Transits

[James1979]

I forgot to mention although transits have their rust problems and engine issues there are so many of them parts are plentiful and cheap. Also readily available from most auto factors went in to my local one and although they are not big or in anyway ford focused had some really obscure bits for mrk 7 transits sitting on the shelf that I thought I’d have to wait ages for, so despite there problems they do have their upsides as well. Vast amount of problems are very well documented and most garages are well acquainted with them.

Like desmi pumps we use to have on the container ships. Horrible unreliable complicated things but you could get spares for them In absolutely any port in the world as they were so common.

This.

I look after a group of them for a bloke. He has about 6. I convinced him to go all transit rather than a mish mash of different stuff.

The factors here in Kirkwall keeps almost everything and we have a Ford dealer as well.

They have their problems sure, but you know what you’re getting and parts are plentiful. If it’s a big problem or you’re in a hurry then it’s easy to get a whole unit and swap it rather than repair, like an axle for example.

The tippers do seem to live longer than the vans.

 

[Robbie260]

This.

I look after a group of them for a bloke. He has about 6. I convinced him to go all transit rather than a mish mash of different stuff.

The factors here in Kirkwall keeps almost everything and we have a Ford dealer as well.

They have their problems sure, but you know what you’re getting and parts are plentiful. If it’s a big problem or you’re in a hurry then it’s easy to get a whole unit and swap it rather than repair, like an axle for example.

The tippers do seem to live longer than the vans.

There’s an old procurement Joke I heard ounce. No one ever got fired for buying transits or IBM computers.

 

[leadpig]

transit?

have you checked both batteries are good?

you can have one duff battery, it'll start and drive ok and then have all kinds of freaky electrical problems

just had a call from the truck garage i had it recovered to to get drivers door fixed, they said there not auto electricians but would have a look at electric issues.
new ignition switch, new starter motor and a donor battery and its running fine come get it.
in the 4 years i have had it it has only ever had one battery that i know off and has had constant problems with the locks/alarm, so hopefully this is the reason why as it pulls like feck so would like to keep it as ive put a lot of work into it as a welding van.
the thing that really annoys me is the auto electrician that ive used caused me nothing but grief (drilling drivers lock then replacing with a second hand one so i have two different keys, smashing the quater window with a hammer to get in) still never fixed the problem and left my disabled mrs me stranded the day after he fixed it saying he was to busy and just scrap it leaving me with another £140 recovery bill

 

[roofman]

Had vans for the last 40 years+ due to my work, the 1st 20 years it was transits all day long as it was the only van at the time that no matter what went wrong from an engine swap,gearbox,rear axle, in fact anything could be done starting at 8am and back on the road by 6pm the same day.

 

[James1979]

Had vans for the last 40 years+ due to my work, the 1st 20 years it was transits all day long as it was the only van at the time that no matter what went wrong from an engine swap,gearbox,rear axle, in fact anything could be done starting at 8am and back on the road by 6pm the same day.

That’s why all the pikeys run them.

Easy to work on and bits are everywhere

 

[knighty]

just had a call from the truck garage i had it recovered to to get drivers door fixed, they said there not auto electricians but would have a look at electric issues.
new ignition switch, new starter motor and a donor battery and its running fine come get it.
in the 4 years i have had it it has only ever had one battery that i know off and has had constant problems with the locks/alarm, so hopefully this is the reason why as it pulls like feck so would like to keep it as ive put a lot of work into it as a welding van.
the thing that really annoys me is the auto electrician that ive used caused me nothing but grief (drilling drivers lock then replacing with a second hand one so i have two different keys, smashing the quater window with a hammer to get in) still never fixed the problem and left my disabled mrs me stranded the day after he fixed it saying he was to busy and just scrap it leaving me with another £140 recovery bill

it's a long wheel base right? 2 batteries under the seat? (all the LWB ones have that)

pretty much... the batteries are disconnected from each other when the engine is off... so if you leave lights/radio etc. on there's one full battery left for starting it

problem is when that battery that's left on starts dying you get all kids of weird problems where the low voltage messes with the computers but then you go to start it and it starts fine on the good battery

a lot of the time, the batteries are on the way out and people only swap the one that's the engine starting one


for the price of batteries get a couple of new decent batteries on it... less than £200... and I bet if someone said they could fix all these problems and save you the stress you'd take their hand off

 

[arther dailey]

That’s why all the pikeys run them.

