Well, I may have made a mistake with this one and let my heart rule my head.
My Wife suggested a little while ago that she wanted a day van for trips out with the kids and the dogs in the summer months. We decided very early on that it had to be a VW Transporter for resaleability, parts availability and depreciation.
I spent a few weeks doing research and decided with our budget it would be a T5 with a PD engine. And, as I'm a fan of a nice sounding engine, it would need to be the 2.5 5 cylinder diesel known as the 'R5'. As we were collating a list of what we would like from the van we were to purchase, I came across and advert on Facebook for a van which I fell in love with instantly. It was a short wheel base van in a very rare colour called Limette, had been insulated and carpeted in the rear already and had a very expensive Bebb rock and roll bed already fitted. It also had the 5 cylinder diesel engine, a manual gearbox and rare four wheel drive with an even more rare rear differential lock!
I messaged the seller and went up to view the van. The van had 214k on the clock, with full service history to 180k. It looked like a very solid van, a bit of an oil leak from up top somewhere but nothing too serious. I jacked up each corner looking for corrosion and checking for play in the suspension or wheel bearings and found nothing at all. Some small sections of surface rust on the body panels common with the T5 and easily repaired as it's a single stage direct gloss paint. Everything in the van worked well apart from the screen wash, a minor issue. I then took it for a test drive, where after a few minutes the oil pressure light started flashing and a beeping. I'm starting to feel like this was a warning, a warning with deeper meaning than just low oil pressure. A sign that maybe I should have left and not returned. However, I didn't do that. On return from my test drive I spoke to the seller who seemed very surprised at the light and insisted he'd never seen it before. The engine also sounded well and I'd driven a good 5 miles or so with the oil pressure light flashing away at this point, so I figured it'd more than likely just be a sensor. The seller agreed to take it to the garage to get the sensor changed and the oil pressure verified and upon doing so, I agreed to go view the van again.
So, viewing 2. This time the seller had left the van at the garage and agreed with the garage the van could go on the ramp so I could inspect the underside more thoroughly. The garage confirmed they'd verified the oil pressure and there was a nice shiny clean sensor fitted. The underside looked clean and tidy, very tidy when you considered the 214,000miles on the clock. The only real finding was that one of the centre prop bearings had failed, no biggie. I took the van out for another 10 mile road trip and the oil pressure light stayed off. So, I parted with £7,400 and drove off with our new van.
Overall the van drove the 38miles home very well, cruising quite happily at 70mph on the motorway. BUT, 25 miles into the journey the dreaded oil pressure light came back on, briefly for around 15 seconds before going back off and then popping back up around half a mile from my home and remaining on until I turned the engine off. We've done a few hundred miles in the Transporter since and the oil pressure light has popped on briefly a few times, not a huge issue except for the fact it alarms every time it detects the issue. I'm convinced at this point there's a damaged cable and looking at the wiring diagrams there's a single cable from the sensor all the way via 1 multiplug to the instrument cluster. So, that's something I need to get around to doing. Maybe I should fit an oil pressure gauge permanently?
Thing is, buying second hand cars, especially old ones is rarely straight forward. No matter how much you look over the vehicle, no matter how much you drive it, there's things that won't rear their head or be noticed until you get it home.
So here's the current list of issues...
- Intermittent oil pressure light.
- Windscreen washer pump dead.
- Centre prop bearing shot.
- Front top mount bearings groaning.
- Oil leak probably a bit worse than I originally thought.
- Power steering pump noisier than it should be.
- Engine management light reared it's ugly head this morning. But I'm in the office and haven't had chance to plug it in yet.
Haven't taken many pictures as I've been a bit disheartened so far. But, much like the Volvo, I'm sure there's a decent vehicle in there somewhere, it just needs some love.
I did do a little test polish of the bonnet which has come up an absolute treat as the paint is heavily oxidised.
Oh, and it has 22" Overfinch wheels. As good as these look, they'll have to go. They're hugely impractical for what we intend to use this van for. Plus tyres are 3x the cost of a standard size tyre. In addition, the second hand price of these wheels will pay for a set of good second hand standard alloy wheels and a brand new set of all terrain tyres. I've already ordered a set of T5.1 highline 162 alloy wheels and Yokohama G015's in 215/65 R16 flavour. Not sure if I'll paint them gloss black or keep them silver.
Once the mechanically bits are all put right it will be getting a kitchen installed with a single ring gas hob, fridge, small sink etc. But we are a way off that yet.
