used van with a reconditioned engine. A sign to stay away?

Amazin

Need some serious advice here, I went to see a used van yesterday. Its 6 years old, 70,000 milage, Ford Transit T280. I gived him £100 in cash as deposit for holding the van for me until tuesday. I told him I will give him the remaining £3700 in cash when he drive the van to me. Everything else seemed fine, showed me all the paperwork and stuff. He told me he reconditioned the engine because the timing belt snapped and he changed all the tyres.

I just spoked to my landlord about it and he told me there could be serious problems with the engine hence why it snapped in the first place and it might blow up! he told me to get a mechnic to check it professionally but i found out that it will cost me another £200.

is it really that bad? I hope i can still get my deposit back if I ask him nicely. Just looked on ebay, a new engine would cost around £1500.

loskie

Is the recon engine not a replacement after the belt snapped?
Mileage seems low.
Does engine no match docs?

Dr._Shoe

That is low for an engine that had a snapped timing belt. You sure it hasn't gone round the clock?

Marktheshark

They dont have a timing belt.

bigjl

Marktheshark wrote: »

They dont have a timing belt.

This.

I wouldn't buy something from a person that didn't know the van had a chain.

Though a replacement engine is not the end of the world.

But if it is just a used engine that has been cleaned and chucked in with no checks then that is not so good.

xHannahx

Hubby had difficulties insuring a car with replacement engine. A number of insurers wouldn't touch it without an engineers report bring provided to them.
A replacement engine alone isn't a bad thing, but the blokes clearly talking rubbish as it should have a chain not a belt.

forgotmyname

Was it reconditioned or was a used 2nd hand engine fitted?

What are the receipts for and who did the work?

How long have they owned the vehicle? Why put a deposit on it if your unsure?

Amazin

forgotmyname wrote: »

Was it reconditioned or was a used 2nd hand engine fitted?

What are the receipts for and who did the work?

How long have they owned the vehicle? Why put a deposit on it if your unsure?

because I'm a newly qualified driver who doesn't know much about vechicles and I need help!

I wouldn't buy something from a person that didn't know the van had a chain.

well, when he was showing me the van he did mention the engine doesn't have a belt. later when I texted him to find out the reason, he texted back saying "timing belt snapped" bit confused tbh, maybe he's using the words interchangebly.

That is low for an engine that had a snapped timing belt. You sure it hasn't gone round the clock?

well, even if he did I'm sure he won't tell me, he did show me the MOT documents and seemed fine to me and also showed me his address. I took a photo of his VO5 document with his plate number and address. So at what milage would you expect them to snap instead? I hope its just bad luck. I accept the fact that any used vechicle can be bit of gambling but I will certainly findout the details tomorrow.

xHannahx

Some of the late mk5s were belt driven.

But put into Google a search for transit snapped timing chain, there are quite a few results for chains snapping at very low mileages. A snapped chain would result in a new engine being required.

enfield_freddy

if the original engine had a belt failure , or even a timing chain failure , then it would make economic sense to replace the engine with either a re con or a engine that came out of a write off (bodywork damaged) vehicle


the OP says its a reconditioned engine , and as such should be like new , and effectively lower the mileage on the clock.


to the poster , that says they could not get insurance with a replacement engine , answer in one word (if its the same type of engine) COBBLERS!

enfield_freddy

xHannahx wrote: »

Some of the late mk5s were belt driven.

But put into Google a search for transit snapped timing chain, there are quite a few results for chains snapping at very low mileages. A snapped chain would result in a new engine being required.

my 1987 transit 2.0 l petrol has a timing belt , its the old Cortina/capri engine


the transit has been made since about 1965 , and has probably had 50 different engines fitted throughout its history