General Newbie Advice Request

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General Newbie Advice Request

g33ksc0tt

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Jul 12, 2009
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Hi All!
Just bought a second hand Doblo Cargo 1.9 Turbo van, 2004, - just over 58K miles on it - brilliant found I think! Thrilled to bits with it!!!! :D

Best van I've ever driven! Except for two small complaints (after having it for a day and a half... )

I'm hoping people might be able to help me with these, and a couple of "pimp my van" queries...

Second day off the lot, went to the local petrol station and filled up the van, only to hear the yells of a parked car behind me.... I look around and they're pointing underneath the van, looked below and to my surprise theres a water fall of diesel flowing from the tank area. Just after the fuel nozel does its usual "tank full auto click off" ... My face has never been so red with annoyance and embarrassment!

Is this something simple? Or am I looking at an entire new fuel tank replacement here?

It wasn't leaking so bad when I pulled away so the petrol station people could put sand down but still a fairly regular drip...

My second complaint is that theres a fairly regular almost grinding sound coming from the engine compartment when I'm sitting at traffic lights etc. It happens more often than not. I've driven vans with diesel engines for about 4 years now and I've never heard anything like it before. Noise tends to go away when I'm above 10K revs and am near petrified that this is something that requires replacing / servicing ASAP incase it takes the engine with it, should it fail.

:mad: So gutted I've had these issues just a day and a half in to ownership!

But onto the the whole side of pimping my ride - heehee...

Looking to replace the stereo system and speakers (only got the two dash speakers which I'm looking to replace for the moment ) ... any suggestions on the best brands welcome as long as they don't exceed £200 for both and the stereo should have some kind of iPod input.

Also I'm living in Gloucester so if any one knows of a decent garage around that area for servicing / MOT etc I'd welcome the info...

Heres to hopefully, many years of happy motoring to all!

:slayer:


Scotty
 
Also I'm living in Gloucester so if any one knows of a decent garage around that area for servicing / MOT etc I'd welcome the info...

Heres to hopefully, many years of happy motoring to all!

:slayer:


Scotty

sorry I can't help with the other stuff but Ozzie the Doblo Mod used to use a very good garage in the Forest of Dean area...I'm pretty sure it was round there somewhere. It was a Fiat dealer but they seemed to be cheaper than most.
If you do a search of the Doblo threads you should find it.
I'll have a look myself when I get some more time.
 
Is the fuel leak only when the tank is near to overflowing? If so, it might be a split in the feeder pipe somewhere? Get it checked.

As for the grinding noise: I'd take it in because this may be nature's way of telling you your water pump is on the way out. The cam belt should have been changed at that mileage anyway. If not, get the cam belt and pump done together, now.

What is the service history? Before thinking about uprated stereo I'd definitely get the oily bits sorted.
 
Grindy noise could be DMF... if it has one?

Hope not!
 
Hi all :)

Thanks for your replies. And yes - as I always say, safety before style. I am going to contact the suggest garage - bit of a drive but I'd rather make the journey and go to somewhere decent and get the van a "health check" ... though I am going to get a quotation for new brake pads first off and then go from there.

Hopefully the more I learn about the van the more I'll be able to feed back into here :)
 
More advice needed since Google and other search engines are hurting my brain with their inability to actually bring back anything relevant.

Whats the best coolant to get for the Doblo and is there any kind of weird, magical potion that I need to mix up?

Also. I noticed that when idling, my doblos engine fan wasn't turning. Kinda freaked me out since I would have thought it should have been turning.

Yes.. I am a specialist computer geek, not a petrol head. Feel free to mock me :p ;)
 
More advice needed since Google and other search engines are hurting my brain with their inability to actually bring back anything relevant.

Whats the best coolant to get for the Doblo and is there any kind of weird, magical potion that I need to mix up?

Also. I noticed that when idling, my doblos engine fan wasn't turning. Kinda freaked me out since I would have thought it should have been turning.

Yes.. I am a specialist computer geek, not a petrol head. Feel free to mock me :p ;)

about the fan...are you thinking of the old days when fans were connected directly to the engine via a fan belt?
Those days are long gone and fans are electric now so they only switch on when the radiator is hot. It shouldn't switch on while idling unless it's been idling for a very long time, like sitting in a traffic jam.

The coolant type and quantities should be in the handbook. All I would say is mix it with distilled water, not tap water, and there's no need to buy this...use rain water, just make sure it's well filtered (y).
 
Diesels are designed to run hot (by their very nature) so the fans rarely run.
Had a VW caravelle once, two huge fans in front of the rad. the coolant had to reach the melting point of titanium before the fans would kick in. The temp gauge never went above halfway & the one time it did we were stuck in a huge tailback on the M6 on the hottest day since time began.
I thought the army was trying to land a chinook judging by the noise those bad boys were making.

my bus (ducatto) runs for three hours straight at low speeds & often at a standstill & the fans hardly ever spin.
With regards the 'bit of a drive' to the garage, always best to get the engine warmed up before a service or MOT - the oil is easier to change hot & the garage won't need to thrash the engine before analysing the exhaust gases.
 
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