At least it's the right colour for a lemon.
My Wife suggested a little while ago that she wanted a day van for trips out with the kids and the dogs in the summer months. We decided very early on that it had to be a VW Transporter for resaleability, parts availability and depreciation.
I spent a few weeks doing research and decided with our budget it would be a T5 with a PD engine. And, as I'm a fan of a nice sounding engine, it would need to be the 2.5 5 cylinder diesel known as the 'R5'. As we were collating a list of what we would like from the van we were to purchase, I came across and advert on Facebook for a van which I fell in love with instantly. It was a short wheel base van in a very rare colour called Limette, had been insulated and carpeted in the rear already and had a very expensive Bebb rock and roll bed already fitted. It also had the 5 cylinder diesel engine, a manual gearbox and rare four wheel drive with an even more rare rear differential lock!
I messaged the seller and went up to view the van. The van had 214k on the clock, with full service history to 180k. It looked like a very solid van, a bit of an oil leak from up top somewhere but nothing too serious. I jacked up each corner looking for corrosion and checking for play in the suspension or wheel bearings and found nothing at all. Some small sections of surface rust on the body panels common with the T5 and easily repaired as it's a single stage direct gloss paint. Everything in the van worked well apart from the screen wash, a minor issue. I then took it for a test drive, where after a few minutes the oil pressure light started flashing and a beeping. I'm starting to feel like this was a warning, a warning with deeper meaning than just low oil pressure. A sign that maybe I should have left and not returned. However, I didn't do that. On return from my test drive I spoke to the seller who seemed very surprised at the light and insisted he'd never seen it before. The engine also sounded well and I'd driven a good 5 miles or so with the oil pressure light flashing away at this point, so I figured it'd more than likely just be a sensor. The seller agreed to take it to the garage to get the sensor changed and the oil pressure verified and upon doing so, I agreed to go view the van again.
So, viewing 2. This time the seller had left the van at the garage and agreed with the garage the van could go on the ramp so I could inspect the underside more thoroughly. The garage confirmed they'd verified the oil pressure and there was a nice shiny clean sensor fitted. The underside looked clean and tidy, very tidy when you considered the 214,000miles on the clock. The only real finding was that one of the centre prop bearings had failed, no biggie. I took the van out for another 10 mile road trip and the oil pressure light stayed off. So, I parted with £7,400 and drove off with our new van.
Overall the van drove the 38miles home very well, cruising quite happily at 70mph on the motorway. BUT, 25 miles into the journey the dreaded oil pressure light came back on, briefly for around 15 seconds before going back off and then popping back up around half a mile from my home and remaining on until I turned the engine off. We've done a few hundred miles in the Transporter since and the oil pressure light has popped on briefly a few times, not a huge issue except for the fact it alarms every time it detects the issue. I'm convinced at this point there's a damaged cable and looking at the wiring diagrams there's a single cable from the sensor all the way via 1 multiplug to the instrument cluster. So, that's something I need to get around to doing. Maybe I should fit an oil pressure gauge permanently?
Thing is, buying second hand cars, especially old ones is rarely straight forward. No matter how much you look over the vehicle, no matter how much you drive it, there's things that won't rear their head or be noticed until you get it home.
So here's the current list of issues...
- Intermittent oil pressure light.
- Windscreen washer pump dead.
- Centre prop bearing shot.
- Front top mount bearings groaning.
- Oil leak probably a bit worse than I originally thought.
- Power steering pump noisier than it should be.
- Engine management light reared it's ugly head this morning. But I'm in the office and haven't had chance to plug it in yet.
Haven't taken many pictures as I've been a bit disheartened so far. But, much like the Volvo, I'm sure there's a decent vehicle in there somewhere, it just needs some love.
I did do a little test polish of the bonnet which has come up an absolute treat as the paint is heavily oxidised.
Oh, and it has 22" Overfinch wheels. As good as these look, they'll have to go. They're hugely impractical for what we intend to use this van for. Plus tyres are 3x the cost of a standard size tyre. In addition, the second hand price of these wheels will pay for a set of good second hand standard alloy wheels and a brand new set of all terrain tyres. I've already ordered a set of T5.1 highline 162 alloy wheels and Yokohama G015's in 215/65 R16 flavour. Not sure if I'll paint them gloss black or keep them silver.
Once the mechanically bits are all put right it will be getting a kitchen installed with a single ring gas hob, fridge, small sink etc. But we are a way off that yet.
At least it's the right colour for a lemon.
