Advice on motorhome engines

[hunter27]

My wife wants to buy a motorhome, I am not so keen as I will do most of the maintenance on it but as she backed me up when I wanted to buy a boat years ago I really have to go along with it.
We have looked at a few, 4 belted seats and 4 berth ones. I told her Ford engines are off the list due to their wet belts and that mainly leaves Peugeot or Fiat. Speaking to the mechanic doing my MOT yesterday he said Fiat have dry belts and if maintained correctly were okay but to try to get a slightly earlier one one 2019 ish? that didn't need AdBlue because if they aren't used enough it crystalizes and causes blockages. I have no experience of Fiat or Peugeot diesel engines what does the panel think.
Thanks

 

[Bornfree]

A had a 2016 citroen relay van and that had a 2.2 ford engine chain cam drive and no add blue. Brilliant van had it from new I did 176000 miles with very few problems. Nothing expensive just wearing items.

 

[Matchless]

I found that gearboxes were the weak point with fwd vans, but basically most newer vehicles are total 5h1t these days, I do like my 2016 ULEZ compliant NON AdBlue RWD Iveco Daily though, especially with the bombproof 8 speed ZF auto box and a separate chassis,

 

[winchman]

I did all my research and bought a MK7 Transit built by Hymer, no wet belt, issues are well known parts are easy most garages can fix it.
In my ownership its had
Crankshaft pulley ( Most AA vans carry one!)
Starter motor
Engine and leisure battery
Does 30+ mpg and fully winterised so easily used all year around
From a neighbours experience there Fiat broke in the summer took Fiat 3 months to supply the part!
Having just replaced Winchwomans car I totally agree with Matchless, all newer stuff is top price and poor quality just read some reviews and talk to garages.

 

[KaneH]

You won’t find it hard to find complaints online with modern Stellantis vans (Peugeot boxer, Citroen relay and Fiat Ducato) as build quality has went through the floor of late. The DW10/12 engines were pretty robust back in the day prior to the introduction of all the emissions systems. They seem to suffer from the typical EGR / DPF faults of modern “clean” diesels.

DW10 is the 2L which is cambelt (dry). DW12 the 2.2 is chain driven.

Gearbox issues as noted above. We’ve a 2L 2018 plate with 75k which is needing the 3-4 synchro replaced. Old man picked up a 2019 plate with similar mileage a couple months ago for a camper conversion and the gearbox blew up 20 miles up the road from the dealers. Thankfully they took it back and replaced with a new unit FOC.

People online seem to be moving over to Merc / VW as a result of poor quality but they are significantly more expensive.

 

[Misterg]

try to get a slightly earlier one one 2019 ish? that didn't need AdBlue

Beware of the Fiat engines around 2018/19. They didn't use AdBlue, but had very complicated emissions gubbins to meet Euro 5. (Prior to that, I think they all used the Ford 2.2 Engine.) The Fiat only was available with their 3L(?) engine.

We've got a 2018 Relay with the 2.0L engine (which is fine), but it's on its second gearbox at <30k miles.

ETA: There was a time, a couple of years ago, where Ford based motorhomes were virtually uninsurable, due to the number of thefts. Things have probably moved on, but might be worth checking.

 

[DanZac]

If your going to avoid anything with a wet belt, your limiting your options.

In my humble opinion you'd be better off finding a motor home that fits your requirements and have the belt replaced, then ensure its maintained correctly going forward.

There's horror stories out there for every manufacturer and every vehicle type so whatever you go for someone will tell you that it will explode or catch fire the second you buy it.

From a quick google everything below has a wetbelt, which covers pretty much every manufacturer.

Citroen (early versions of the 1.0 and 1.2 PureTech)

• Berlingo
• C1
• C3
• C4
• C5 Aircross

DS (early versions of the 1.0 and 1.2 PureTech)

• 3 Crossback
• 7 Crossback

Ford (1.0 and 1.5 Ecoboost until the end of 2018)

• C-Max
• EcoSport
• Edge 2.0 Ecoblue
• Fiesta
• Focus
• Puma
• Ranger 2.0 EcoBlue
• Transit Connect 2.0 EcoBlue
• Transit Courier 2.0 EcoBlue
• Transit Custom 2.0 EcoBlue

Honda

• Civic 1.0 VTEC Turbo

Peugeot (early versions of the 1.0 and 1.2 PureTech)

• 108
• 208
• 308
• 3008
• 5008
• Partner
• Rifter

Toyota

• Proace (with the 1.2 PureTech)

Vauxhall (early versions of the 1.0 and 1.2 PureTech)

• Astra
• Corsa F
• Crossland
• Crossland X
• Grandland
• Grandland X
• Combo

VW Group (Audi, Seat, Skoda, Volkswagen)

• EA288 Evo engines (1.6 TDI and 2.0 TDI) use wet belts to drive the oil pump, although this isn't known to cause issues. The cambelt is a 'dry' belt
• Audi A1 (some EA211 1.4 TSI engines use a wet belt)
• Seat Ibiza (some EA211 1.4 TSI engines use a wet belt)
• Skoda Fabia (some EA211 1.4 TSI engines use a wet belt)
• VW Polo (some EA211 1.4 TSI engines use a wet belt)

Wet belt vans.

