worn down as you will experience a loud groaning sound when stopping, and this is the sound of the metal backing of the pad scraping against the disc where all the friction material has worn away. At this point it’s time to change your pads. 

Brake discs should last between 60,000 - 70,000 miles. Be careful with the rear brake discs in particular on the 208 as these have an integrated wheel bearing, and if the wheel bearing fails prior to the disc itself being beyond its’ useful life, you will still need to change out the brake disc - and if you’re doing the disc, you’ll need to do the pads as well, as old pads will cause a new disc to wear unevenly - and if you’re doing one side, you’ll have to do the other. This is common on a lot of French cars - I’ve noticed it on both Citroen and Renault.

Brake fluid

Replacement of the brake fluid should be done every two years regardless of mileage.

Suspension

Suspension on the 208 again has no set service interval. While these are comfortable cars, the suspension isn’t of fantastic quality and there are a few common points of failure that you might need to address more often than others.

None of this information has come from Peugeot - with suspension it’s very much a case of replacing it when it’s required, no matter whether that’s at 5,000 miles or at 50,000 miles. Again however as a mechanic who’s worked on more 208s than I’d care to remember and having owned one myself, parts generally fail at similar times, so this is a summary of what I’ve noticed over the years:

There are other suspension components that may need attention throughout the life of your car but these are the main ones that will need looking at. Again - based on my own personal experience as a mechanic working on these cars and owning one for several years.

Gearbox oil

Manual

Peugeot claim these gearboxes are sealed for life and doesn’t need replacing. I would recommend you change the oil out every 70,000 miles - I have seen higher mileage examples of these cars where we’d be doing a clutch, we’d go to drain the gearbox oil and it would be like paraffin. 

A regular gearbox oil change will keep your gearbox running smoothly and should eliminate expensive repair costs. These gearboxes aren’t particularly good or bad but there are much more robust examples out there in other cars, and changing the oil regularly will make sure the box lasts at least as long as the car.

Semi automatic (EGC)

The EGC semi-automatic gearbox is exactly the same as the manual gearbox (it’s just operated by actuators instead of a clutch pedal and gear stick) and therefore the oil is the same and should be changed out at the same interval.

Automatic (EAT6 and EAT8)

This again is a non-serviced item according to Peugeot. I don’t have a huge amount of experience with these gearboxes as they haven’t been fitted to Peugeot vehicles for very long but I do know they are Japanese made by a company called Aisin and Peugeot does not make them in-house. They are fitted to a number of other vehicles.

Good practice on an automatic gearbox is to replace the fluid every 30,000 miles or four years. I’d say doing it every 50,000 or four years is probably about right for the EAT gearbox. Keeping old fluid in an automatic gearbox any longer than this is just going to lead to premature wear and failure. 

Battery

A battery should be changed when it needs to be changed but usually the useful life of a battery is about four years. Be careful if you have a stop-start model as this may require a higher powered battery. Additionally cars fitted with the EGC semi-automatic may need the battery changing more frequently, as the high powered actuators that control the clutch and gear change do draw a significant amount of power.

Clutch 

There's no set interval for a clutch change - it depends entirely on how you drive the car and the quality of the clutch you have in your car. Occasionally a clutch might last 30,000 miles if you're particularly aggressive with it - on the other hand if you're gentle and you don't abuse it it could last over 100,000 miles. I've written about clutch replacement on the Peugeot 208 if you want to read about this in more detail.

Injectors

Fuel injection on the petrol and diesel models tends to be pretty reliable but I would expect that you may start to see problems after around 100,000 miles. It also depends on the kind of driving that you do and how well the car has been looked after. When you change injectors, generally you have to change them all at once - so depending on whether you’ve got a three cylinder petrol or a four cylinder petrol or diesel, you may be in for a hefty repair bill when your injectors start to fail.

Tyres 

Tyre servicing depends entirely on the kind of driving you do and what brand you buy. Cheaper tyres may only last 15,000 miles whereas more expensive tyres like Pirelli or Goodyear can last up to 30,000 miles. 

Take it from me, a mechanic - buy the absolute best tyres you can afford. The Peugeot 208 generally comes with 15 or 16 inch wheels, so you’re looking at either a 195/55/R16 or 185/55/R15 tyre size (but always check your own car before buying tyres.) These tyres can be had quite cheaply anyway - around £80 for a mid-range tyre and around £100 for a decent brand. Tyres are the only thing that separates you from the road and you can absolutely tell the difference between cheap budget tyres and nice, expensive premium tyres. 

Check out our recommendations for the best Peugeot 208 tyres.

Change your tyres when there’s around 3mm of tread left and make sure you inspect them regularly for cuts, bulges or punctures. Check the pressures regularly to ensure they are correct - depending on your wheel sizes they may be different. See the correct tyre pressures for your Peugeot 208 here.

I’ve written a number of other articles on the Peugeot 208 including the cost to replace key components and common faults you may experience, so if you’re looking for more detailed information, check out some of the articles below.