Not a great week to be an owner driver this week im afraid! Climbing off the first Thrapston roundabout on the A605 yesterday and something under the cab goes bang, accompanied by red warning lights and the oil pressure light coming on. Not wanting to sit at the side of the road I rolled it onto Haldens Parkway Ind Est. When I got out the truck was running like a bag of ■■■■, with a very prominent knocking noise. Rightly or wrongly I turned the engine off and rang MAN at Hull (still waiting for a phone call back!). Got hold of a fitter whos number ive picked up on my travels and as hes only an hour away he agrees to come take a look.
When said fitter arrives he can’t see any obvious signs of damage under the cab (engine, turbo, intercooler etc) but does not like the sound of the loud knocking noise from the engine. He rang Lawman Commercials at Leicester and after a conversation with them warns me that the oil pump gear has a weakness on similar age wagons to mine and that requires a workshop job to remove sump and check for damage. Crouch Recovery are called after making an arrangement for my trailer to be tipped and within the hour off I go with the unit to Lawmans. Straight over the pit and on first inspection it appears I may have been very lucky. Oil pump is nackered but doesnt look to have gone through the engine, the big ends are showing no evidence of any debris damage. They set about doing the oil pump when at 20.00 last night things took a turn for the worse. With the oil pump on it will not turn and the cogs is just jamming up everytime. They called it quits and the boss takes me down to Days Inn at Leicester Forest Services to get me head down for the night.
This morning their engine specialist took a look at my wagon and their suspicions are confirmed, the engine block has been distorted and cannot be repaired. A secondhand engine with 450000 kms on is going to set me back £5500 and with a new rad £450 plus the labour it is going to cost me £7400 to get the 06 Man back on the road. Absolutely shocked that a truck which has been so good to me in over 2 years has let me down so badly. I have been offered 3k for it as a non runner but then have to find a suitable replacement fairly sharpish.
Get somone else to check it, it was running when you knocked it off. Loss of oil pressure won’t cause a block to distort only seize, so check the mains and cam bearings. If its picked up on the mains you would be in trouble, if its turned a shell other wise it should be repairable.
Take the 3k unless you run another one so you could break it for spares. Second hand engine could do the same, and man’s have poor residuals anyway so after all that work you’ll probably have spent more than it’s worth.
In your position I would be getting a fitter I trust to have a look at it, or first of all and at the very least to speak to the ‘engine expert’ over the phone. I would be phoning several of the engine reconditioners, (the only one I can think of even near you and the vehicle is Craig Tilsley), to get some prices and to enquire what their experience of the engine is and what is their opinion of the dealer reported fault. The word ‘distorted’ just doesn’t sound right.
Then I’d be considering what the vehicle was realistically worth last week.
a very serious problem to be common in my opinion. man should only be bought through full r and m in my opinion. a few other brands are heading this way aswell.
Sorry to hear this Matt, I’m sure this scenario is always at the back of an ODs mind.
As to what to do, I personally would be reluctant to go with the second-hand engine option, thinking it would be likely to happen again in the not too distant future. How about leasing, MB are offering a pretty good deal at the mo.
Sorry about your troubles, this scenario is why I have leased/hired for many years. I have had several Actros’ on MB leases (even new in the good days).
Their current deal seems a good get out of jail card to me.
Matt Hi
I do feel for you i had a 07 480 Man that needed a new block And crank bacuse of a spun bearing . I will never have another Man what a pile of s###
Cut your losses sell it And use the money as a deposit
matamoros:
Sorry about your troubles, this scenario is why I have leased/hired for many years. I have had several Actros’ on MB leases (even new in the good days).
Their current deal seems a good get out of jail card to me.
Sorry to hear of your woes, everyone who posts the “I want to be an owner driver” thread should be directed here.
Me personally I would take the 3k and either hire until you can find what you want or lease long term (work permitting) with maintenance, it would be one worry off your mind.
Sorry to hear of your problems , its almost like a TV soap , { if it wasn’t so serious } I hope it all works out for you ,please let it us know the final outcome , let hope it has a happy ending .
I’d put a pump on and put it through Doncaster auctions and say nothing and buy a Daf there have been some 08 cf space cabs about for as little as £ 8000 ex hoyer.