Easy to work on and bits are everywhere

thats exactly wht I had iveco s, a transit would nt stay where I left it..

 

[Rkweld]

I would never buy a transit, I'd go Iveco or something French.

Second the iveco. They are built like trucks underneath, when you replace a worn out brake disc on an iveco it looks thicker than the new ones you buy for a transit. 35s12 daily is the way to go. I drove the same one for 8 years at 35k miles a year.

Although the conversion would need to be less like the wood clad conversion above and more of a full log cabin with a granit block for a table to get the springs working for a nice smooth ride!

 

[Robbie260]

thats exactly wht I had iveco s, a transit would nt stay where I left it..

Second the iveco. They are built like trucks underneath, when you replace a worn out brake disc

Don’t get me wrong i completely agree Iveco’s are far superior vans and much heavier duty and I’d have one if they were easier to get in the spec I wanted without ordering new. But I have seen them sitting around for weeks waiting on bits and that was when supply lines were good. Plus their issues and little foibles aren’t as well known by local garages as they don’t see as many of them. Also there is always fewer of them on the market so less choice which can occasionally be a bad thing ie you have a good rust free one but the engine blew canny jump on the net and have a rotten good runner by the end of the day and other reasons.

It really is a numbers game but it’s a case of yeah okay they aren’t the best, but if your using them for commercial or for a leisure purposes the last thing you want is lots of down time when you want or need them.

Wouldn’t go for anything French, except the old Renault masters/Vauxhall Monvanos they were decent. Can’t complain about the few fiats I have had and driven but parts availability is where there bigger vans fall down.

 

[minimutly]

My 2013 Transit fwd drives like a car, really nice. Perhaps I should sell it before the engine fails, or it rusts...

 

[Rkweld]

Don’t get me wrong i completely agree Iveco’s are far superior vans and much heavier duty and I’d have one if they were easier to get in the spec I wanted without ordering new. But I have seen them sitting around for weeks waiting on bits and that was when supply lines were good. Plus their issues and little foibles aren’t as well known by local garages as they don’t see as many of them. Also there is always fewer of them on the market so less choice which can occasionally be a bad thing ie you have a good rust free one but the engine blew canny jump on the net and have a rotten good runner by the end of the day and other reasons.

It really is a numbers game but it’s a case of yeah okay they aren’t the best, but if your using them for commercial or for a leisure purposes the last thing you want is lots of down time when you want or need them.

Wouldn’t go for anything French, except the old Renault masters/Vauxhall Monvanos they were decent. Can’t complain about the few fiats I have had and driven but parts availability is where there bigger vans fall down.

Its good to here another side to a suggestion always, personally, never had problems getting parts, as a plant fitter, we used to repair them ourselves, but i was running an 03 plate van and that was 7 years ago and alot of things have changed. The lump in the iveco was the same as the multijet ducato back when, i think iveco were a ford fiat collaboration, its a shame if you see them laid up waiting for parts, maybe its more a case of the quality of the mechanics are not so good if they cannot keep throwing readily available parts at it to get it going they sit around at the garage a long time.

 

[Robbie260]

Its good to here another side to a suggestion always, personally, never had problems getting parts, as a plant fitter, we used to repair them ourselves, but i was running an 03 plate van and that was 7 years ago and alot of things have changed. The lump in the iveco was the same as the multijet ducato back when, i think iveco were a ford fiat collaboration, its a shame if you see them laid up waiting for parts, maybe its more a case of the quality of the mechanics are not so good if they cannot keep throwing readily available parts at it to get it going they sit around at the garage a long time.

Maybe but they were pretty good mechanics shops. Just getting bits for them up in the highlands can take ages. Outer islands like Orkney where James stays must be murder. Always liked the look of the iveco mastif which was a derivative of the series 3/stage 1 Land Rover sold by the Santana corporation in Spain till they went bust. Not really sure about Ivecos origins out side of that.

