Vivaro/Traffic/Primastar on Watchdog.

patman99

If you own a 2006- Vauxhall Vivaro, Renault Traffic Master or Nissan Primastar 2.0 diesel, then it is worth watching this week's 'Watchdog'.
They had an article regarding a design issue with the seal under the front window that allows water to enter the engine bay and pool around the injectors causing them to seize in place.

This issue makes it almost impossible for failed injectors to be replaced as it is almost impossible to remove them and can lead to having to pay up to £5k to have the engine replaced.

All 3 manufacturers have now acknowledged the fault and are prepared to fix the issue outside of the warranty for free. They will also review repairs already carried-out and look into refunding the costs on a case-by-case basis.

Contact details are -
Nissan
Phone: 01923 899334, Email: gb@nissan-services.eu (Our Customer Service Center is open Monday to Friday 7am - 8pm, Saturdays 8am - 2pm.)

Renault
Customer Relations team on 0344 3350000.

Vauhall
Customer Assistance Centre lines will stay open until 10pm on Thursday on 0800 026 0034.

colino

Didn't hear about this, has been a problem for years and to such an extent there are several guys running around in vans who do nothing else but pull out seized injectors. I wonder if they have really done their sums on this, I haven't seen a Vivaro over three years old that didn't have at least the injector on number two seized solid.

burlington6

I've had at least 20 vivaros/traffics over the past few years and we've had to do the injectors on two of them and it wasn't anywhere near the cost watchdog made it out to be.

Even with this fault they are still a far better van than the transit

patman99

If you have had to shell-out for the repairs, contact the manufacturer and you may well get a part/full refund on your repair bill.

patman99

Just to add, if the initial issue with the wrongly-fitted seal isn't also rectified, then surely the issue will re-occurr in the future.

I suppose a way around this is to pump a load of rubber sealant around the gap at the top of the injector holes.

colino

The water ingress under the seal shouldn't be an issue, it is the mile-wide engineering tolerances that are to blame between the injectors and the head.

Mark2spark

Just making a post on this thread so that I can easily find the thread (and the phone numbers/emails) again.

I had all injectors replaced - 3 were failed - on my Primastar earlier this year. 57 plate, bought from new, only 40k mileage. Luckily I found some guys (proper mechanics who work at BCA Blackbushe) with the specialist injector puller who got them all out without breaking them. Nissan main dealer advised (after I'd spent £50+ on their plug in electronic diagnosis) that over 90% of their attempts at replacing injectors result in broken injectors which means a new engine at several grand

Think I'm going to take this up with Nissan as the bill for replacement came to £1200.00

electrasafe

here's where i am with vauxhall my van broke down august 2011 called AA after they plugged there machine into van it was an injector problem
patrolman advised me not to take it anywhere unless it had the 20 ton hydraulic puller, i called vauxhall mochdre and at that time they did'nt have one the only company in north wales was wrexham diesels that had the right equipment to carry out the work with a good success rate of removing injectors it got took there where 2 injectors were fitted
I remember the phone call just before they closed for the night that one of the injectors had been on on the puller for 3 hours and they were going to leave it on over night much to my relief at 9am i got a call to say it had popped out
At that time there were warranty on the van it had run out of the 3 year warranty the previous November it cost around £1200.00 to fix it have receipt
There was no help from vauxhall there were no rules at that time i had to take my van to a vauxhall dealer i took it to a company that had the tools to do the job
now they say you had to take it to a vauxhall dealer for repair for them to look at any type of refund
my van has been parked up since march with yet another injector problem its done just 70,000 miles although it was first registered november 2007 its just 7 years old cost me £12,500 and its a garden ornament is there any advice out there

patman99

If Vauxhall are now refusing to honour what they told Watchdog (that they would cover part/all of the repair costs (with no mention that the repairs had to be done by a main dealer)), then an email to Watchdog may well be in order.

gingerdad

we have a fleet of 12 of these 8-14 plates and sold older ones, not yet had an issue with the injectors on any, been running them since 2002 changing every 5-6 years. must have been lucky i guess

Paddy2eyes

Thanks for posting this, I didnt see the Watchdog article. We have replaced 4 injectors on an 09 Vivaro over the course of 55000 miles. Wouldn't touch another Vivaro with a bardge pole.