any mercedes vario gurus?

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mlucas110

mlucas110

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christchurch dorset
I know its not a landy but you never know one of you out there might no something about them as its new to me. If not next point of call is mercedes but seeing as they buggered my intercooler bracket last time i thought id investigate myself 1st.

So basically i got a mercedes vario 814d 2001 and i went over some large un avoidable bumps on a un even road and the oil light came on and i lost all power:confused: turned it off and it started up as if nothing had happened.

Then about 30 mins later i was going down a nice flat road slight gradient but nothing worth writing home about and suddenly i lost all power again. It was as if some switched the ignition off.

No lights at 1st then the oil light came on as i was rolling to a stop. Then it started flashing at me! so i turned it off and tried starting it again straight away and it started straight up, had a little loss of power on first little rev but then was completly normal again. So i trundled of to make my last drop of and back to base. Anyone have any experience with these as im gunna have it over my pit on monday and i could have a poke around.

Any help would be great :D
 
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Had a Vito that went totally weird on me, stuttered stopped then tried to start itself with ignition off.it was water in the fuse box that had corroded a large printed circuit, sure i could have patched it up if i had known, but got a bill for painfully silly amount.
 
the red one i did notice there was a orange one aswell but that didnt light up. What does the orange one mean out of curiosity? at 1st i thought it was starved of oil because the stupidly bumpy road, but seeing as it did it on a flat bit of road makes me think otherwise. I checked the oil level yesterday and it was fine and no sign of any leaks
 
The engine and injector wiring loom likes to chaff through around the back of the engine.

If you still have the brake wear indicators wired up these like to burn out the wiring loom.

I would be checking for signs of rubbed through wiring around the engine if I wuz you.
 
ill be having a close look for damaged wires then. Its all new to me as only had it couple of months and so far iv burst a brake pipe now this! its getting on my nerves. Its got a plaxton cheetah body on but i assume the access is about the same.
 
yer it kinda goes over a cup and through the chassis then up the inner wing type thing to the mastercylinder if that makes any sense. it blew up all over a vosa inspecter the bloody thing lucky it was a voluntary check
 
mlucas110 said:
yer it kinda goes over a cup and through the chassis then up the inner wing type thing to the mastercylinder if that makes any sense. it blew up all over a vosa inspecter the bloody thing lucky it was a voluntary check
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mine did the same last year on it's annual road worthiness test (plate test for vehicles that don't require an actual plate test).

Did you change the pipe yourself or get a garage to do it? The fecker runs in a massive and completely unnecessary U shape along the gearbox tunnel.
 
no i was gunna but mercedes commercial were less than a mile away and my base was around 20 miles away.

so i got them to do it, but when i got it back they replaced it but broke my intercooler bracket so the fan couling was hitting and ripped one intercooler pipe and didnt put the other on properly! It took them 3 days to make that mess aswell and i was in desperate need for it so just brought it back and fixed it myself. Oh and they charged more than 700 for the pleasure so im really trying to avoid taking anything to them again
 
mlucas110 said:
no i was gunna but mercedes commercial were less than a mile away and my base was around 20 miles away.

so i got them to do it, but when i got it back they replaced it but broke my intercooler bracket so the fan couling was hitting and ripped one intercooler pipe and didnt put the other on properly! It took them 3 days to make that mess aswell and i was in desperate need for it so just brought it back and fixed it myself. Oh and they charged more than 700 for the pleasure so im really trying to avoid taking anything to them again
Click to expand...

I got mine recovered back to base and then did it myself. It was a PITA and took me about 3-4 hours (I didn't route it back as far as the original one went up the gearbox tunnel though) and was outside in the rain doing it as the workshop was full.

Have you had the joy of changing the drivers side headlight bulb yet?
 
ratty said:
Have you had the joy of changing the drivers side headlight bulb yet?
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#### me what a ball-ache that is. We've got a couple of small-handed types at work who can do it in situ, but for me its a 15min job (or 25mins if some ####er has bodged it previously) taking the sodding unit off. Usually do all three bulbs at once if I'm doing driver side.

Had any cracking on the bulkhead around the transmission tunnel?
 
Bustrucket said:
#### me what a ball-ache that is. We've got a couple of small-handed types at work who can do it in situ, but for me its a 15min job (or 25mins if some ####er has bodged it previously) taking the sodding unit off. Usually do all three bulbs at once if I'm doing driver side.

Had any cracking on the bulkhead around the transmission tunnel?
Click to expand...

I was down to about 10 mins changing the bulb before I wrote mine off.

Cos the 614's are only air handbrake and have leccy pumps they don't have the master cylinders in the way.

We've not had any cracking on the bulkheads on the varios. We have on our iveco 65's though. And collapsed cab mounts.
 
no but i am not looking forward to changing that thanks lol citroen relays are stupid to change aswell you would think being a part that often needs changing they would make it accessible.

I assume i have a standard bulk head dont i? even though a plaxton cheetah which is a complete coach build? i assume its the chassis running gear and bulk head ,then just built around. ill look out for that to.

Not looking forward to trying to find this cutting out issue though i dont like me chances. Also the membrane in me pit is knackered and water absolutly poors in! i gotta get it ripped down and rebuilt quick but doubt it will be done this winter.
 
mlucas110 said:
no but i am not looking forward to changing that thanks lol citroen relays are stupid to change aswell you would think being a part that often needs changing they would make it accessible.

I assume i have a standard bulk head dont i? even though a plaxton cheetah which is a complete coach build? i assume its the chassis running gear and bulk head ,then just built around. ill look out for that to.

Not looking forward to trying to find this cutting out issue though i dont like me chances. Also the membrane in me pit is knackered and water absolutly poors in! i gotta get it ripped down and rebuilt quick but doubt it will be done this winter.
Click to expand...

The easiest way to change the drivers bulb is to remove the headlight. That means taking off the grill, front indicator, the blanking indicator alongside the headlight that will want to try and break the plastic locating clips off or the lug that the spring connects to in the process before you can then unbolt the headlight.

Your bulkhead should still be standard. Most repairs I've done on my vario were done on the roadside or outside our workshop.

Fire the engine up and then while it is running, poke about and flex the wiring while listening to any changes in engine note. It won't take you long to find it.
 
mlucas110 said:
ill be having a close look for damaged wires then. Its all new to me as only had it couple of months and so far iv burst a brake pipe now this! its getting on my nerves. Its got a plaxton cheetah body on but i assume the access is about the same.
Click to expand...

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 :rolleyes:

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!

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!

​
 
I have a Vito. When the computer finds a problem it puts it into limp mode. Get you name with no power. Turning the power off and back on again will clear the fault, but it may come back again. You need a fault code reader to find out what is happening. This is why they are called technician not mechanics. Sound like you may have to bite the bullet and get the diagnostic done.
Kev
 
Putting a Minidiag or Star Machine on them is endlessly useful (The star machine is without a doubt the best bit of kit I have ever used! But it's not cheap!) but the 904la engine is not that bad to diagnose without diagnostics equipment! And diagnostics can lead you up the garden path with wiring problems
 
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