I have the Vito 110CDi 1999 model and it is giving me some serious headaches this last few weeks.
First off, the Speedo decided to have a fit and show innacurate speeds then died altogether. Local dealers have quoted me £500+ to sort that out with a new one.
3 weeks ago, the ever so common glowplug light illuminated itself and now refuses to go out.
Last week, the injectors decided to join in the fun and throw diesel back out up the sides of themselves. No. 2 and No. 4.
finally the lights on the left hand side of the van now only work on sidelights.
Everything all at once or what!
Decided, IC panel will have to wait. Will use GPS for the speedo.
Glowplugs - After reading the horror stories on here about snapped plugs and heads having to come off, I can live with a light being lit on the dash.
The injectors - WHOOAH are these a right rpyal pain in the a Stripped the inlet manifold off and the underlying cover to get to the injectors. OH CRAP! Carbon. Tonnes and tonnes of carbon. 2-3 hours later and 1 manky screwdriver, all carbon was removed. As well as skin from knuckles due to the severe lack of working room available. Got BOTH injectors out without too much of a struggle. PLenty of WD40 and side to side twisting and wiggling. (the injectors not me. Although, that would have been interesting to view I suppose )
A mate of mine is a diesel specialist so he cleaned and tested the injectors. One had a cracked lower cap. With that replaced and both cleaned, 2 new washers annealed(sp?) time to refit them. Injector no.4 went in and was nipped up. Injector number 2 went in and was nipped up. Van was ran for quite a while to check they were not 'chuffing' past and had seated properly.
No.2 hadn't. Bugger! Back out with No.2 and check seat of head was clean, new washer and try again. Still didn't seat itself. Chuffing diesel back out onto the head. I shall be having one more go with it again this week and a new washer. If that fails, I think taking a sledgehammer to the engine bay and anything else within a 50 yard radius will be the order of the day!
When these vans go wrong, MAN do they go!
Oh yeah, Hi, first post also. been viewing quite a while though.
Welcome! You will learn a lot about your 'LIABILITY' here! Be patient and success will prevail.....my suggestion is 'sleep over it' and start afresh the next day/time, also, do not 'hurry' on the removal/cleaning/reinstatement of the injectors......treat the task like your first date.....a bit of tender loving care, suspense and the element of discovery!
Welcome! You will learn a lot about your 'LIABILITY' here! Be patient and success will prevail.....my suggestion is 'sleep over it' and start afresh the next day/time, also, do not 'hurry' on the removal/cleaning/reinstatement of the injectors......treat the task like your first date.....a bit of tender loving care, suspense and the element of discovery!
Cheers Punjabi.
Just had a good friend drop me some proper wire cleaning brushes out that are designed for the Vito prior to installing the injectors again. 2 wire brushes and some 'special' grease for sealing them. It does genuinely say 'special grease' on the merc tub as well. lol.
Hi all, I`m new to this thread, forum, and vito van. I have just purchased a 1999 metallic blue vito with 99,250 miles, I`m worried by this thread and some other stuff I`m reading in here and around the old internet. Should I be crying in my tea??? The glow plug light...yeah yeah as long as it starts and gets a fuel treatment to clear the soot out every so often..use good fuel too..or am I wasting my time and living in denial. So far I`ve had mine 3 days it leaks oil at what looks like the turbo where it joins the engine at the top..but I saw this when buying it and have about £1000 budgeted for this to be refurb`ed or replaced with the same type refurbished?? If anyone can offer advice I`d be grateful she cost me £3000 sterling, looks brilliant, spotless but is this a mechanical nightmare about to unfold? I know the fans for the air in the drivers cab is rubbish......
anything else I should budget/re-mortgage for??
PS my previous was a little Skoda fabia..30,000 miles £5000 and broke down no less than 13 times..is my vito gonna make that look good??
thanks in advance and Mr Lee......you`re scaring me mate!!!
Hi all, I`m new to this thread, forum, and vito van. I have just purchased a 1999 metallic blue vito with 99,250 miles, I`m worried by this thread and some other stuff I`m reading in here and around the old internet. Should I be crying in my tea??? The glow plug light...yeah yeah as long as it starts and gets a fuel treatment to clear the soot out every so often..use good fuel too..or am I wasting my time and living in denial. So far I`ve had mine 3 days it leaks oil at what looks like the turbo where it joins the engine at the top..but I saw this when buying it and have about £1000 budgeted for this to be refurb`ed or replaced with the same type refurbished?? If anyone can offer advice I`d be grateful she cost me £3000 sterling, looks brilliant, spotless but is this a mechanical nightmare about to unfold? I know the fans for the air in the drivers cab is rubbish......
anything else I should budget/re-mortgage for??
PS my previous was a little Skoda fabia..30,000 miles £5000 and broke down no less than 13 times..is my vito gonna make that look good??
thanks in advance and Mr Lee......you`re scaring me mate!!!
