I have an ’09 plate Trafic van that I’ve used as a day/bike van. Good nick, alloys, electric windows, 142000 miles. Had it for a few years and spent some time and a bit of money on it. Mostly used to commute into work, 10 miles each way. It’s been pretty reliable. Had a problem with the MAF sensor but that got sorted easily/cheaply.
Just got it MOT’d. Then it started missing. Had it checked at local garage and found one of the injectors was failing. Common fault and can be a pain to remove/replace. Got recommended a place nearby to do it. Cost me £450+ even though they said it came out easily. Had a track rod end ball joint done too and all was well again. They flagged up that the front strut mounts needed doing but otherwise it was all good.
Now it’s started missing again and I’m pretty sure it’s another injector failing.

I now have a dilemma – do I:
a. fork out estimated a fair chunk (£700 + ish) and keep it? It feels like it’s starting to fail regularly now and I just can’t afford to keep chucking money at it. Things have changed – we don’t go away in it much and I mostly commute by bike to save fuel costs anyway.
b. fork out to get the jobs done and sell it? Will I recoup the money?
c. sell it and state what jobs need doing and price it accordingly? Will I get just get silly low offers?

I like the van but can’t justify keeping it or really afford to potentially waste money. I’m torn. I’ve got a few other problems in life at the mo so this has come at a bad time.

As always, all advice gratefully received. TIA.

450 quid to do one injector???

Edit: never mind, I’ve just seen how expensive they are…

Are refurbs an option if you can afford the downtime?

The price of vans is stupid at the moment and if you buy a new van how do you know that won’t need injectors?

Last time my wife’s car had an issue I took it to a specialist who measured each injector and gave me a health report. Cost £20.

Personally I’d fix the van. It will increase its value if you decide to sell it later on

Defo fix it. Vans like that go for up to 5k round here, I expect selling it with known fault will knock more than the 700 quid off it, if you want to sell it. If you don’t want to sell it you’ll have to fix it so just get it done then decide whether to sell

If you sell it cheap then decide you want another one you’ll be kicking yourself when you see the prices

There’s someone selling an 09 Transit ‘half-conversion’ (ie, mattress chucked in the back and some plastic B&Q shelves screwed to the floor) for £9k on my local marketplace

http://www.dieselbob.co.uk/injectors.aspx

Fix it, for sure.

Sounds very similar to my Vivaro in terms of age & mileage.

I’ve been happily throwing money at it, after looking at the pricing of potential replacements.

Answer C for me, but for the reasons stated in A. Yeah, you may not get a great price but sound’s like you’ve had good value from it so owes you little. Also then it’s one less thing to worry about if you have other things on your plate.

+1 for Dieselbob, I use him for work stuff (high pressure diesel pump based chemical dosing equipment) and he is a good bloke.

I got £1200 on eBay for a 07plate 130k mile Transit that needed loads of welding for its MOT.

I’d speak to Bob and fix it but that’s based on wanting to keep and use it.

eldest_oab has just spent £800 on major service (incl. new brake fluid), brakes pads & discs, one new calliper and alignment on a 2009/100k/£3800 Transit. Much cheaper than newer van – none of which seem to be in better condition than his, if anything most of the vans we saw were proper bag of nails even if the paint looked shiny….The garage even asked where he got it from, as they needed a new SWB van for collecting parts…

Repair it – as others have said the price of vans is silly at the moment, and if you were to sell and buy another you may have to spend on the new one too….

Better the devil you know in this case. If you ditch it and get a replacement then that’s no guarantee that the newer one isn’t going to need something more expensive in the near future. If there’s nothing else obviously wrong with it then I’d repair and keep running it.

With regards the injectors – is a lot of the cost labour? Is there any benfit of a preventative change of the remaining (2?) injectors to save having to change them when they fail?

I’m not sure that I would be replacing the van if I sold it. As I say we aren’t really using it much as a day van these days and I commute by bike now.

I know what you mean about a preventative measure with the rest of them, and it did occur to me but I think it would work out pretty expensive and I really don’t want to spend unnecessarily.

What’s the loan/HP/lease on a new van. Fixing it is probably just a month or two’s costs.

Just had a few jobs to do on my car, but it’s age/mileage related – 20 years old and 140k miles.

I know what you mean about a preventative measure with the rest of them, and it did occur to me but I think it would work out pretty expensive and I really don’t want to spend unnecessarily.

I’d agree with you, just fix what needs fixing and sell it while van prices are so high.

SORN it and fix it when you have some money/time/capacity?

I’m not sure that I would be replacing the van if I sold it.

If it’s a vehicle that is ‘surplus’, I would be selling while prices are high.

Yup, another vote for fix & sell. No reason to keep it if you’re not using it.

Seperate point but …
Are van prices that really that high at the moment? I’ve had a look on eBay and Gumtree and they don’t seem to be.

Yes, yes they most definately are

Option D

Do a leakback test on all injectors. See if it’s worn all of them

Leyland auto elec are good chaps

I’d fix it tbh unless you’ve got 15k to spend anything you gets a gamble anyway

@MrSparkle not sure what you are comparing to but yes, hugely like all vehicles. Easily up 40% plus in the last two years. Now seem to be peaking but little sign of dropping.

Update: As suggested above I rang Diesel Bob. I explained it all and he said that removing the injectors is a PITA and that’s why they don’t do them anymore. His opinion was that I should sell it as is before it costs me any more money.
Tbh, I’m still undecided but I’m coming round to agreeing with him.

Yep, sell it.

Might be fine for ages now (they are generally v reliable), but if you’re not sure you even need it – this is deffo the time to sell.

Trafics of your vintage are generally £3k-£4k on Van Trader.

Possibly more than you paid for it?

There must be something in the air….

I have an 11 plate Trafic with the 2.0 engine. Low mileage, 72k. Converted camper. Sport edition, air con, tow bar, its a nice van.

Last week injector no.4 copper seating washer has failed. Its been in my local garage all week and the fella simply cannot get the injector clamp bolt (let alone the injector itself) undone, its stuck.

I’ve arranged for a mobile specialist injector removal person to go and fix it for next week. It’ll probably be costing me around £700 ish plus his travel fees.

The injector issues on this engine are sadly really common. I’m paying to get mine fixed and keep plodding along. I’ve looked after this van and to buy something similar is just a silly amount of money right now.

Oof! I thought I was having a bad expensive time of it. :0(

I’ve looked after this van and to buy something similar is just a silly amount of money right now.

Really annoying, but it sounds like you’ve got a great van that you can enjoy for years to come.

For me I just get a gut-feeling when it’s time to move a vehicle on. Don’t hang on to what you’ve already spent to justify further spend.

Try ers in lathom