In 2022 we purchased a 2016 xlwb extra high Ducato 2.3 with only 69,000 genuine miles on the clock, with a full years MOT for conversion into a camper-van.
Vehicle cost £10,500 due to the low miles clean title and with extra length and height we thought this was a good deal as van prices at this time were extremely high.
Anyway we did our due diligence and purchased the top level vehicle checks for the registration, vin etc and had the seller give us a tour with a WhatsApp live video. All looked good however there were some bits and pieces bodywork wise which for a van of this year was expected. All checks returned were clear. so after reading the reports we decided to purchase. We had a long 5 hour drive ahead of us.
Just before arrival the seller changed pickup address to his meant to be ex-partners home which did concern us but as all vehicle checks were clear and correct we thought nothing of it.
On arrival at the persons home all seemed good and as per the video, we looked at engine the seller started and run the engine and we paid the balance and headed home.
Van drove the t hours back home with no issues that we could notice but this was our first Ducato van so normal to us may not have been normal to others.
After a few weeks we started to strip the rear ready for our conversion where we discovered our first issue after removing the wood paneling.
It turned out one side panel had been replaced and both rear doors had been repaired both were poorly finished internally with one door full of body filler. In anger we tried to contact the seller and guess what no answer.
We know vehicles get repaired without insurance being involved so we sucked it up got the repairs done and finished correctly by a pro and had both rear doors replaced.
We carry on with conversion over a period of a few months till we got to a point of conversion where we were able to use the van.
2nd issue -
On a small trip we started to notice there was barely any boost with lots of smoke from the exhaust pipe. we thought this was due to the van not moving for a few months during conversion. anyway i guessed its either the EGR or the Turbo.
we returned home straight away it was that bad with smoke.
3rd issue -
Next day i stripped out EGR and checked the Turbo. Both were completely knackered.
fuming i tried to contact the seller again over a period of time with no response.
Anyway i replaced the EGR and turbo tested the van and it was still smoking so last thing it had to be injectors.
4th issue -
Checked injectors each one was a different brand very strange considering this van had only done 69,000 miles. At this point there were lots of different smaller mechanical issues arising including severe blow-by found by removing the oil cap which was pushed by the force a few feet away from the engine ".
Now the Alarm bells are now ringing very loud as this van is turning into a serious mechanical cash pot not to mention the worry, stress the lost time in enjoying the van as a camper.
I replaced all injectors with brand new bosch repaired best i could all other glitches and had a hell of a time getting the injectors out. Every bolt snapped straight away. I posted previous on this site asking for help on many issues including drilling the head to remove the snapped bolts.
Anyway injectors all in started engine run ok. At this time the MOT was also due so off to local garage 5 minutes along the road, this is a garage we have trusted for many years and owned for many, many years by an elderly gent.
5th issue -
Garage calls- Said the sump was needing replaced among other parts driveshaft seals, power streering rack list was quite long.
We left the van with the guys at the garage to have parts done and put through its MOT. Next day i get another call from the garage asking for me to pop in they needed to speak to me and show me a few things including saying the sump for the reg and vin for my van did not fit.
This is where all hell broke loose.
Whilst in the garage it was recognised that the engine was not correct for my van and it had been replaced with a near identical Iveco unit from 2014 going by the engine numbers.
the guys in the garage scrapped off all rust and crap from the engine plate to read this.
I was speechless-
Then came more- the garage specialised code readers pulled mileage from the ECU showing the engine had possibly done over 200,000 miles. the code reader also displayed that multiple vin numbers were detected with a significant difference in miles detected from the various ecu's. To confirm the readings the garage pulled the main ECU,s inc ABS and Clocks to check the dates,stickers etc. They were correct ECU was also from 2014 not from a 2016 as sold. So we had evidence of an engine change and serious clocking. the garage explained it may be best to replace all back to original.
We contacted one of our family members who is a DCI in the police force. He visited and explained what we can do. so whilst he was with us we tried to contact the seller again with no luck.
