Vauxhall meriva 1.3cdti problem

Cool_Username

roysterer wrote: »

RANT OVER!!!!!!! sorry in advance for the spelling.

Phew! That was quite a little outburst - hopefully now your blood pressure will return to a safe level before you do yourself a mischief :rotfl:

roysterer

Cool_Username wrote: »

Phew! That was quite a little outburst - hopefully now your blood pressure will return to a safe level before you do yourself a mischief :rotfl:

COOL

Thanks, I feel much better now. I guess its me that needs a good kick up the !!!! for not doing proper research before buying. To be honest I'm not at all interested in cars and I never even heared the term DPF before.
I know sales people wont turn down any potential sale but this is obviously a problem for quite a lot of motorist, so it should be hi-lighted.
The trouble is no matter what car you research somebody as had a bad experience. I guess it's human nature only to complain after a bad experience, and say nothing when things are good.
Apologies for the rant, I LOVE VAUXHALLS, EVERYBODY SHOULD HAVE ONE!!!!

Seriously, If someone out there is looking to buy a new car they should be made aware that this type of vehicle may not be suitable for them.
Afer all a Meriva is a typical town / School run family sort of car aimed for this market. So therefore many people could get this problem. You certainly would not see a rep driving one of these little cars up and down the motorway every day. Ater all its only 1.3 diesel, I would not like to do motorway driving regularly in one of these, thats for sure.
I really would be interested to hear from Vauxhall mechanics as to wether this problem is rife or not.

custardy

roysterer wrote: »

COOL

Thanks, I feel much better now. I guess its me that needs a good kick up the !!!! for not doing proper research before buying. To be honest I'm not at all interested in cars and I never even heared the term DPF before.
I know sales people wont turn down any potential sale but this is obviously a problem for quite a lot of motorist, so it should be hi-lighted.
The trouble is no matter what car you research somebody as had a bad experience. I guess it's human nature only to complain after a bad experience, and say nothing when things are good.
Apologies for the rant, I LOVE VAUXHALLS, EVERYBODY SHOULD HAVE ONE!!!!

Seriously, If someone out there is looking to buy a new car they should be made aware that this type of vehicle may not be suitable for them.
Afer all a Meriva is a typical town / School run family sort of car aimed for this market. So therefore many people could get this problem. You certainly would not see a rep driving one of these little cars up and down the motorway every day. Ater all its only 1.3 diesel, I would not like to do motorway driving regularly in one of these, thats for sure.
I really would be interested to hear from Vauxhall mechanics as to wether this problem is rife or not.

as i said earlier,Fiat are already looking at alternative solutions to the DPF (yours is based on a Fiat engine) and i expect many marques will do the same
some (like Fiat) are tweaking the position of the DPF to try and aid the regeneration as well
doesnt help those already fitted though

Lum

goldspanners wrote: »

get a petrol car instead for short journeys.

This. This should be in the FAQ for this forum somewhere. (along with info about DPF removal for those who have already bought a diesel)

Diesels make great mile munchers, repmobiles and are fantastic for people with long commutes. They are a false economy for people who use them as shopping trolleys and for the school run due to increased servicing costs, the fact that they take so long to warm up, not running as efficiently when cold, and artificially inflated prices due to everyone foolishly wanting a diesel for the school/Tesco run these days.

Ignoring the servicing and warm up times, and just taking the purchase price, there is an equation you need to work out to determine how many miles you need to do before you break even on the increased price, then work out how many years that will take you, and how long you intend to keep the car.

This has been true even before DPFs came into existance, DFPs just exacerbate the problem. Chances are Vauxhall and the other manufacturers looked at the typical usage patterns of a diesel car and tested against that.

Hopefully by the time the OP's DPF fails again, there will be a lot more places offering cheap DPF removal and they'll be sorted. It'll be just like how people de-cat early 90s turbo cars to improve performance and MPG only without the annoying hassle of re-fitting the cat prior to MOT and then removing it again.

goldspanners

roysterer wrote: »

Afer all a Meriva is a typical town / School run family sort of car aimed for this market. So therefore many people could get this problem. You certainly would not see a rep driving one of these little cars up and down the motorway every day. Ater all its only 1.3 diesel, I would not like to do motorway driving regularly in one of these, thats for sure.

you've hit the nail on the head here, me and a few others on here have argued with diesel owners(funilly enough ones who haven't experienced any high repair bills yet) on here about the misuse of modern diesel engine technology.
its great when it work as it should,but when it goes wrong it can prove costly.

Lum

There are valid reasons to own a diesel Meriva I'm sure, however the only one I can think of is if you live in rural somerset and have to drive for at least half an hour to get to the nearest supermarket, and a similar distance to get the kids to school.

Even here in the South Wales valleys I don't think owning a diesel car is necessary for me as Tesco is only a 15 minute drive away. If I lived in one of the more remote villages, the ones served only by a single track lane that goes over the top of a mountain, then I'd consider a diesel, though probably of the 4wd variety rather than a Meriva.