Have i done the right thing

[wayne509]

Hi all newbie here

Question is
I have just bought an ex police riot van
It's a long wheelbase 2.5 td
It is showing 120k on the clock but i suspect it has had an engine change as the motor itself looks like brand spanking new and i mean brand new.
It drives like new so happy in that respect.

Are there common problems with the turbo diesels?
Anything i must do to it regularly other than change oil etc?
Are the turbo diesels more expensive to keep running?


Hopefully being an ex police van its had everything it has ever needed

Thanks for the help WAYNE

[jay]

be nice to see some pics.120k is not a high mileagefor police van.good luck with van and welcome to forum..

[Luke]

Have i done the right thing

mate you have bought a transit!!! of course you have done the right thing!!!

[wayne509]

Will get some pics as soon as i can, and thanks for the welcome.
My reason for buying it was to carry motorbikes to various meets etc so its perfect for that.Has the plastic black windows,which makes it hard for people to get to my bike if im away from van.

Inside it is fully lined (what the stuff is i dont know) and has 6 interior lights fitted and has ventilation fans.

All in all its perfect for what i need but just worried a bit about the turbo engine not being as reliable as the normal 2.5 di

[Luke]

There isnt any major common problems with the turbos - the throttle cable is electronic (on most of them) and can pack up from time to time and its quite expensive!
apart from that its just that there quite rare and parts will be harder to find if you need any!!

welcome by the way!!

[wayne509]

There isnt any major common problems with the turbos - the throttle cable is electronic (on most of them) and can pack up from time to time and its quite expensive!
apart from that its just that there quite rare and parts will be harder to find if you need any!!

welcome by the way!!

Thanks for the welcome Luke

Sod it no point in worrying, the thing will probably run forever

[madmark]

mate i would of thourt from the police it should be fine ,they dont normaly mess about! has the engine a silver rocker cover?????? the only real problem with turbo transits is the pump, they start hunting but will last forever dooing this ! i ran a td for 5 yrs and never had a problem apart from the pump!

[WINDSCREENGUY]

what does a silver rocker cover mean?

[transitgeoff]

pistons made from solid silver , no really its a ford exchange engine and im afraid to my experience there no better than any other so called recon, they are sold by ford dealers but are actually reconned by an outside company.

[wayne509]

No mate its a black rocker cover.

And black bottom of engine with my newly noticed oil leak

Stops it from rusting i suppose

[FredTransit]

No mate its a black rocker cover.

And black bottom of engine with my newly noticed oil leak

Stops it from rusting i suppose

Wouldn't worry too much about the oil, it's a transit. I think there is a man in Southampton who puts them in before they leave. Keep an eye on the oil level, I think you will probably find that it's not as bad as you think. Is there a big oil patch where you park? Does it p*ss out when the engine is warm?

[wayne509]

I had it parked over a metal sheet which would make the oil spread out so like you say probably not as bad as it seems.

Will get it checked when i have time.Thought maybe it was the sump gasket at first but seems a bit further back.

Where do they usually leak?

[Luke]

Where do they usually leak?

crankshaft seal is a common one sometimes leaks onto the clutch making it judder when setting off!
not usually a major problem though mine does it - i just live with it!!

[john leeman]

the only problem we have found is the rad is much more expensive, one of our customers fitted a standard rad, boil up under hard running, the high coolant temp forced the filler cap up and lost coolant. luckly did no damage, we replaced the rad with the ford recommened unit. and now 60,000 miles later no faults, turbos run on a higher grade oil, fill with the best (CASTROL)? you can aford.

[madmark]

i would think that your engine is the original anyway did you buy it from a dealer?????? or the auctions???? dealer would have give it a steam cleen then that would make you engine look new!

geoff once again you are bang on! i used to buy alot of white arrow vans from down your way ,most had ford exchange engines and had only done around 10-12k before oil pump fail but i used to get them very cheap ,then repair the engines and sell them on! and oh they were mk2,s ! when they went to mk3 they never got rid of them as the di was so strong and lasted !