We had a paper trail to where we bought the van an address and bank account number.
our family member explained that as a private sale its sold as seen however due to the evidence and proof of clocking this was a completely different matter, he also explained that due to us building this van into a camper van which cost us many thousands not including the constant repairs and bills for this engine it may be better thinking what we want to do. He also explained that if we decide to pursue we would lose the van into police custody and if lucky we may get all or some of the original purchase price back however if we decide to keep the van to make sure the replacement engine has invoices from a reputable seller and new engine code updated with DVLA.
We decided to go by both advices and replace the engine with a genuine 2016 with low miles.
After very lengthy research, we traced an engine to a very reputable company whom only deal with insurance company write-offs, the company had a very low miles engine off an accident damaged BT openreach van with 69,000 genuine miles warranted with all paperwork vin numbers registration plate verified and they would hold all other parts for a period of time just incase we needed more parts. and boy are we glad they did.
we ended up purchasing all the running gear from the doner inc all ecus, keys, abs and the dpf.
The reason for the DPF was the DPF on the van had 8x10mm holes drilled through it so original DPF was also no use with ECU possibly having a DPF deleted programmed in. Another offence.
Anyway all replacement running gear in from doner including extras like pipes wires etc that did not fit from the 2014 onto the 2016 and updated legally with DVLA.
In total this genuine van has cost us over £20,000 in purchase costs and replacement running gear due to thieves and rogue's.
It was a hard lesson to learn.
However we finally now have an excellent running low miles camper that we can trust and is 100% legal.
Please take serious advice from below.
IF YOU ARE GOING TO PURCHASE A VEHICLE RUN YOUR CHECKS
TAKE A MIRROR TO READ THE ENGINE NUMBER AND MATCH IT WITH THE VEHICLES REGISTRATION PAPERS.
TAKE A CODE READER TO PLUG IT IN AND CHECK FOR MILEAGE CORRUPTION
IF YOU CANT DO THIS ASK SOMEONE WHO CAN.
if the seller does not agree to any of the above " WALK AWAY "
you have all been warned. For us it was a very expensive lesson learned and gave insight to not just trust Specialised checks.
For anyone interested we stripped the bad engine for the good parts we replaced and parts that were ok. and to check the piston bores which were heavily scuffed and scarred.
Apologies for long winded post however if it saves at least one person from the same horrendous nightmare we have just faced then it was worth it to post.
Vehicle cost £10,500 due to the low miles clean title and with extra length and height we thought this was a good deal as van prices at this time were extremely high.
Anyway we did our due diligence and purchased the top level vehicle checks for the registration, vin etc and had the seller give us a tour with a WhatsApp live video. All looked good however there were some bits and pieces bodywork wise which for a van of this year was expected. All checks returned were clear. so after reading the reports we decided to purchase. We had a long 5 hour drive ahead of us.
Just before arrival the seller changed pickup address to his meant to be ex-partners home which did concern us but as all vehicle checks were clear and correct we thought nothing of it.
On arrival at the persons home all seemed good and as per the video, we looked at engine the seller started and run the engine and we paid the balance and headed home.
Van drove the t hours back home with no issues that we could notice but this was our first Ducato van so normal to us may not have been normal to others.
After a few weeks we started to strip the rear ready for our conversion where we discovered our first issue after removing the wood paneling.
It turned out one side panel had been replaced and both rear doors had been repaired both were poorly finished internally with one door full of body filler. In anger we tried to contact the seller and guess what no answer.
We know vehicles get repaired without insurance being involved so we sucked it up got the repairs done and finished correctly by a pro and had both rear doors replaced.
We carry on with conversion over a period of a few months till we got to a point of conversion where we were able to use the van.
2nd issue -
On a small trip we started to notice there was barely any boost with lots of smoke from the exhaust pipe. we thought this was due to the van not moving for a few months during conversion. anyway i guessed its either the EGR or the Turbo.
we returned home straight away it was that bad with smoke.
3rd issue -
Next day i stripped out EGR and checked the Turbo. Both were completely knackered.
fuming i tried to contact the seller again over a period of time with no response.
Anyway i replaced the EGR and turbo tested the van and it was still smoking so last thing it had to be injectors.
4th issue -
Checked injectors each one was a different brand very strange considering this van had only done 69,000 miles. At this point there were lots of different smaller mechanical issues arising including severe blow-by found by removing the oil cap which was pushed by the force a few feet away from the engine ".
