[robert mitchell]

the gearbox oil will not need doing every six months unless you are doing starship mileage like susan.

However the service intervals on them are now 25000 miles with "long life oil" , i would personally change the oil every 10,000 as oil in poor condition will wreck the turbo eventually .

[Frankybadboy]

had my 56 plate four years and it hasn't needed a spanner on it in that time.it has 72k on the clock

and its just come back today from another pass though the MOT,and some how ive managed todo just over 7k of miles in a year

[Spruce]

the gearbox oil will not need doing every six months unless you are doing starship mileage like susan.

However the service intervals on them are now 25000 miles with "long life oil" , i would personally change the oil every 10,000 as oil in poor condition will wreck the turbo eventually .

Water gets into the gearbox via the gear selector shaft on those early model vans. Its the water that does the damage to syncro cones and bearings. So Susan's suggestion of replacing gearbox oil regularly to a good one. Changing the oil seal on the selector shaft is also a worthwhile cost. Early Ducatos/Relays and Boxers suffered from the same problem and the seal was easy to replace.

(The strange thing is that not all vans suffered with this problem although all had the same box.
The solution for the Fiat manufactured vans was to reroute the drain pipes from the heater air intake as they ended above the gearbox. The other thing was the the gearbox was strengthened/reinforced by a pattern of ridges that looked like small boxes and was part of the gearbox housing casting. These 'boxes' collected water, mainly from the drain pipes. So each time it rained these boxes were supplied with fresh water. The gear selector shaft was located in one of these 'boxes'. Even someone with half a brain could guess the result. The short term solution was to reduce the height of these boxes  with a grinder and then fill the remainder of the box that had the selector shaft with a resin so that water could no longer pond there. As gearboxes are usually made by a specialist company, it wouldn't surprise me to hear that Reanult used the same gearbox in their van as did Fiat.)

As far as servicing intervals are concerned, look for the small print. Somewhere will be something that advises that the vehicle should have an interim service every so many miles or annually, which ever applies.

Safety is one of the big issues with regard to long mileage service intervals. If a mechanic advises that the front disc pads have 50% wear, what does he do? Does he change the pads as they won't last to the next service (adding cost) or does he ignore them, hoping the brake warning light is operating on the disc pad with the most wear?

[S.W. Window Cleaning]

£3000 deposit and £240 a month for 5 years. No mot or repair worries and if you look after it, it will do 10 years. Im happy 
Steve

[Roger Oakley]

£3000 deposit and £240 a month for 5 years. No mot or repair worries and if you look after it, it will do 10 years. Im happy 
Steve

And there are lower deposit's then that out there, I paid £1200.00 plus Vat with the company I used.
Steve does yours have a balloon payment at the end?

[Roland S]

£3000 deposit and £240 a month for 5 years. No mot or repair worries and if you look after it, it will do 10 years. Im happy 
Steve

who did you get that deal with?

[windowswashed]

I was tempted to get a vivaro but all the horror stories about them put me off. Bought a VW T5 in the end, glad I did, lovely to drive and I boot it sometimes heard they can reach 90 fully laden on the road Only fault I have with them is that I have a long wheel base version and the turning circle is crap putting it politely, 3 point turn is more like a 6 point turn Other than that pleased with mine.

[robert mitchell]

the gearbox oil will not need doing every six months unless you are doing starship mileage like susan.

However the service intervals on them are now 25000 miles with "long life oil" , i would personally change the oil every 10,000 as oil in poor condition will wreck the turbo eventually .

Water gets into the gearbox via the gear selector shaft on those early model vans. Its the water that does the damage to syncro cones and bearings. So Susan's suggestion of replacing gearbox oil regularly to a good one. Changing the oil seal on the selector shaft is also a worthwhile cost. Early Ducatos/Relays and Boxers suffered from the same problem and the seal was easy to replace.

(The strange thing is that not all vans suffered with this problem although all had the same box.
The solution for the Fiat manufactured vans was to reroute the drain pipes from the heater air intake as they ended above the gearbox. The other thing was the the gearbox was strengthened/reinforced by a pattern of ridges that looked like small boxes and was part of the gearbox housing casting. These 'boxes' collected water, mainly from the drain pipes. So each time it rained these boxes were supplied with fresh water. The gear selector shaft was located in one of these 'boxes'. Even someone with half a brain could guess the result. The short term solution was to reduce the height of these boxes  with a grinder and then fill the remainder of the box that had the selector shaft with a resin so that water could no longer pond there. As gearboxes are usually made by a specialist company, it wouldn't surprise me to hear that Reanult used the same gearbox in their van as did Fiat.)

As far as servicing intervals are concerned, look for the small print. Somewhere will be something that advises that the vehicle should have an interim service every so many miles or annually, which ever applies.

Safety is one of the big issues with regard to long mileage service intervals. If a mechanic advises that the front disc pads have 50% wear, what does he do? Does he change the pads as they won't last to the next service (adding cost) or does he ignore them, hoping the brake warning light is operating on the disc pad with the most wear?

Mine is the newer version and i think the gearbox issues have been sorted .

The book for mine (59 reg) states 25000 miles or two years for service intervals , like you said spruce , dangerous in my opinion .

Obviously designed to appeal to fleet buyers saving service costs .

mine is on 90000 so has only had 3 services !

I'm going for every 10000 for basic service.

[[GQC] Tim]

When I was looking for a new van I read through many Vivaro user reviews and the problems encountered were so shocking I'm glad I did my research. Bought a new shape 2.0 HDI Citroen Dispatch with 100k on the clock and even happier with it then with my old Berlingo. Can't fault it. Had it's Turbo and intercooler replaced shortly before I bought it so that's good for another 90-100K. Bullet proof vans. Galvanised as well.

[Susan Dean (1stclean)]

I was tempted to get a vivaro but all the horror stories about them put me off. Bought a VW T5 in the end, glad I did, lovely to drive and I boot it sometimes heard they can reach 90 fully laden on the road Only fault I have with them is that I have a long wheel base version and the turning circle is crap putting it politely, 3 point turn is more like a 6 point turn Other than that pleased with mine.

drop a revo on your t5 it will change your van again its the way forward

[S.W. Window Cleaning]

Vauxhall are doing low rate finance. Done through Vauxhall commercial dealers. Even got free upgrade to include air con & electric windows & mirrors.
 Cheers,
    Steve