Seen a van I really like the look of. 60,000 miles on an 07 plate, reasonable price, pictures make it look in nice condition, last 3 years owned by a mountain biker, but here’s the kicker-

1.6 hdi engine, seller says it has no history. It’s his uncle’s van and been maintained by a mate with a garage. Given the recent posts on here and evidence elsewhere about the turbo problems if not looked after properly, would it be worth it? Even if I bought a used-car warrantee, with no history no chance it’d be honoured if the turbo went. Hmm.

Id buy it and drop the sump + clean/ replacethe gauze

Then service regularly

Buy cheap deploy full and thorough service drop sump clean turbo oil feed pipe and replace the gauze.

Got one at work now, we know it wasn’t service for 60k your van poss has been but you have no record? The car at work has killed x2 turbos and x2 oil pumps because the amount of dry,cooked oil/ crap in the block no matter how many times we change oil/flush/ change parts it only takes another small amount to come adrift and block the turbo feed filter or jam open the oil pressure release valve. BUT in 13 years I’ve been working on this engine this is the only one I’ve seen this bad. If its cheap and runs well I would probably buy and as discussed on here change oil/filter/turbo pipes / gauze etc sound extreme but £1000 for a new turbo is a lot more of a pain!!!
My option is that it’s the best small diesel out at the min, but obviously everything has issues if abused.
Good luck

Yeah, having read all that on the other posts I think that’s a great plan, I’ll probably do that even if the one I buy has a full history but if the turbo is already worn that’s not going to save it.

Now I’ve seen a couple of them the other suggestion about checking the impellor for play really isn’t practical on a garage forecourt or someone’s drive.

edit – to my mind it’s a fair price, doesn’t really feel cheap enough to offset the risk.

edit 2 – of course what I’m really hoping is that the current owner is on here, spots this, makes the connection and offers a full and frank discussion about the price! 😀

Anyone know if the 1.4 HDI engine (Citroen Nemo) has the same issue? I usually do an oil change ever 6 months / 6000 miles and use good quality full sinthetic oil but should I be dropping the sump and cleaning out the turbo oil feed pipe and gauze? Only done 36000 miles so far but want to avoid potentially expensive turbo problems in the future.

more info here,

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PSA_HDi_engine#1.6

new oil and filters run for a few hundred miles, then an engine flush and renew both.

Good tip for spotting a poorly maintained car is to get a copy of the latest MOT. Then you can punch the details into the MOT website and see all the previous MOTs with mileages.

A good un will have the odd fail, a bad un (like my last car) will have a list of advisories that gets longer each year. On mine you could literally track it as everything wore out, but only stuff that failed was fixed! It wasn’t a keeper! The last MOT was obviously hooky as it had no advisories but still had all the faults picked up over the previous three MOTs.

Service history is no indicator that the car has been any better looked after than if a good enthusiast has been maintaining it. More poor garages than good ones out there. Just add in a sump drop and clean into the price.

That is a good tip. Thanks Spooky.

The Duke, if I were changing the oil at that interval, as long as it meets the required spec. I’d not be worrying about the pick up pipe gauze. There’s bound to be forums that deal with that engine and any issues it suffers.

edit – couldn’t agree more Mr 456, whatever I get I’ll be servicing myself, but it didn’t even sound like what has been done is recorded in the service book.

I’ll probably just go and see for myself, it’s not a million miles away.