[dazmond]

a customer today has had his vivaro from new(10 yrs old).his turbo has just gone at 270,000 miles.original gearbox,no injector problems etc.

he is a mechanic(motorbikes) and says its the best van he s ever had!!

so not all vivaros have problems!!

[PoleKing]

Buy that one Daz!

[Jonny 87]

Then you hear of lots that do 40,000 miles and gear box goes......does another 10,000 miles then the injectors go. People having to spend £4,000 on repairs.

That's why I've just bought a toyota hiace.

More expensive but bomb proof.

It's the same with anything though. Luck of the draw. You can just get a bad one, or on the other hand you get a cracking one that never gives you grief.

[TomCrowther]

I think it's also got a lot to do with how you drive and maintain them. If you look after it, it will look after you.

[Ian Rochester]

Vivaros/Traffics are lovely vans to drive, look really good, but seriously not reliable above 50,000 miles, we've had one of each and they both blew their engines.

270,000 miles without any major replacements is VERY impressive... if it's true 

[Soupy]

It's all about maintenance I reckon. I have had Land Rovers with very high mileage from the hydro board. Serviced every 3 to 6 months the engine and box will just keep running.

[Mist A Bit]

Some people are lucky with them, my mate hasn't had any trouble with his, I personly think buying one is a gamble so I play safe with my hiace which has been 100% best choice for my business.

[Mike #1]

One of the reasons Injectors go on any vehicle is Supermarket Diesel , I know a few people who have had injectors go and the cheap fuel has been the cause . I only put BP diesel in my truck . Mike

[Dave Mills]

Maintenance, maintenance, maintenance.

Garage near me had a woman come in.  She looks at their recovery truck up on the ramp. "Not a very good advert for your business, is it?"  Owner says "its being serviced".  He said she looked at him like he was talking a foreign language.  There are two types of people in the world that he calls repairers and servicers.  The repairers fix things when they go wrong. The servicers rarely get to that stage.  

If the vivaro has had regular servicing, Im not at all surprised that its lasted.  Given that oil lubricates and clears dirt and swarf out of the engine, why are people surprised when their gearbox blows up after three years on the same oil and filter? Saves money in some weird world where repairs are free, I suppose.

Anyway, as Ive said before, any van you buy is either 100% totally useless or 100% totally perfect (if you listen to the opinions on this site, that is).

[Dave Mills]

Oh, and if you have a Vivaro serviced only every two years as per their schedule, youre asking for trouble IMO.

[PoleKing]

I had my Trafic serviced at less than 10k but had it 11 months.
When I tried to book it in for the service, they looked at me gone out.
'But it's only done 10k, why do you want it serviced?' Was the reply.
I didn't bother trying to explain. But a garage should really know better.
And not turn away work!

[ben M]

i bought a vivaro 09 6 months ago,now 42000 miles and had to change 2 injectors so far!  

[PoleKing]

i bought a vivaro 09 6 months ago,now 42000 miles and had to change 2 injectors so far!  

Good 'uns and bad 'uns Ben.
My last one did 93k on original injectors.

[Lee GLS]

Maintenance, maintenance, maintenance.

Given that oil lubricates and clears dirt and swarf out of the engine, why are people surprised when their gearbox blows up after three years on the same oil and filter?

Replacing the oil and filter will have no bearing on what happens to the gear box. Gear box oil will not get changed on a regular service, in fact it will probably not get replaced in lifetime of someone's ownership.

[Dave Mills]

Maintenance, maintenance, maintenance.

Given that oil lubricates and clears dirt and swarf out of the engine, why are people surprised when their gearbox blows up after three years on the same oil and filter?

Replacing the oil and filter will have no bearing on what happens to the gear box. Gear box oil will not get changed on a regular service, in fact it will probably not get replaced in lifetime of someone's ownership.

As per my other post, never changing your gearbox oil is madness just as much as leaving it two years between engine oil changes..  I dont care what the manufacturer says.

I drive autos (car) and have the gearbox oil changed every other year - about 25,000 miles (even though my last car claimed to not need it changing)  £110 for the gearbox oil change versus £2,500 for an auto gearbox rebuild.  Let me work that out.

[dd]

You would have to specifically instruct the garage to change the gear box oil, and even then as it is not a recommended maintenance item, you would still have to trust that they bothered.

[andyM]

Maintenance, maintenance, maintenance.

Given that oil lubricates and clears dirt and swarf out of the engine, why are people surprised when their gearbox blows up after three years on the same oil and filter?

