Transit 85 T 260 2.0D

Rusty Rusty Rusty Rusty

Mechanically the 85 T 260 has not given any problem apart from refusing to start a few week's back on the warmest day of the Summer - a tap on the Starter Motor casing and she was away and no problem since.

It start's first time every time (apart from the one occasion above)regardless of Frost etc.

The big issue I have had with the Van is the Rust. It passed the DOE no problem in 2014 but failed in 2015 due to Rust.

It had excessive Rust on;

along the lower edges of both side panel's,

cill panel's under the Door's,

Wing Valance's under the Bonnet,

Shackle's on the rear spring's,

Where the Chassis No is stamped under the Offside front Wheel arch,

I had to get a serious amount of Welding done and then get it certified by an Engineer. At the second time of asking it passed the DOE but had cost me €1000 in doing so.

The other problem I had with it was in late 2015 - the Dash clock's started working intermittently and then stopped completely leaving the Fuel Guage as the only item working. Having looked on the Internet for a cure and found nothing I decided to see if I could remove the Dash cluster and check for connection problem's behind it. I got it out (detail's on Autoinsider)to find the rear of the Clock's had a lot of "dirty" spot's on the circuit board. "In for a penny in for a pound" I cleaned off the back of the clock's and reinstalled them. All now working perfectly and with the brightness of a new Van at night the only downside being the Mileometer went from 85K before cleaning to 185K after cleaning.

My advice for anyone buying a Transit have a serious look at the lower panel's and underneath for Rust.

I brought the Rust issue to the attention of Ford Ireland but they would not do anything about it citing it was beyond it's 8 Yr warranty - if they had done something about it within the 8 year's it would hopefully not be in it's current condition.

Having had a Nissan Vanette prior to the Transit the other aspect of it I would be dissapointed with is the stability of the Rear Door's when open i.e. if there is a breeze they can be blown shut or further open depending on where the wind is coming from. The problem here is they could hit you or hit something you are parked close to.(the Vanette had proper stay's)

Report as offensive