I worked for a bloke a long time ago who had a similar experience with a TR305 Berliet, I had just come off this lorry and the new driver managed to cook it and it had seized solid, the guvnor and I towed it in and what do you know, the [zb]ing thing burst into flames that night in the yard
In your current situation and especially now that you’ve posted on here, I wouldn’t advise that course of action, I would definitely get a second, maybe even a third opinion, then it will be a simple pen and paper exercise to decide which is the better option, keep it and throw money at it, or take the 3k you’ve been offered for scrap value and get another one. I’d shop around there too, I don’t know the full story, but the way you tell the story, they did seem a bit quick to offer you the three grand
i know Lawman Commercials, and, personally, i would trust their opinion
on the TGA engine, there is a common fault with the oil pump gear, MAN did a recall on them, and replaced the affected parts with new parts that would not fail
there is also a recall on the brake caliper on the middle axle on the 6x2 chassis
obviously, you truck slipped through the net
the lesson to learn from this is, no matter what truck you buy, phone your local main dealer for that marque and see if there are any outstanding recalls for the vehicle, you will need the registration or chassis number
shuttlespanker:
on the TGA engine, there is a common fault with the oil pump gear, MAN did a recall on them, and replaced the affected parts with new parts that would not fail
there is also a recall on the brake caliper on the middle axle on the 6x2 chassis
obviously, you truck slipped through the net
If it’s ever been serviced or inspected by MAN, this should have been picked up on, the very first item on my six-weekly inspection sheet is “Check for outstanding recalls” and I’m sure all main dealers should be the same. If it has ever been serviced by MAN and they didn’t pick up on it, then I’d maybe be looking towards them to bear the cost of the work.
My apologies for not having offered my commiserations in the previous post. From reading Shuttlespanker’s opinion of the dealer in question then it would seem in some respects you have had the tiniest bit of luck and may well find that they will be very helpful outside the workshop. For a short while time is on your side, while you in the meantime hire a unit to carry on and work out the financial options; which may well be to walk away from the vehicle.
Without wishing to raise your hopes on what is probably a lost cause:
On the basis that “if you don’t ask you don’t get” it is worth trying to see if Lawmans can maybe get any contribution from MAN under a ‘policy claim’ . The vehicle is clearly really too old to qualify, but it is a MAN acknowledged specific problem for which a recall has been issued. If you have been buying MAN parts from a MAN dealer, then why has a computer not flagged up that your registration number and chassis number is on the list for a recall which has not yet been carried out? I would want MAN to be supplying an answer to why their system has failed to ensure that the vehicle actually got seen to; arguing that their system isn’t set up to do this is hardly acceptable.
This assumes that the recall was FOC from MAN, if it was a recommended invitation to have the work done at a special price then sadly someone possibly turned down the offer.
cav551:
My apologies for not having offered my commiserations in the previous post. From reading Shuttlespanker’s opinion of the dealer in question then it would seem in some respects you have had the tiniest bit of luck and may well find that they will be very helpful outside the workshop. For a short while time is on your side, while you in the meantime hire a unit to carry on and work out the financial options; which may well be to walk away from the vehicle.
Without wishing to raise your hopes on what is probably a lost cause:
On the basis that “if you don’t ask you don’t get” it is worth trying to see if Lawmans can maybe get any contribution from MAN under a ‘policy claim’ . The vehicle is clearly really too old to qualify, but it is a MAN acknowledged specific problem for which a recall has been issued. If you have been buying MAN parts from a MAN dealer, then why has a computer not flagged up that your registration number and chassis number is on the list for a recall which has not yet been carried out? I would want MAN to be supplying an answer to why their system has failed to ensure that the vehicle actually got seen to; arguing that their system isn’t set up to do this is hardly acceptable.
This assumes that the recall was FOC from MAN, if it was a recommended invitation to have the work done at a special price then sadly someone possibly turned down the offer.
just a quick point, Lawman Commercials are NOT a MAN dealer, they specialise in MAN servicing, repairs and breaking trucks for quality used spares, they also supply new genuine and aftermarket parts
i have used them many times for parts, some new, some quality used
as for the recall, if Matt has been using his local MAN dealer for parts only, that will not show up any recalls, it is the service desk that pick up on any outstanding recall work
on that note, if they are like the DAF dealers, the recalls are only active for a pre-determined amount of time, so, if the recall notice expired before Matt started to use the dealer, they would not pick up on it
