kaput in Deutschland

mossypossy said:
I must admit I thought it was way too big after I first bought it

Now driving it is no harder than driving any other large van sized vehicle

Only really get an impression of the size when you step away from the vehicle
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Have you encountered any issues with the weight in terms of access restrictions? See a lot of 3t5 max in France.

Tom
 
I think you will find that restriction only applies to commercial vehicles and not camping cars/ motor homes ,
 
TJBi said:
Have you encountered any issues with the weight in terms of access restrictions? See a lot of 3t5 max in France.

Tom
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not like they are going to weigh you..... think it is 3.5 tons unladen with nearly a ton max payload.... max payload only occurring just before you cross the channel back home
 
Update

Well they delivered on the timing of the news

Cylinder number two had two valves rattling around inside, or more likely embedded into piston head and cylinder bore

Silly quote means van will be shipped home after nearly 3 weeks.

Another three weeks probably before it gets back at the current speeds

How much for a recon engine, Ducato 2.8 turbo diesel year 2000??
 
Can you believe there is a recon engine price comparison website?

Should be called Compare the Recon.com, but it isn't

Will have lots of time to get some costing ideas now
 
mossypossy said:
After a week of touring Europe engine goes pop.

Hotel in Germany this morning waiting for a hire car to drive back home.

Motorhome will be repatriated

Test driving Comfort Insurance customer support........
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A whole week!!! We had one day (rained all day as well), crossed with Eurotunnel as it was late parked up near Gravelines & rested the next day. Following day we drove about 5kms before we broke down, spent 3 days waiting outside one garage then taken to another garage where we spent another day, then it was decided to send us home with the van to follow. We are with Saga who use the AA breakdown, we were given the option of flying home or ferry & hire car. We decided on the ferry as we had quite a bit of stuff to carry with us in bags. Van took about 3 weeks to get back. Problem found to be the centre part of the clutch had come out of the clutch plate & it wasn't allowing the clutch to disengage.
 
another update

There is a global figure of £2500 per claim on my breakdown insurance

As it is such a long vehicle they need a specialist quote for return to uk, oh and it's another bank holiday

So costs they have so far incurred:

Removal from road to first garage in Germany
Hotel room for night
50 mile taxi ride
Two hire cars
Removal of vehicle to France for assessment
Assessment and removal of cylinder head

How much left in the kitty??
 
At least you are not complaining that you're bored.
The adventure continues!
Does your insurance cover include something like " uninsured losses" ?
How old is your van? You might get a sympathetic response from the maker/ dealer .
Should you have to spend some of your hard-earned, I hope that you can offset this by considering how much the van has saved you in hotel bills and other expenses while you've been playing out in it.
Don't worry,what does not kill you,makes you stronger.
Good luck
 
But after two days I have not been inundated with quotes for a recon engine.....stoopid comparison website
 
mossypossy said:
But after two days I have not been inundated with quotes for a recon engine
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You may not be I remember someone having a problem trying to source one some time ago. Probably be easier to get yours repaired depending on the extent of damage to the bore of the cylinder that had the valves drop may be possible with out removing the engine and just getting the cylinder head recond
 
I can get a spare head for £260, but as the engine does not turn I suspect the valve head is embedded in the piston cylinder wall:rolleyes2:
 
mossypossy said:
I can get a spare head for £260, but as the engine does not turn I suspect the valve head is embedded in the piston cylinder wall:rolleyes2:
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Usual damage is confined to piston and cyl head after valves get damaged when timing belt fails. Has anyone confirmed that engine won't turn over now with cyl head removed
 
the saga doth continue

No confirmation as the French garage won't repair at a sensible price so will be shipped home as is, with the engine in bits.

Getting bored now.......................................
 
mossypossy said:
But after two days I have not been inundated with quotes for a recon engine.....stoopid comparison website
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Have you thought about buying a full van maybe a mot failure, with a running engine ?,at least that way you know what the engine is like, and if you wanted a recon it wouldn't be too expensive to have a working engine reconditioned.
Richard
 
The plan is to drop an already refurbed engine in and then dispose of the broken one to get refurbed.

As we plan to have six weeks touring Norway next year a shiny engine sort of appeals.
 
helen262 said:
Have you thought about buying a full van maybe a mot failure, with a running engine ?,at least that way you know what the engine is like, and if you wanted a recon it wouldn't be too expensive to have a working engine reconditioned.
Richard
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Most vans will have gazillion miles clocked up and a MOT failure for sure. Personally I wouldn't fit such an engine which was probably trashed every single day of its life into my motorhome. Unless i am very short of funds. But even this is false economy if you have to pay a garage for the labour.
Do it once and do it right!
 
witzend said:
Usual damage is confined to piston and cyl head after valves get damaged when timing belt fails. Has anyone confirmed that engine won't turn over now with cyl head removed
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Our 2.8 turbo was trashed, piston chopped up by the valve head that broke off and rod out of the front of the block.

Complete new engine fitted as per my previous post. When something lets go at speed it takes seconds to wreck the engine.

What surprised me when I saw the engine in bits was how thoroughly it had been wrecked: block, head, piston plus conrod and fine metal swarf throughout the engine and oilways.

There was nothing salvageable, three injectors, pump and manifolds.

Peter
 
Gear driven cams are noisy, expensive and need vert tight tolerance when manufactured and assembled. They don't suit high mileage use engines and the slightest amount of debris in your lubrication system will be very bad.
Just look at the old Ford Cologne V6 engine. They used a plastic gear to keep the noise down and more often than not engines failed with cam/timing problems.

Gear driven cams are good for high power and high revving petrol engines for precise timing using long duration cams.

There is nothing wrong with the timing belt as a system. It just needs to be maintained and not ignored.
How many millions of engines are running just fine with a timing belt?
How many are with gear driven cams?
 
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