Ford

• • Transit/Transit Custom:
    Many models, particularly those with EcoBlue diesel engines (1.5L, 2.0L) and some older 2.2L TDCi engines, use wet belts.
    
  • Other engines:
    Ford also uses wet belts in some EcoBoost petrol engines, like the 1.0L three-cylinder in various vans and cars.
    

Stellantis (Peugeot, Citroën, Vauxhall)

• • Peugeot Boxer and Citroën Relay: These vans have wet belts on certain BlueHDi diesel engine variants.
    
  • Vauxhall Vivaro: Newer models, especially those with Euro 6-compliant engines, may have wet belts.
    
  • Stellantis PureTech engines: Some models equipped with the 1.2L 3-cylinder petrol engine (from Peugeot, Citroën, Vauxhall, and others) have been affected by wet belt issues, though newer versions now use timing chains.
    

Volkswagen

• • VW Transporter:
    The newest Transporter T7 model shares a platform with Ford and utilizes a wet belt engine, causing some controversy among VW enthusiasts.
    
  • Other VW Group models:
    Some smaller capacity TSI and TDI engines in other VW models can also have wet belts.

 

[minimutly]

A had a 2016 citroen relay van and that had a 2.2 ford engine chain cam drive and no add blue. Brilliant van had it from new I did 176000 miles with very few problems. Nothing expensive just wearing items.

And my version of the same engine died at 38,000 from injector induced broken pistons, and I could point to another 4 locally died of the same issue. I would never ever buy another Transit.
Edit to add:- Interestingly, that cam chain drive was a properly designed thing. Robust and simple, as was most of the rest of the engine (I wasn't impressed with the weak tin timing cover or sump, and a mate had a vane type oil pump fall apart on one too).
Seems like all these manufacturers have designed in failure modes - makes you wonder eh? When Fiat Iveco, Peugeot, earlier Ford and probably many others could make diesel engines do huge mileages with simple servicing years ago now have issues after issues, someone is having a laugh...

 

[badabec]

Put off buying one until spring, she may have gone off the idea by then.
'Very difficult to find the right one'.

 

[mr haynes]

Hilux or your favourite flavour with a demountable box

Single cab demountable camper project

Reluctantly selling my demountable camper project unfortunately don't have the time to finish it and need the space back,have already made some good progress although is very much still a project but...

www.facebook.com

 

[hunter27]

Thanks for all the replies, I think I have a bigger problem than I first thought

 

[mr haynes]

Mk3 Tranny is pre everything including lez, 2.5di fix with a hammer and duct tape, soon be tax and mot exempt. Classic vehicle

 

[badabec]

The H van is good for 85kph, a friend got his to 90kph. A con rod wanted to see what all the fuss was about.

Some ideas to put her off

 

[mr haynes]

Only right i throw this in to get you back on track....

 

[JOEPRO]

You want at least a 7L V8 and wood panelling down the sides

 

[m_c]

Earlier Fiats used a IIRC 2.3 engine, with later ones switching to a 2.0, before everything was merged to the same Stellantis 2.2 engine.

Big problem with anything genuine Fiat that is no longer in production, is going to be spare parts.
Fiat weren't exactly a shining light prior to being bought by Stellantis, and things are only going to get worse, as the number of vehicles sold isn't exactly supportive of a good long terms parts support.

I personally would take a Ford wet belt over a Stellantis 2.2, as the wet belt is fine if maintained correctly, whereas the Stellantis engine is likely to grenade itself without warning.
My current employers fleet of Peugeot Boxers, has now had over 10% failure rate of engines. Our depot alone is at 15%, as another one went bang last week, and we have another that's been picked up as high metal content in the oil, so we expect that to appear on a recovery truck soon.

If you can justify the additional cost, Merc is hard to beat in terms of longevity, and knowing you're still likely to get parts in 10 years time.
VW are not worth the price premium, as reliability is just not there as VW just over complicate everything on their current diesel engines.

 

[Turbo]

If you want a simple reliable engine something with the old xud psa engine fitted. Not very quick even in turbo form but ultra reliable.

 

[Bornfree]

And my version of the same engine died at 38,000 from injector induced broken pistons, and I could point to another 4 locally died of the same issue. I would never ever buy another Transit.
Edit to add:- Interestingly, that cam chain drive was a properly designed thing. Robust and simple, as was most of the rest of the engine (I wasn't impressed with the weak tin timing cover or sump, and a mate had a vane type oil pump fall apart on one too).
Seems like all these manufacturers have designed in failure modes - makes you wonder eh? When Fiat Iveco, Peugeot, earlier Ford and probably many others could make diesel engines do huge mileages with simple servicing years ago now have issues after issues, someone is having a laugh...

I must have had a good one then. I've replaced the relay with a vauxhall movano which has a 2.2 stallentis engine. It's better on diesel but gutless low down I need to be 4th gear going up an incline near my house that the ford engine would pull up in 6th.

 

[minimutly]

Mk3 Tranny is pre everything including lez, 2.5di fix with a hammer and duct tape, soon be tax and mot exempt. Classic vehicle

But, it will be rotten...

 

[addjunkie]

https://www.trivago.co.uk/

Use hotels, no paying camper van premiums, you can go in your own car, you dont need to maintain them, and your Mrs will prefer the facilities. On a real plus you wont need to empty the poop tank either! You will also have the lump of cash left for Rachel from accounts to take a % from your kids.