 

[James1979]

Maybe but they were pretty good mechanics shops. Just getting bits for them up in the highlands can take ages. Outer islands like Orkney where James stays must be murder. Always liked the look of the iveco mastif which was a derivative of the series 3/stage 1 Land Rover sold by the Santana corporation in Spain till they went bust. Not really sure about Ivecos origins out side of that.

Some stuff is a right pain in the hoop. Most Ford parts are on the shelf at the factors or the dealer.

Not much non Ford. Got a VW dealer but they’re ****. Carry not a lot.

I get a lot up next day from Dingbro. I think we aren’t too bad - if you can get it to the boat in Aberdeen I get it within 48 hours. It’s the bit in the middle that suffers - the proper highlands up the A9.

 

[leadpig]

it's a long wheel base right? 2 batteries under the seat? (all the LWB ones have that)

pretty much... the batteries are disconnected from each other when the engine is off... so if you leave lights/radio etc. on there's one full battery left for starting it

problem is when that battery that's left on starts dying you get all kids of weird problems where the low voltage messes with the computers but then you go to start it and it starts fine on the good battery

a lot of the time, the batteries are on the way out and people only swap the one that's the engine starting one


for the price of batteries get a couple of new decent batteries on it... less than £200... and I bet if someone said they could fix all these problems and save you the stress you'd take their hand off

long wheelbase semi high top, only one battery under drivers seat since i bought it 4 years ago, said auto elecrician replaced the only battery in there 2 years ago under my instruction as i was trying to eliminate all problems, i had no idea it needed two and either did he apparently, took him 2 months to replace key fob sensor and destroyed drivers door lock and windows trying to get in ffs

 

[m_c]

long wheelbase semi high top, only one battery under drivers seat since i bought it 4 years ago, said auto elecrician replaced the only battery in there 2 years ago under my instruction as i was trying to eliminate all problems, i had no idea it needed two and either did he apparently, took him 2 months to replace key fob sensor and destroyed drivers door lock and windows trying to get in ffs

Basic spec was a single battery in Transits.
Sounds like you need to find somebody who knows what they're doing.

 

[leadpig]

Basic spec was a single battery in Transits.
Sounds like you need to find somebody who knows what they're doing.

good luck with that over here ffs everyone else i phoned did not want to know, but hoping news guys have sorted it, picking it up tommorow

 

[pedrobedro]

long wheelbase semi high top, only one battery under drivers seat since i bought it 4 years ago,

We used to use a 2010 one like that to deliver bikes and it only ever had one battery under the driver seat and was a pig to get at when we had to fit a new one. It was sold to the new owner of the bike shop and was stolen a couple of months later, the thief was on CCTV and just walked up, got in and drove off. The key was not in the van it was in the owners pocket at the time.

 

[knighty]

dual batteries were standard on all mk7 RWD transits and optional on FWD

 

[Rkweld]

Maybe but they were pretty good mechanics shops. Just getting bits for them up in the highlands can take ages. Outer islands like Orkney where James stays must be murder. Always liked the look of the iveco mastif which was a derivative of the series 3/stage 1 Land Rover sold by the Santana corporation in Spain till they went bust. Not really sure about Ivecos origins out side of that.

I suppose that is a benefit of how wide spread ford brand is. I was fortunate that I had iveco dealerships nearby and motor factors had local enough suppliers of iveco parts.

Also as someone else mentioned they drive more like a car, true to ford they are more a drivers vehicle, one of the other fitters used to try and get the boss to get transits because they were so much nicer to drive in his opinion. I can understand that in a camper because you would not want to feel it was a chore to drive.

I could not place the look of an iveco massif until i looked it up and jogged my memory, i had visions of the renault mascot but had the name confused!

 

[leadpig]

Basic spec was a single battery in Transits.
Sounds like you need to find somebody who knows what they're doing.

Well turns out the new battery the last guy fitted was a 75a car battery , I paid for a 110a van battery
No wonder I've been having electric problems