Replacing the oil and filter will have no bearing on what happens to the gear box. Gear box oil will not get changed on a regular service, in fact it will probably not get replaced in lifetime of someone's ownership.

As per my other post, never changing your gearbox oil is madness just as much as leaving it two years between engine oil changes..  I dont care what the manufacturer says.

I drive autos (car) and have the gearbox oil changed every other year - about 25,000 miles (even though my last car claimed to not need it changing)  £110 for the gearbox oil change versus £2,500 for an auto gearbox rebuild.  Let me work that out.

The gearbox oil should be "long life" and I believe a lot of manufacturers state changing it 60,000-80,000 miles.
Im not saying it wouldn't be better to change it sooner rather than later, it won't hurt.
But im just going by what manufacturers state and by what mechanics have told me in the past.
The gearbox oil shouldn't have a lot of gunk and debris in it anyway unless the gears are breaking down and leaving swarf in the gearbox which is obviously not a good situation.
The problem with gearboxes on Vivaro's/Traffic's was due to bad design and water getting into gearbox from what I believe.
Not a situation that is normal or likely to happen with most vehicles.

[mufcglen]

alot of gearbox's are supposed to be sealed for life but i dont buy into that, theres a lot of cogs going round in that box and that oil will need changing at some point!
as an ex mechanic i did see a fair few vivaro's with gearbox problems but this was when they was pretty new so presume theyre more reliable now theyve been out a few years, at the end of the day though alot of vans get a right hard life and ive some right numptys drive them day in day out like colin mcrae than wonder why theyve broken down!
its all about service and maintainance with not thinking your an f1 driver every day but neither driving like an 80 year grandad either as that can be just as bad blocking egr inlets turbo's etc and finally a bit of luck as everything fails at some point in life!!

[Dave Mills]

You would have to specifically instruct the garage to change the gear box oil, and even then as it is not a recommended maintenance item, you would still have to trust that they bothered.

If you don't trust your garage why would you be taking your vehicle there? Anyway, you can check. Is the oil on the dipstick new or not?

[andyM]

You would have to specifically instruct the garage to change the gear box oil, and even then as it is not a recommended maintenance item, you would still have to trust that they bothered.

If you don't trust your garage why would you be taking your vehicle there? Anyway, you can check. Is the oil on the dipstick new or not?

The gearbox won't have a dipstick mate.
You have to undo the filler plug.

[Dave Mills]

And the filler plug on the vehicles Ive owned is also the dipstick.

I love this forum for nit picking.

[dd]

You would have to specifically instruct the garage to change the gear box oil, and even then as it is not a recommended maintenance item, you would still have to trust that they bothered.

If you don't trust your garage why would you be taking your vehicle there? Anyway, you can check. Is the oil on the dipstick new or not?

Did not think there was a dipstick for the gearbox! I trust my mechanic, but if using a main dealer would understand they would be reluctant to carry out tasks not recommended on their maintenance schedule.

[mufcglen]

yup on most general manual vehicles they just have the drain plug and a filler plug which you just fill till it dribbles out then put the plug back in!
on alot of real auto's they have dipsticks.
a way to check just like seeing if sump plug's been undone for draining oil is to climb under and check to se if theres any evidence of the gearbox drain plugs been played with ie evidence of dirt moved or oil residue wiped, not a surefire way to make sure theyve change gearbox oil but about the best you'll get!

[Lee GLS]

And the filler plug on the vehicles Ive owned is also the dipstick.

I love this forum for nit picking.

Manual gearboxes have a plug you have to remove only automatic gearboxes have dipsticks.

It's not nitpicking it's just correcting wrong advice.

[Dave Mills]

And the filler plug on the vehicles Ive owned is also the dipstick.

I love this forum for nit picking.

Manual gearboxes have a plug you have to remove only automatic gearboxes have dipsticks.

It's not nitpicking it's just correcting wrong advice.

Ok, if you dont trust your garage to do the job, either find a decent garage, do it yourself or undo the plug then put a length of clean, lint free cloth ** into the filler hole and check that the oil is clean.

Jesus, its not beyond the wit of man to see if someone has changed the oil in your gearbox.

Or just ignore the problem and it will go away.  That is the better solution that I suspect 99% of people on here will take.

** EDIT ** after inserting the lint free cloth, pull it out again to inspect it - I dont want to give bad advice.

[Klean07]

http://www.autoexpress.co.uk/vauxhall/vivaro


Make your own mind up!

[DaveG]

270,000 miles? That's what mine used to have on it 

[Dave Willis]

what, before you turned the clock back?

[DaveG]

 





























Only joking