Ford Tranist 280 - The highs and lows of buying a work van

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Sun 1 Oct 2017 13:02
Ford Tranist 280 - The highs and lows of buying a work van - Eli-joby Maeckelberghe

Hi guys, I'd love to get some advice on buying a van for my job as a carpenter. Got my eyes on the older style Transits and this looks like the best I can find for under £6000 excluding VAT. Please have a look and tell me your thoughts, and, if you've got some sound advice that would be much appreiciated!

Regards

Eli-Joby

www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/20170902889...g

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Sun 1 Oct 2017 15:02
Ford Tranist 280 - The highs and lows of buying a work van - oldroverboy.

have you checked the MOT history?

Why are you buying a van 156 miles away. YOU have to get it back for any warranty.

see problems for this diesel engine!

check underneath for rust.

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Sun 1 Oct 2017 15:28
Ford Tranist 280 - The highs and lows of buying a work van - badbusdriver

It does not say in the advert what exact spec the engine is. The 2.2 was available with a variety of outputs ranging from 85 to (i think) 145bhp. Find out which version it has because, frankly, 85bhp is not really powerful enough to pull a van of this size. It might be fine if you do mainly local runs, but if you regularly travel further afield you will find yourself ragging it to within an inch of its life just to keep up with the traffic flow. And obviously that is not going to bode well for fuel economy or long term reliability. If the van you are looking at has the 85bhp engine, i would recommend you leave it and look out for either the 100 or 115bhp version.

As for alternatives, if you don't need the high roof, have a look at the swb or mwb versions of the citroen relay, fiat ducato and peugeot boxer. The citroen and peugeot use the same basic engine as the transit, but the least powerful version has 100bhp, which is much more capable. The fiat, depending on age, may also have that same engine, but older ones use the 2.3 iveco unit (also around 100bhp).

But if long term reliability is the priority, then there is only one choice, the toyota hiace!. It is a smaller van, though the lwb (300) version does have plenty load space. The problem would be finding one as owners tend to keep them forever. As a result, those that do find their way on to the used van market are either pricey for their age, or have many, many, many miles under them!.

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Sun 1 Oct 2017 16:03
Ford Tranist 280 - The highs and lows of buying a work van - SLO76
Used vans are a minefield. Firms either lease them over three or four years and then they're put to auction or they buy them outright and run them until their no longer economically viable. You need to know who had it previously.

On one which is this age you need to ask yourself why the previous owner got shot of it. Vans aren't emotional purchases, they're working vehicles bought to do a job so owners don't chop and change without reason. In this case it's apparently a local authority vehicle (check the V5 to be certain) which could be good news. They may have a policy of offloading at a certain age rather than if it's causing grief. Plus it would explain the very low annual mileage.

I would normally recommend buying ex BT, ex local authority and ex NHS commercials. They're well maintained and don't get the abuse vans normally get at the hands of brain dead white van man. But you need to be sure this is where this particular van came from. I'd like to see a fully stamped up service book too but all too often in house worships don't bother.

As for faults to watch for well these are prone to timing chain issues, dual mass flywheels breaking up and injector faults. Rust is also a worry as is poor quality crash repairs. Tell the dealer you want to hear it start from stone cold when you go to view and when you arrive first thing you do is get hold of they keys yourself and pop the bonnet then feel for any heat on the engine. If it's warm at all then they've started it because it may have a rattling timing chain or possible another cold start fault. It may be as small as a duff battery but I wouldn't take the chance on one of these as they can be money pits in a way the older PSA 2.5 di Transits never were.

It's not all negative though, these are very useful vans and they drive very well compared to rivals. The base 85PS motor is actually ok, it's torquey enough and will keep pace with most traffic. Who buys a van to go fast anyway. Basic is best so forget toys and extra power and go for condition and history first.

Good alternatives are the Toyota Hiace but these were rarely bought by fleet users and most that tend to come up for sale are knackered. An occasional gem slips through though but you'll be fighting off other buyers by the bus load.

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Sun 1 Oct 2017 20:34
Ford Tranist 280 - The highs and lows of buying a work van - Steveieb
Bit of a coincidence SLO but my sons 11 plate 65 k miles transit LWB Transit has developed a whining noise when the clutch is depressed fully.
This has been diagnosed as a DMF problem but the advice being it could carry on making this noise for the next two years.. Annoyingly his old 05 Transit keeps going on the original DMF at 120k , that being the Fwd version compared with the new one which is Rwd.

Have you any experience of DMF failures on Transits?
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Sun 1 Oct 2017 22:53
Ford Tranist 280 - The highs and lows of buying a work van - SLO76
Bit of a coincidence SLO but my sons 11 plate 65 k miles transit LWB Transit has developed a whining noise when the clutch is depressed fully. This has been diagnosed as a DMF problem but the advice being it could carry on making this noise for the next two years.. Annoyingly his old 05 Transit keeps going on the original DMF at 120k , that being the Fwd version compared with the new one which is Rwd. Have you any experience of DMF failures on Transits?

Whining noise when the clutch is fully engaged is more likely to be the thrust bearing than the DMF I'd say. As for experience on Transits with these issues I've a number of customers in the taxi/minibus trade who've ran into them. Plus the LTI TXII also used the same Ford chain driven motor as used by in the Transit and again DMF and timing chain issues are common and owners often wished the firm had retained the old Nissan 2.7 diesel which was capable of massive mileages. The garage I use for trade vehicles is very popular with the local taxi trade and other local small businesses and there's frequently a Transit or old LTI on the ramps with particularly DMF failure. These all tend to be vehicles that see heavy stop start usuage however so a well driven van shouldn't be under as much pressure.
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Mon 2 Oct 2017 22:53
Ford Tranist 280 - The highs and lows of buying a work van - daveyK_UK
We have nearly always had small vans (Bipper/Fiorino size or Doblo/Berlingo size) with the exception of a Vauxhall Vivaro and the odd hire van.

Found the Vivaro (was a 12 plate) with the 2.0 Diesel engine to be excellent, comfy to drive on the motorway, enough power and the only thing we replaced other than Tyree and brake pads was the stereo which randomly stopped working but we picked one up cheap from a scrap yard.
Took it up to 80,000 miles in over 4 years.

If you go for a Ford Transit, the one thing you will have to do is upgrade the security - all transits including the latest one have major security flaws with the locks.

Personally I would steer clear of an ex BT van, BT fleet garages are a mixed bag.

Likewise I would avoid an ex police van (they know when to get rid of them) and an ex railway contractor van (harsh environment on the suspension and drive train).

A high mileage ex courier van could be a bargain if it's spent a lot of time on the motorway

Edited by daveyK_UK on 02/10/2017 at 22:54

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