any mercedes vario gurus?

Mseries3 said:

Oh hahaha! Plaxton Cheetah.. Hahaha!

What the ####ing hell made you buy one of them!?! We have just sold our 2 08 plates at work... Going to buy two Beluga's instead, much better build quality and drive alright!

Those Cheetahs drive like ****, wallow over the road and fall apart of there own accord! There is no room to work on them and everything is a nightmare in general! Tighten a rear seat.... Strip the entire boot out ​

We had to take the windscreen out of one a new months back to re bond the body as when you went down the road you could see daylight below the screen!​

Headlight is easy to do on a Cheetah though!
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I would start by checking the Plugs on a PLD are tight and there are no loose pins - Quite a common problem​

As Ratty said, wiring looms do chafe through round the back of the engine (Favorite wire seems to be the one from the Starter to the PLD! We run 55 vehicles with these engines and lost count of the number of bloody wires Ive had to repair!)​

Another thing is the plug around the back of the Oil filter housing or the Plunger inside the Oil Filter housing getting stuck!​

Good luck!​

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well there you go lol we bought it because its only used for school work on a new 4 year contract so its fine for that and it was cheap. We had it retrimmed and they managed to strip out all the seats and re trim them before the day was up so it must be fairly simple once you know what your doing.

At the end of the day the body doesnt bother me at all i can do all that and have many very experienced guys for that i know and can help. The mechanical side how ever is new to me on these but i have dont a few bits and bobs before just never done diagnosis on it. They cant be that bad as the vario has been going a while now so some one must like them.

These wires seem to be a problem and sounds like it could be them thats breaking contact or earthing or something, which would explain the 1st bumps. maybe they just finished chaffing through prehaps :whoosh:

If i find it to sh!t i will just sell it and buy something else because i cant be assed with all these problems. I also run a fair amount of vehicles and this is the oldest one i purchased so ill give it a bit of a chance but never have i had something break twice in 2 months as i have a very tight maintenance scheme and everything gets fixed and with good quality and good timing and i wont let this tarnish my name lol

Out of curiousity what's your operation called? At one point we were running over 60 Varios with Plaxton Beaver bodies - slowly they are being replaced but given the abuse they've been through (many have covered well over 1,000,000kms) they're doing ok. Usual problems that we see are: bulkheads cracking, EDC/ENR lights illuminating, syncros failing (usually 3rd, followed by 2nd or 4th), steering column U clamp cracking, turbos failing, bodywork falling apart and boiling over in hot weather.

I have to admit, if I had the choice the same chassis with the Sitcar Beluga body is far superior - sadly Plaxtons build quality leaves much to be desired

i must admit one of the reason we bought it is because we never heard any major horror stories. Also the other 2 coach companys we are friends with, who been going for years and years both said there quite good. plus the guy before maintained it very well but obviously being 12yrs old im expecting a few little issues. Break downs i cant tolerate to often as im sure your aware so if it turns to be to unreliable it will need to be replaced.

People will always have there opinions and obviously certain build quilaty will be better on some bodies than others. But in my opinion the cheetahs are one of the best looking as they look different from the public service optares but thats just my opinion and at the end of the day the varios been going a while so the rolling chassis' have got to be good to an extent otherwise why keep using them?

Be glad you have the Vario and not Optare! Electronic issues abound with them and they make Plaxton look well built! I do have a lot of respect for the Vario chassis - it's a solid, relatively uncomplicated bit of kit that will pretty much go on forever. Bodies of course are a different matter.

Anyhow, talking to the other guy?

well glad someone on here likes them he got me worried lol anyway shall let you know if and when problem is resolved. may take a while

Don't get me wrong, the operations staff love them! They are reliable and make money, it's just the drivers and mechanics that don't like them! Apparently with the introduction of Euro 6 they have stopped the vario chassis and there are only 10 more plaxtons on the line.

Oh and as for bloody optare! We run 50 of them in various forms (33 Solos, 13 versas and 8 of the new Solo SRs) and they are all crap, Give me a Mercrdes Citaro any day of the week!

Do you just run small coaches or big stuff as well? We run 9 Setra 416's, 3 315's and 4 Volvo Levantees. Only people who can build a decent coach or bus is the Germans in my opinion!

The amount of abuse that I've given varios they get the thumbs up from me too.

They still aren't a patch on the old 6 cylinder n/a merc 814's but they are far more reliable than our dafs, renaults and ivecos. My latest toy at work is a 180bhp atego. Apart from being governed to 56mph it flies, even towing 6 ton ambulances and 7.5 ton trucks.

had a good search today in the pit wiggling all kinds of stuff and looking for any chaffing and found nothing.

However the front grill has been removed alot the last couple of weeks by me but more to the point by mercedes, which has the emergency engine stop on it. It is very open to the elements of what the wheel throws at it and with this weather the water and mud might have got inside the button. Also noticed when i press it to cut the engine the oil light comes on and then flashes at me like it did when it cut out. So i thought id change the auxillary belt as needed doing, quick service and wired around the stop button.

Took it for a 10-20 mile drive to see if it cut out and it didnt.

Now i know it was very intermitant, so im still unsure if i have cracked it but it all makes sense really. So ordered a new button and made a guard for the rear of it to stop the crap getting in. If its not that least it one more thing of my list