Ford engines

[Mike/Denise]

My son is looking at motorhomes but many of them have ford engines. What are your thoughts as regards to reliability ,any advice would be welcome.

 

[bobnick]

Are you sure they said chain rather than belt?

Now thats a point, i don't remember.
What does the 2017 VW Caddy 2 ltr have?
On 2 occasions i've been told i should change whatever's in there.
Oh and i've had one quote of £718 to do the job.

 

[jongood]

Strange isn't it , people talking about failing ford diesels , all the fancy things they do to engines now you would think they would never fail.
The old banana ford engine transits would just run and run for ever, you couldn't break them, so where have they gone wrong?

emmission controls!

 

[steve69]

No cambelt is the biggest uptick for Fords. Chains normally last the lifetime of the engine.

 

[EuroTrotters]

I would say that Ford would be the minority

That said they also appear to be high on the easily nicked models

Fiats have crap gear boxes

Mercedes cost a lot to service and have low mpg

The others don’t seem to be an issue

Mercedes have poor reliability issues too. That and Mercedes truck garages are nigh short of useless. Shocking customer service

^{_{Subscribers  do not see these advertisements}}

 

[EuroTrotters]

Watch out for wet cambelt failures in transit engines

 

[chaser]

W

Mercedes have poor reliability issues too. That and Mercedes truck garages are nigh short of useless. Shocking customer service

Why though? Years ago a ford or Merc diesel engine would near enough last for ever , longer than the rest of the van anyway.
Now we have had maybe thirty or forty years development on them, ok this has been mainly to green stuff but why has the reliability been bred out of them, surely it could have developed without making them any less reliable.

 

[steve69]

W

Why though? Years ago a ford or Merc diesel engine would near enough last for ever , longer than the rest of the van anyway.
Now we have had maybe thirty or forty years development on them, ok this has been mainly to green stuff but why has the reliability been bred out of them, surely it could have developed without making them any less reliable.

Quality control standards are slipping. Also probably failure to invest in further development.

 

[Mikeco]

My 2012 Ford Puma engine in a Peugeot Boxer purrs like a kitten.

 

[Guigsy]

Until 2019, the majority of motorhomes were on a Fiat base. Mainly because Fiat made it easy for converters to buy van chassis for conversion. The squarer and slightly wider shape also helped for PVC layouts.

Then Fiat made a massive mess of the supply issues during the pandemic, and are still struggling now. So quite a few manufacturers started offering Fords. Not because they are better, but because they were available.

Each base has it's pros and cons. They all have weaknesses, but none of them are lemons. There are lots of other things to consider when buying a motorhome. I don't think I'd discount a motorhome purely on it being a Ford. They are supposed to drive very nicely.

^{_{Subscribers  do not see these advertisements}}

 

[EuroTrotters]

W

Why though? Years ago a ford or Merc diesel engine would near enough last for ever , longer than the rest of the van anyway.
Now we have had maybe thirty or forty years development on them, ok this has been mainly to green stuff but why has the reliability been bred out of them, surely it could have developed without making them any less reliable.

As Detailed on many occasions on here. Just a few of my Mercedes Faults

2001 Model Year 416CDi

Great Engine, Chocolate SprintShift (SprintShit) Gearbox

2007 Model Year V6

Endless Issues with Electronic Key £1,000 to pay at 2 years old
Driveshaft Bearing Faulires x 2
EGR Valves Failed x 2
Brake Discs Cracking
A/C Condenser leaked at 27 months old. Mercedes (Enza/Star) Quoted £1,000 (£400 0VER the MB suggested price) Replaced it myself.

Glowplug Failures x 3
1 Replacement Glowplug failed and popped out of engine on the M25 14 months after Mercedes Enza replaced it. Motorhome was stranded in London and Mercedes in London were only prepared to do the work by replacing the entire engine at a cost of £10,000


Mercedes Enza said repair only covered for 12 months. I argued the case that the MB website states any repairs carried out by MB are covered for TWO Years. Enza tried to suggest then as it wasn't them that carried out the repair, it was a third party contractor they employed. I then pointed out that I was not the one who contracted them and it was Enza I paid.


Eventually the motorhome was shipped back to Trafford park. Where it sat in the yard, unlocked with rotting food in the fridge and freezer. Fridge never lost the dreaded rotten food smell. Shocking service.
Part of Exhaust needed replacing and burnt through habitation waste. went into Mercedes Enza again who said it wasn't a Mercedes part. Ordered the part from my Local Mercedes car dealer and fitted it myself.

 

[chaser]

As Detailed on many occasions on here. Just a few of my Mercedes Faults

2001 Model Year 416CDi

Great Engine, Chocolate SprintShift (SprintShit) Gearbox

2007 Model Year V6

Endless Issues with Electronic Key £1,000 to pay at 2 years old
Driveshaft Bearing Faulires x 2
EGR Valves Failed x 2
Brake Discs Cracking
A/C Condenser leaked at 27 months old. Mercedes (Enza/Star) Quoted £1,000 (£400 0VER the MB suggested price) Replaced it myself.