Sorry bud. Don't be too concerned just yet. Most of the work I have done on my van was all new to me. I have saved a fortune by not paying garages to do basic work for me. Time and patience is generally the key. Occasionally I run out of both so cursing does happen here. lol.
Most oil leaks at the top end of an engine can be reasonably easy to sort out yourself. Best bet is if you have a bit of confidence and a few tools, have a go. Place everything you take off in order on a clean bench. I have even been known to take digital pictures as I disassemble something just to be sure it is put back correctly. Now the internet is about, there is rarely anything you will never be able to find out about. I searched all 36 pages of this tech forum just to see if there was anything I was missing. Quite A few posts were highly enlightening.
For instance, I never knew where my pollen filter was or how to get it out. An hour with a few cups of coffee and hey presto, my pollen filter will be no more as of tomorrow. I also very nearly did the glow plugs whilst I had all the inlet manifold off, but time stopped me. Then I read this forum. I am SOOOO glad I left them alone for the moment.
I would be seriously tempted to attempt the leak on your turbo myself. Try to Find some exploded diagrams of the area and purchase the relevant seal/s. If you wreck a £3 seal you've only lost £3. However, if you manage to fix the leak with a £3 seal, you will have saved a £1000 and learnt something new.
This Vito of mine has run since new and only ever had a new fan motor. £80 Brand new from Merc dealer! Cheap! Sadly a few parts of it are faulty. They will get fixed and the van should be back up and running again. If you are prepared to get your hands dirty every now and then you could and will save yourself a lot of money. Most basic jobs on motors are done by the apprentice lads who probably have as much skill or knowledge as the next man. ASK questions. LOTS and lots of questions. Knowledge is also powerful should you have to admit defeat and go to a dealer/garage for it fixing too.
Don't be scared by what I have typed. This is ONE van out of THOUSANDS!!!!!!!!!!! I have just had all the more common issues all happen at once. lol. Most people just have the odd niggle here and there. Such is life.
Nice one mate!!! you know I have been looking at that leak and feeling like a simple gasket seal and it`ll be fine!!! confidence is everything. However she came without much service history so `i`m gonna, just this time take her to a major commercial service agent (Allied Vehicles Glasgow) so that we can start building a new history from 100,000 onwards. She`s due her 100,000 miles inspection anyway so I`ll let `em do most. Can anyone say wether they have issues with the gear selector mechanism\???? mine feels really like its worn and damaged. Mr Lee thanks for the word up...I was getting worried.
Hi Badger 01
Gear selection problems are often down to the two cables that run down from the remote gear stick to the top of the gearbox. The cables are described as 'maintanance free' but with age can get stiff or stretched, checking the adjustment based on inner cable length showing when in neutral is not difficult, ask them to check this when you have the 100,000 inspection done. Thinking about it, there is a small nylon insert in the gear selector quadrent on top of gear box, this can start to brake up, worth checking condition of this also.
I was concerned about starting during the recent cold weather, as I have four open circuit glow plugs, but reading old threads there are reports of starting at minus 16 deg C with no glow plugs. All thoughts of this dissapeared when I discovered how little grip the front wheels have on a snow and ice covered side road. Given how narrow the road was, with parked cars either side and a 30% gradient, a decent run up was not such a good idea. Got up it eventually, after four or five goes, later a local said it defeated his SAAB, so that eased my embarasement.
As for the oil leak, you do not say if its the oil feed/return to/from the turbo or something more complicated/expensive, but good luck and keep is all updated with your progress.
well I would not really know if it was at which part of the turbo, all I know is its visible when you open the engine compartment. looks like the nearside of the front of the engine. Allied Vehicles of Glasgow seem to have it all in hand and are saying that they can fixit all for pennies..well almost ...The service from these guys has been great so far!!!!!!! gear selector,oil change, service, interior lighting and inspection service. mmm cant wait till she`s flying north full of fishing gear!!!! roll on summer.
hey all, yep the chaps at the garage are qouting a good price to fix everything , gear selector etc ...looking forward to getting her back!!! I`ll let ya ` ll know how she goes this summer. thanks again!!! peace !!
Right then badger... if you are at all interested and you trust this garage and you are keen to indicate to them that you will let them have your van when work needs doing then I strongly advise that you hang out with them when they are doing their work and explain stuff for you. If it's a small independent then they will probably be okay about it. It's fascinanting to watch stuff being taken apart (either when you are doing it or others are). As much knowledge you can get is worth its weight (in a metaphysical sense obviously) in gold.
So far I`ve had mine 3 days it leaks oil at what looks like the turbo where it joins the engine at the top..but I saw this when buying it and have about £1000 budgeted for this to be refurb`ed or replaced with the same type refurbished?? If anyone can offer advice I`d be grateful she cost me £3000 sterling, looks brilliant, spotless but is this a mechanical nightmare about to unfold? I know the fans for the air in the drivers cab is rubbish......
I also very nearly did the glow plugs whilst I had all the inlet manifold off, but time stopped me. Then I read this forum. I am SOOOO glad I left them alone for the moment. 
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