What Van?

[Guest123]

A full tank of juice currently £105, will do me for 615 miles.

 

[PC Electrics]

1800 quid for a recon box. you was ripped off chap!!

30 seconds on google produced this:
Vivaro
and I reckon that's pricey.

 

[Martyc]

I equate that to 34mpg with those figures.... It's better than my car anyway!!

 

[telectrix]

that's not bad then. about the same as my deafening mid-engined nissan.

 

[Welchyboy]

1800 quid for a recon box. you was ripped off chap!!

30 seconds on google produced this:
Vivaro
and I reckon that's pricey.

Thats fitted with VaT

 

[Amp David]

Even thats expensive.

 

[i=p/u]

drove a vivaro for a guy and the gear box dropped out few times, i tied few cable ties round it// full tank £130 round 600 miles

 

[telectrix]

Thats fitted with VaT

should be fitted with bolts.

 

[Ponty Massive]

Our Renault Trafic in the garage. Been off the road for 3 weeks!!

It took 3 garages to diagnose the problem and finally the 6th garage has managed to do the work.

Fist we were told it was an ECU problem, unit was stripped out and taken away for testing to be told all working fine. Problem eventually turned out to be an injector (No4). The injector had welded into the head so no garage would touch it, the garage it's with now has the injector out but now not getting any compression in the cylinder!!!

Have been told all injectors need to come out, head off and skimmed and looking at a bill the best part of £1800.

The vans on a 08 plate with 95K. My dilemma now is, when it's back on the road, do we keep it or out it? The van (up until the breakdown) run's like a Turkish Bolex, very clean, FSH and well looked after, but the hassle we've gone through these last 3 weeks with a van down is a nightmare.

Do you buy new or second hand? Do you lease or buy?? So many decisions.

 

[sjhall]

IVe a traffic, the gear box whines in certain gears, the bearings can be changed by a good machanic, but it takes a bit of time and money, my machanic has just done one so I can find out more on cost if required

 

[PC Electrics]

Ponty

Ok, you've got a problem with your van, but all your woes are not the vans fault. It really shouldn't be hard for a good garage to accurately diagnose the problem. Much of your hassle is caused by several garages failure to diagnose what's wrong and no doubt that's jacked up the overall cost too.

Trouble is that many garages these days don't have the proper skilled engineers you used to get years ago. Mechanics wages are low, training poor (cost cutting by dealers etc) and staff turnover high. I was in Warranty Engineering at a major OEM for four years and dealt with many components returned by dealers as faulty, but were not. Having visited many dealers, I can tell you I wouldn't trust most of them to service a walking stick.

Your problem of the siezed injector is similar to the issue of long life spark plugs. Many petrol engines now have plugs that have a 5 year or 60k life. This means they are never loosened from the head for years. Come change time, they've siezed in and suddenly the delicate alloy head needs to be removed and the spark holes remachined. If only garages would just loosen and retighten the plugs each year then this problem wouldn't occur. It's what I do with my cars.

Seperate out the van faults from the garage faults. The bottom line is that all vehicles require maintenance, it's simply a part of motoring. Once fixed your van will probably give many years good service again. I'm a firm believer in buying a vehicle as new and good condition as you can afford and running it for many years untill it is close to the end of its useful life - I believe it's the way to get best value. Oh, and service it more than the manufacturer recommends, especially oil changes.

 

[Cbigfoot]

Ponty

Ok, you've got a problem with your van, but all your woes are not the vans fault. It really shouldn't be hard for a good garage to accurately diagnose the problem. Much of your hassle is caused by several garages failure to diagnose what's wrong and no doubt that's jacked up the overall cost too.

Trouble is that many garages these days don't have the proper skilled engineers you used to get years ago. Mechanics wages are low, training poor (cost cutting by dealers etc) and staff turnover high. I was in Warranty Engineering at a major OEM for four years and dealt with many components returned by dealers as faulty, but were not. Having visited many dealers, I can tell you I wouldn't trust most of them to service a walking stick.

Fully agree with this, and dealerships are the worst, £105 per hour for someone who could not read a dipstick! I use a local garage who do the job right, and have people who know what they are doing!

 

[Andy B]

I`d rather have that gearbox rebuilt than buy a new van. It will save you money in the long run. I`ve got a 99 astra van with 235000 miles on it. I change oil and filter every 14000 miles. My "service history" is the mileage at each service written on the dash in marker pen. Works for me.

 

[Strima]

This is the van you need, FOOL!!!

 

[Strima]

Ponty

Ok, you've got a problem with your van, but all your woes are not the vans fault. It really shouldn't be hard for a good garage to accurately diagnose the problem. Much of your hassle is caused by several garages failure to diagnose what's wrong and no doubt that's jacked up the overall cost too.

Trouble is that many garages these days don't have the proper skilled engineers you used to get years ago. Mechanics wages are low, training poor (cost cutting by dealers etc) and staff turnover high. I was in Warranty Engineering at a major OEM for four years and dealt with many components returned by dealers as faulty, but were not. Having visited many dealers, I can tell you I wouldn't trust most of them to service a walking stick.

Your problem of the siezed injector is similar to the issue of long life spark plugs. Many petrol engines now have plugs that have a 5 year or 60k life. This means they are never loosened from the head for years. Come change time, they've siezed in and suddenly the delicate alloy head needs to be removed and the spark holes remachined. If only garages would just loosen and retighten the plugs each year then this problem wouldn't occur. It's what I do with my cars.

Seperate out the van faults from the garage faults. The bottom line is that all vehicles require maintenance, it's simply a part of motoring. Once fixed your van will probably give many years good service again. I'm a firm believer in buying a vehicle as new and good condition as you can afford and running it for many years untill it is close to the end of its useful life - I believe it's the way to get best value. Oh, and service it more than the manufacturer recommends, especially oil changes.

Nail square and firmly hit on the head. I still have good ties with the garage where I was an apprentice mechanic before joining the Army, same old faces working there apart from the odd apprentice that saw the light. Business built up by an old school engineer and his ethos is still firmly in place.

Problem is now there's too much reliance on computers to run what is basically a very simple machine, designers and eco warriors have had too much input over the years and maintaining a basic vehicle is getting harder every day.