Glowplug Failures x 3
1 Replacement Glowplug failed and popped out of engine on the M25 14 months after Mercedes Enza replaced it. Motorhome was stranded in London and Mercedes in London were only prepared to do the work by replacing the entire engine at a cost of £10,000
Part of Exhaust needed replacing and burnt through habitation waste. went into Mercedes Enza again who said it wasn't a Mercedes part. Ordered the part from my Local Mercedes car dealer and fitted it myself.

Mercedes Enza said repair only covered for 12 months. I argued the case that the MB website states any repairs carried out by MB are covered for TWO Years. Enza tried to suggest then as it wasn't them that carried out the repair, it was a third party contractor they employed. I then pointed out that I was not the one who contracted them and it was Enza I paid.

Eventually the motorhome was shipped back to Trafford park. Where it sat in the yard, unlocked with rotting food in the fridge and freezer. Fridge never lost the dreaded rotten food smell. Shocking service.

Yes but all those engine failures are part of the """improved""" engine, I'm talking 80s and 90s when these things hadn't been invented.

 

[SpeedyDux]

Ford Turkeys ... now made in Turkey. Coincidence?

 

[gus-lopez]

so where have they gone wrong?

Trying to comply with the gas leaving the exhaust being cleaner than the air entering, which it is.

but they still had to add cheat software, to get it through the EU's tests....

No they complied with the rules at the time for emissions,where they went wrong was not standing firm & telling the yanks **** off . Because they didn't want years long law suit. It will be a different kettle of fish in the UK/EU as they will fight the lawsuits as they complied exactly with the environmental requirements; that the emissions complied when being tested under artificial conditions in a laboratory .No one said you could not have a defeat setting for real world conditions.

 

[Jev88]

There are a LOT of RVs with Ford Triton engines, the basic block of which hasn't changed for 40 years I am told?
6.8 Litre V10 petrol not going to be found in Euro MH though

^{_{Subscribers  do not see these advertisements}}

 

[Sunseeker 115]

We have the ford engine, runs well, regular oil and filter changes. We cover the front of our peugeot so as to avoid the water getting in and sitting on the injectors. Also take it out for a run every couple of weeks to warm through, get the oil round, does them no good sitting on the drive between trips away.

 

[emjaiuk]

I think they are very reliable and although some have issues the percentage of good v bad is no different to others.
I would be more concerned about any differences in insurance costs as they are popular for being stolen and not to difficult to steal.

We had to have a tracker fitted to our Transit based Hymer A class as a condition of Comfort insurance, which in effect increases cost of insurance. This is in spite of it not having any Ford doors.

 

[chesterfield hooligan]

The only thing I can add is the wet belt engine, fibers come of both internal belts which blocks the oil pick up pipe they did a update kit but the sump needs to come of to get to the pick up pipe in order to clean the fibers of. Which is never done on a service we help out at a garage that specialises in transits they are always in for the wet belts loads with belts stripped 60k,70k,80, so really with good maintenance on a motorhome wouldn't be a problem as they are normally low mileage and well maintained

 

[Ernesto]

Trying to comply with the gas leaving the exhaust being cleaner than the air entering, which it is.

No they complied with the rules at the time for emissions,where they went wrong was not standing firm & telling the yanks **** off . Because they didn't want years long law suit. It will be a different kettle of fish in the UK/EU as they will fight the lawsuits as they complied exactly with the environmental requirements; that the emissions complied when being tested under artificial conditions in a laboratory .No one said you could not have a defeat setting for real world conditions.

Where they went wrong was fitting cheat software, so that vehicles only met the standards in the lab under test conditions...and emitted up to 40x more pollution in the real world. And when they were challenged about it, they denied it for another year, and then when it was proved, they finally fessed up

They've recalled millions of cars and spent billions on fixing the issue in both the EU and the US. They settled in the US and lost in German courts and settled with some customers, but at a lower level than the US, so they're still being sued by some for the difference. The UK court case is still ongoing I believe.

There are of course entitled to pay as little as they can get away with - its up to the courts to decide. No one outlawed cheat software because fitting it was inconceivably dumb, and corporate suicide.

 

[SpeedyDux]

Where they went wrong was fitting cheat software, so that vehicles only met the standards in the lab under test conditions...and emitted up to 40x more pollution in the real world. And when they were challenged about it, they denied it for another year, and then when it was proved, they finally fessed up

They've recalled millions of cars and spent billions on fixing the issue in both the EU and the US. They settled in the US and lost in German courts and settled with some customers, but at a lower level than the US, so they're still being sued by some for the difference. The UK court case is still ongoing I believe.

