[Closed] Vivaros, Trafics etc

My Vivaro has been excellent. Known issue regarding stuck injectors, Vauxhall will generally sort for free if you have issues. My sixth gear whines a bit, but I'm happy to live with it with 115k on the clock.

Bought for £4.5k S/H (SWB crewcab).

[url= http://www.vauxhallownersnetwork.co.uk/index.php?forums/vivaro-movano-camper-van-day-van-conversions-including-renault-nissan-derivatives.200/ ]Vauxhall Forum - VxOn[/url]

Vivaro / Movano Camper Van / Day Van Conversions (including Renault/Nissan Derivatives) Forum

http://www.vwt4forum.co.uk/forumdisplay.php?f=147

Also the T4 / T5 forums are good for ideas.
See the LWB and SWB Garage forums for campervan / pimped builds.

We run 8 Vivaros on our fleet, they've been trouble free and all have over 100k on them now, far far better than the Transits we had previously...

I've had 2 traffics, 2006 and 2010 models. Both been largely trouble free. We ran the 06 one to about 240000km until it got written-off in a crash and have now run the 2010 one from 30000km to 190000km.

The one fault we've had on both of them is the clutch slave cylinder going at around 120000km. This is £££ to fix as it's in the gearbox and a pain in the ar$e to get at.

I thought the gearbox weakness was supposed to only apply to older models like my 2004 (which has been fine). I'm sure I overpaid at £3000 (dealer) but I needed a LWB in a hurry. 2y on I've had to spend a bit on it but it's been v useful, I don't regret it.

People will tell you about the injector issue because they've read about it, don't seem to be many (any?) owners on here who've suffered it though.

Had mine for a few years, it's needed a few bits done but has generally been great. Very easy to live with.

Would buy again for sure.

Injector issue is not an issue unless you need to remove the injectors, at which point it can become a major issue.

There are specialists around who can normally manage to pull them out, but it'll likely cost you a couple hundred. The worst case scenario is it'll cost you a cylinder head, as the only option if you can't remove the injector, is to smash the rocker cover/cam carrier to get at the head bolts. At that point the head is scrap, as the cam carrier is matched/machined with the cylinder head.

Gearboxes were a problem. Local gearbox place to us would remove, repair and reinstall with a new clutch for around £1000+VAT.

Older 1.9s did seem to have more minor issues, whereas the 2.0s seem to be less troublesome in general, but tend be more expensive if they do go wrong.

Ok here goes. The injector issue applies to all vehicles between 2007 - 2011, the windscreen seal was incorrectly fitted to a number of vehicles causing water to be dumped onto the injectors where it can't drain away causing them to malfunction. When they do they will be seized into the head requiring them to be removed with specialist pullers or drilled out. Alternators, starter motors and gearbox selector shaft bearings can cause problems. Oh and lastly do not park with the steering on full lock as the end can fall off the steering pump whereby it pukes all its fluid all over the floor.

We bought a new Trafic SWB Crewcab 2013, used as family transport, was fine for the first year then the dpf clogged up, had it fixed 3 times in the next 6 months, required a low loader each time to the garage 70 miles away, and a courtesy hire car for around a week each time, the dealer eventually blamed our driving style and told us the warranty wouldn't cover it any more. I tried giving it a good high rev run at weekends but it wasn't enough. I wish it would give a warning to say give me a good blast in the next 50 miles or so or I'll clog up, but by the time you get the dash warning light it's already too late. Shame as I loved the van, but the experience had put me off having another diesel, previous 3 cars were diesel and no problem, though they may have been pre dpf?

My (company) 2013 Vivaro has just gone to Vauxhall for the 2nd time this year for injector issue. Currently on about 95,000 miles.

It's been reasonably trouble free up to now, company I work for runs a lot of them. Front suspension problems seem to be fairly common with ours, the odd gearbox problem too. Mine isn't the only one that's had new injectors either, so I suspect the problem is still there in the newer ones. Still more reliable than the 2010 VW T5 I had before this, that thing was recovered to VW every 5-6 months for the 3 years/120,000 miles I had it.

Injectors seem to be a recurring theme with friends vans at the moment. My mate has a VW Caddy and his first injector died about 2 months ago. No corrosion or other reason, just died. The second went last week. Now this is a 4 year old van that he has had from new.

Another mate his 3year old T5 has had 2 injectors die on him as well.

I luckily had all mine replaced from Vauxhall in my 07 plate vivaro. They were corroded. The sill on the windscreen did not direct the water away properly and instead let it in directly to the engine bay which in turn corroded them. I have now siliconed the sill so that no water is getting in.

Would not touch a VW at the moment to be honest. The amount of people i know who are having issues is pretty high.

My 08, 2.0 Vivaro has just stated to play up with an injector fault. No codes stored yet and Mil light not on. Quick look on a Snap-on scanner suggests number 4 injector fault. It seems that that when they corrode the build up of corrosion crushes the Piezo element in the Injector. Mine misses on load like a coil pack would on a petrol car.
£250 for an injector and a second Mortgage to fit it.
Anyone want to buy a Van 😀

The issue with newer injectors on anything, is the tolerances are that tight, the slightest bit of contamination can cause them to fail.

Unfortunately there are also a lot of "trained" mechanics who's idea of cleanliness while doing a fuel filter, is to try and not let too much crap fall into the filter/pipes.