Now the Alarm bells are now ringing very loud as this van is turning into a serious mechanical cash pot not to mention the worry, stress the lost time in enjoying the van as a camper.
I replaced all injectors with brand new bosch repaired best i could all other glitches and had a hell of a time getting the injectors out. Every bolt snapped straight away. I posted previous on this site asking for help on many issues including drilling the head to remove the snapped bolts.
Anyway injectors all in started engine run ok. At this time the MOT was also due so off to local garage 5 minutes along the road, this is a garage we have trusted for many years and owned for many, many years by an elderly gent.
5th issue -
Garage calls- Said the sump was needing replaced among other parts driveshaft seals, power streering rack list was quite long.
We left the van with the guys at the garage to have parts done and put through its MOT. Next day i get another call from the garage asking for me to pop in they needed to speak to me and show me a few things including saying the sump for the reg and vin for my van did not fit.
This is where all hell broke loose.
Whilst in the garage it was recognised that the engine was not correct for my van and it had been replaced with a near identical Iveco unit from 2014 going by the engine numbers.
the guys in the garage scrapped off all rust and crap from the engine plate to read this.
I was speechless-
Then came more- the garage specialised code readers pulled mileage from the ECU showing the engine had possibly done over 200,000 miles. the code reader also displayed that multiple vin numbers were detected with a significant difference in miles detected from the various ecu's. To confirm the readings the garage pulled the main ECU,s inc ABS and Clocks to check the dates,stickers etc. They were correct ECU was also from 2014 not from a 2016 as sold. So we had evidence of an engine change and serious clocking. the garage explained it may be best to replace all back to original.
We contacted one of our family members who is a DCI in the police force. He visited and explained what we can do. so whilst he was with us we tried to contact the seller again with no luck.
We had a paper trail to where we bought the van an address and bank account number.
our family member explained that as a private sale its sold as seen however due to the evidence and proof of clocking this was a completely different matter, he also explained that due to us building this van into a camper van which cost us many thousands not including the constant repairs and bills for this engine it may be better thinking what we want to do. He also explained that if we decide to pursue we would lose the van into police custody and if lucky we may get all or some of the original purchase price back however if we decide to keep the van to make sure the replacement engine has invoices from a reputable seller and new engine code updated with DVLA.
We decided to go by both advices and replace the engine with a genuine 2016 with low miles.
After very lengthy research, we traced an engine to a very reputable company whom only deal with insurance company write-offs, the company had a very low miles engine off an accident damaged BT openreach van with 69,000 genuine miles warranted with all paperwork vin numbers registration plate verified and they would hold all other parts for a period of time just incase we needed more parts. and boy are we glad they did.
we ended up purchasing all the running gear from the doner inc all ecus, keys, abs and the dpf.
The reason for the DPF was the DPF on the van had 8x10mm holes drilled through it so original DPF was also no use with ECU possibly having a DPF deleted programmed in. Another offence.
Anyway all replacement running gear in from doner including extras like pipes wires etc that did not fit from the 2014 onto the 2016 and updated legally with DVLA.
In total this genuine van has cost us over £20,000 in purchase costs and replacement running gear due to thieves and rogue's.
It was a hard lesson to learn.
However we finally now have an excellent running low miles camper that we can trust and is 100% legal.
Please take serious advice from below.
IF YOU ARE GOING TO PURCHASE A VEHICLE RUN YOUR CHECKS
TAKE A MIRROR TO READ THE ENGINE NUMBER AND MATCH IT WITH THE VEHICLES REGISTRATION PAPERS.
TAKE A CODE READER TO PLUG IT IN AND CHECK FOR MILEAGE CORRUPTION
IF YOU CANT DO THIS ASK SOMEONE WHO CAN.
if the seller does not agree to any of the above " WALK AWAY "
you have all been warned. For us it was a very expensive lesson learned and gave insight to not just trust Specialised checks.
For anyone interested we stripped the bad engine for the good parts we replaced and parts that were ok. and to check the piston bores which were heavily scuffed and scarred.
Apologies for long winded post however if it saves at least one person from the same horrendous nightmare we have just faced then it was worth it to post.
- Model
- Fiat Ducato
- Year
- 2016
- Mileage
- 73000