There are of course entitled to pay as little as they can get away with - its up to the courts to decide. No one outlawed cheat software because fitting it was inconceivably dumb, and corporate suicide.

There were reports on social media from owners that after the software "fix" to remove cheat software, their VWs lacked their previous performance.

That suggests that manufacturers not only misled their customers regarding the emissions compliance of these cars in the real world outside the lab, but also misled their customers regarding the way their engines could only perform as promised as long as they were using the "cheat" software to mitigate emissions controls that otherwise would be throttling the performance.

I wonder how much more lively and frugal the Ducato's 2.3 diesel could be without all the Euro6 emissions extra gubbins. And how much that adds to the initial cost at the factory.

^{_{Subscribers  do not see these advertisements}}

 

[Boringfrog]

Now thats a point, i don't remember.
What does the 2017 VW Caddy 2 ltr have?
On 2 occasions i've been told i should change whatever's in there.
Oh and i've had one quote of £718 to do the job.

I think it has a belt. Get another quote for the work.

 

[Ernesto]

There were reports on social media from owners that after the software "fix" to remove cheat software, their VWs lacked their previous performance.

That suggests that manufacturers not only misled their customers regarding the emissions compliance of these cars in the real world outside the lab, but also misled their customers regarding the way their engines could only perform as promised as long as they were using the "cheat" software to mitigate emissions controls that otherwise would be throttling the performance.

I wonder how much more lively and frugal the Ducato's 2.3 diesel could be without all the Euro6 emissions extra gubbins. And how much that adds to the initial cost at the factory.

By 2020, VW alone had paid out over 33bn Euros in fines and settlements - only half of that in the US....

 

[neilydun]

There were reports on social media from owners that after the software "fix" to remove cheat software, their VWs lacked their previous performance.

That suggests that manufacturers not only misled their customers regarding the emissions compliance of these cars in the real world outside the lab, but also misled their customers regarding the way their engines could only perform as promised as long as they were using the "cheat" software to mitigate emissions controls that otherwise would be throttling the performance.

I wonder how much more lively and frugal the Ducato's 2.3 diesel could be without all the Euro6 emissions extra gubbins. And how much that adds to the initial cost at the factory.

My Vw Transporter van, was included in Vw`s recall to fix the cheat software.
After hearing that they lack performance afterwards & guzzle the adblue I never sent mine in.

 

[Derbyshire wanderer]

We had to have a tracker fitted to our Transit based Hymer A class as a condition of Comfort insurance, which in effect increases cost of insurance. This is in spite of it not having any Ford doors.

Not really surprised as insurance companies seldom seem to take into account individual differences.
My mate has had renewal notices this year for his 110 Landrover and his wife’s Discovery Sport with an excess of £5000 on each

 

[gus-lopez]

so that vehicles only met the standards in the lab under test conditions..

Yes but that is all they were legally required to do. conform in the lab. You use the rules to suit yourself.
They should have made the rules so that side stepping them was not possible As they have done now, sort of.

^{_{Subscribers  do not see these advertisements}}

 

[gpat]

Timing belt Vs timing chain?

Pros and cons. Had a mini with the BMW chain engine. Started to become lumpy at 70k. Timing chain stretch. Needed new engine for £5K.

Swings and roundabouts.

Ford ecotec is smooth and nice to drive. Wouldn't trust it though.

 

[CazPaul]

Now thats a point, i don't remember.
What does the 2017 VW Caddy 2 ltr have?
On 2 occasions i've been told i should change whatever's in there.
Oh and i've had one quote of £718 to do the job.

It has a belt surely?

 

[BouncyBoatFolk]

It has a belt surely?

Or braces

 

[Ernesto]

Yes but that is all they were legally required to do. conform in the lab. You use the rules to suit yourself.
They should have made the rules so that side stepping them was not possible As they have done now, sort of.

£30bn euros and counting plus catastrophic damage to the brand says different .....oh and a chief exec who faces criminal charges and only ducked them through claiming ill health

I dont make the rules - I just comment on multinational corporations who put profit before integrity.

 

[Ernesto]

Timing belt Vs timing chain?

Pros and cons. Had a mini with the BMW chain engine. Started to become lumpy at 70k. Timing chain stretch. Needed new engine for £5K.

Swings and roundabouts.

Ford ecotec is smooth and nice to drive. Wouldn't trust it though.

Those mini engines were notorious for that issue - fortunately ours had a recall before it got catastrophic. In general though, I think I'd prefer a chain to a belt change every 5 years

^{_{Subscribers  do not see these advertisements}}

 

[mitzimad]

I have been advised my timing chain should be changed on my Caddy, it's done 18,000 miles. Think there is also an age limit. My caddy is a 17 plate.

that sounds more like a timing belt