The AA guy who picked up me and the van yesterday, tells me that the most common cause of engine failure in these is down to the oil strainer clogging up, then lack of oil causes a rod bearing to sieze or the mains to grab.

Although I didn't get an oil light worning, this appears to be the problem I had, after a quick look with the sump off.

A bit of a messy job, and costs a couple of gaskets, but it appears that keeping the strainer cleaned at regular intervals(~100k), and good regular oil changes, will keep these engines running for a very long time. All stating the obvious, of course, but sometimes we need reminding.

The engine that just broke was a second hand item put in last November, and when bought I was told it had done "100 thousand mate". Maybe quite a bit more, and without oil changes.......

Cheers,
Nev.

Unfortunately, yep, Transits get neglect, total. Any engine will clog up with crud, it's just that Transits get virtually no attention, until something breaks...

Most never see a cambelt, until it snaps. On the MK5, when the belt snaps the only damage is usually to the pushrods - they get a bit bent. It's unusual to break a rocker. So just wait until it snaps, straighten the pushrods in a vice, renew the belt and away you go.

My current MK5 now has so much crankcase pressure when running that it will run on the sump oil if you reconnect the breather to the inlet manifold.... but it just keeps going. Thing is, these vans are amazingly cheap and durable, it's a shame they're all going now (mine is dissolving rapidly).

I have two 'dead' Transits, both retired due to rust. I was going to swap the engines with the current van, but the current van has no hope of surviving the next MoT corrosion assessment.

I am *STILL* looking for a replacement LWB race van, never thought that the current van would be towing to Combe last weekend, but it did, and it got there (and back). Thing is, everything I look at is just way overpriced rubbish. Given that the vehicles are still or sale, seems I'm not alone in this, why the greed?

Why the greed?

Ebay.

The source of all evil.

People can't be bothered to look elsewhere, then it's too easy to bid up. End result is higher than should be prices, which everyone then expects to get, even with an ad in the local free paper.

Nev.