Good morning, my first post. A few years ago i purchased a grand voyager at the time it was 6 years old and within 6 months the tubo intercooler had to be changed, at a cost of £900.00 + labour. I eventually sold the car. Now im looking at another Grand Voyager due to a new member to the family, it is a 2.5CRD LX 2002. The only thing i have a problem with is the milage 80000, would anyone see this as a problem?. Are the Voyagers prone to mechanical problems or did i just have a bad experience?.
Thanks
Wayne..

 

Hmmmm hand on my heart i wouldnt buy another Chrysler i have just had too many expensive faults on mine, yes i could have bought a bad vehicle but i wouldnt take a chance again. my mileage was 80000 when i bought it.

 

One problem with forums is that reading them makes you think that things are always going wrong because hardly anyone ever comes on a forum to say they haven't got a problem. The professionals on here will probably have a better idea of how reliable these cars are in general, but I recently bought my 2001 CRD with 80,000 miles because, on looking through the adverts, I saw a couple for sale with over 200,000 miles and one had 300,000 miles - so I reckoned that at 80,000 miles, it could be classed as low mileage.

Apart from an initial problem with stalling (which, after the threat of rejecting the vehicle, the dealer finally sorted out at their own expense), I'd say it's running well apart from a few things which I was aware of. Considering it cost me £4000 to buy, and probably another £1000 over the next year on servicing and sorting it out, I'd say it was a good buy. Of course, it might blow up next week.....

 

I think actd is right with regard to forums but perhaps hasn't thought of the fact that most people come here after buying a second hand car that someone else has sold because it is giving trouble. It is true that there are quite a few with very high milegae but looking at this alone gives no insight to how much work has been done on the vehicle in that time nor what kind of usage the car has had.

If the car has been a airport shuttle or a chauffer service then chances are it has spent most of its life on the motorway. In this environment the load on parts is relatively light as momentum is carrying the car. The real test is to evaluate cars that have been used in "normal" driving conditions. What's more a great many of these cars have been owned by companies most notably car rental organisations where high mileage is not uncommon and servicing fees are irrelevant as they are covered by the leasing companies.

Simple fact is that these cars have a number of very common faults not least of which is the gearbox on manuals. Chrysler have done a number of gearbox recalls on entire manufacture bunch's, what does this tell you?? Immobilisers are another weak sopt, just search the internet. When numerous people are complaining about the same faults it is beyond coincidental nor can it be put down to poor ownership especially where electrical faults are concerned these are simply down to poor quality control.

I will keep mine running just until I finish rebuilding my project Previa and then it is gone. And no I am not rebuilding the Previa because it has any issues just because it is now on 280,000 flawless miles and I want to run it for another 280,000.


I'll tell you one thing mate, they saw you coming with that £900 bill for the intercooler. After market ones for the Voyager are only £400 and what's more you can get universal ones that will work for £99. All an intercooler does is cool the air coming from the turbo before it hits the inlet manifold. Cooler air is denser and as such contains more oxygen ergo a bigger bang for the given amount of diesel. Push comes to shove you can even use a small car radiator to do the job as long as it is aluminum and has small enough channels. Air evolves to take up any given space so you need to keep the volumetric efficiency up, just like the principal of a venturi in an old carburettor.

 

Interesting info about the intercooler - not that I'd buy any components from Chrysler if I can help it.

There seemed to be a number of Voyagers that have been used for the school run when I looked, so a mixture of both, but I take your point - the high mileage cars probably have had a relatively easy life and there is no doubt that there are some common faults.

 

I have never changed an intercooler on a voyager so that’s not a common problem on them.
At 80.000 first check would be has the timing belt been changed? next check for oil leaks and running problems (make sure it’s cold starts with no problem). If it has a full service history and the above checks out then the mileage I wouldn’t be an issue for me.

 

Thanks, all taken on board, what are the costs for the general maintanence on the voyager?. How i see it, its one thing buying the voyager but its another paying for the running costs and maintanence!!. What do you all think??.
Thanks Wayne

 

Best is only one service a year.
If not
fuel issues can be a Killer if not correctly diagnosed first time. (most likely over £250 every guess)
Tyres and brakes every 20.000 or so
Clutch and oil leak from rear main will cost around £1.000
Then there is front suspension knocks to look for (anti roll bar links/ D busher or lower arms).

 

You could always learn to fix them yourself which will save you a packet. You need to be good with your hands and mechanically minded however AND have the correct tools. By correct tools I mean a decent socket set, a torque wrench, some screwdrivers, a set of vice grips, a decent trolley jack and some axle stands. Other tools you buy as you need. Factory workshop manual can be downloaded from

http://oskin.ru/pub/chrysler-dodge/m...ice%20Manuals/

If you are the all thumbs white collar type of guy probably best not to try.

Lets just look at something here based on Merlin's feedback

"Clutch and oil leak from rear main will cost around £1.000"

Now a clutch kit can be had off eBay for under £200 and the oil seal kit "all 3 seals" for under £50 depending where you buy them. Can you see how much you can save by doing the job yourself. The tools you buy will very quickly pay for themselves.

What's more the diesel engines are not made by Chrysler, they come from an Italian company called VM Motori and are used in a lot of other cars. You just need to do some research and you will quickly find that parts can be had over the counter just by asking for that same part but from a different manufacturer.

I am not a big fan of cambelts hence why I chose to buy a pre 2000 Voyager. The engine in this is called the VM-425 and uses gear driven cams and uses a Bosch indirect injection diesel pump. So the engine, originally designed for boats, is superbly reliable and can be run on vegetable oil.

A little research can go a long way.

 

Useful information GP. Don't suppose you have any part numbers/makes for any of the parts you've bought - would be very useful in a separate thread (sticky thread perhaps).

I was told that the fuel injectors for the CRD are about £700 each from Chrysler, but from Bosch, are about £250 for the same part (and even cheaper if you have them reconditioned), so this is further evidence of what you have said.