is the 1.9 cdti engine as bad as the internet says it is?

[MoreWellie]

One of my sons has seen an 05 Astra sri that he wants. we were looking for an economic car to do 50k miles in over the next two years and this one has done 90k which I would normally consider an ok starting point on a diesel

The car looks really nice but the sheer volume of dire warnings I have seen on the net about this engine and gearbox set alarm bells ringing about the potential for biggish bills or lots of pain whilst we sort it out

I think he would be better off with a 320d or focus tdci as really he just needs to get a car that stands a reasonable chance of being reliable but then I am not so bothered about the looks

what do the brains trust think?

 

[Ton-up]

Personally, I'd go for a car with the VW PD 115/130 engine, i.e. Seat, Golf, Skoda, etc. I've had a few and they have never let me down, they go like hell, and are reasonably(!) simple.

 

[Lufbramatt]

It's not just the engine and gearbox the rest of the car will be crap as well. The guy I lift share with had one of these, the amount he had to spend to keep it going was staggering. New turbo, DMF, EGR valve, steering sensors, sat nav died, the thing was in the garage every couple of months for something new to be fixed. Even changing headlight bulbs involved taking the front wheel off IIRC.

He then replaced it with an 08 BMW 320D which ate it's turbo 3 weeks later resulting in another £1k bill.

I just stick with non-turbo petrols, they seem to cover big mileages much more reliably

 

[anto44]

stay away from the 320d as well unless its the e46 model. everything after that was scrap

 

[johnik]

Ford mundingo/focus diesels had high pressure pump problems that allowed chrome particles into the injectors,plenty "non runners" on fleabay for pennies with that problem.
the pug engines are pretty good but the later they are,the more complicated and more likely to cause tears when they go wrong.
i had a company van FIAT doblo,apart from the lack of A/C it was a stonking motor,prob be cheap second hand as as everyone knows "fiats rust"
.

 

[500e]

Have had Doblo's for a few years Since 2006 not to bad some standard faults but motor seems good 120K before any big problems (turbo on 1 at 80k)i do rant it a fair bit
Front tire wear is poor even if driven fairly normally, rear door lock, wiper mechanism, (30 min repair & £20 easy to remove) rear springs if you carry weight ( the bump stops\ Spring assistors get worn quickly there is a coil spring add on easy to fit) lower wishbones cheap & easy to fit.
A clutch on one at 125K stainless turbo pipe at 60k on one washed out on bend that hurt £200 + rear shocks at 120K they were SHOT but I DO LIVE IN SOMERSET POT HOLE CAPITAL OF THE COUNTRY
Fair mileage both 1.9JTD 38 \ 40 MPG on computer thingy did I say I rant it a bit
Never used oil change & service it every 8k cam belt & water pump as per book.
The ride is fairly agricultural with single leaf spring until 2011 I think, the newer one has a spiders web instead of rear leaf springs, fitted to a No of other makes.

 

[MoreWellie]

Thanks for all the responses, I was weakening with the "I want that one" comments so it is good to have other cars to look at and hopefully we can find something he likes and I think stands a chance of being ok

 

[500e]

Thanks for all the responses, I was weakening with the "I want that one" comments so it is good to have other cars to look at and hopefully we can find something he likes and I think stands a chance of being ok

Bad way to buy a budget motor

 

[dobbslc]

The 1.9 engine itself seems OK but some of the rest is poor indeed!
There are two versions 8 valve and 16 valve, mines the 16 valve and goes very well with 150bhp. BUT
The 6 speed manual box is ****e. Bearings went at 43k.

The EGR system is ****e.
2 new valves and lots of cleaning in 3 years.

Any small vacuum leak and eml will be flashing at you.
Often!

If you have lots of pot holes don't get the low 45 profile wheels they bend.

4 new wheels last month....

Other niggly faults.

I'd say one with 90k already on it is 2/3 dead...

The only saving grace is you'll be doing lots of miles on a motorway so the EGR "should" be OK.
My ZAFIRA does 39mpg average with lots of school runs.
When it works it's quite good!
Maybe GM will go the same way as British Leyland.

 

[Chris Stevens]

Thanks for all the responses, I was weakening with the "I want that one" comments so it is good to have other cars to look at and hopefully we can find something he likes and I think stands a chance of being ok

Why not look at Japanese? All european made cars have numerous problems, the only real difference being that some cost much more to repair than others.

 

[octo0072000]

best car or seems to be is honda civic for the reliable bits no idea on the diesel
though
with peugeot/ citroen the 2.0 HDI 8 valve up to 2004 had no DPF don't buy a 1.6 HDI it has all the problems a good 306 HDI would suit some good ones about

 

[Justme]

Just to balance things out. We bought an astra H 09 1.7 ecoflex with 100k on it. It now has 150k on it. No problems at all. 57mpg running around.
We also have an astra J 2012 1.7 ecoflex with 40k on it. Up to 73 mpg on runs 60 round town.

 

[Justme]

Re the box, change the oil on each service.

 

[dobbslc]

Re the box, change the oil on each service.

It's probably easier to reach the gearbox drain and fill plugs that the oil filter on one of these.
But I don't intend changing the gearbox oil on a three and a half year old car with 43000 miles on it! As I said above , poo!

Mod Edit: Language

 

[Justme]

Yet you would change the engine oil far more often on most cars?

Service interval is 20k for the engine oil.

Not sure about the 1.9 but the oil filter on the 1.7 is mega easy to get to.

 

[philpullan]

its a fiat engine.... same as the alfa 1.9 jtd

 

[Justme]

Just for the record our astra H had done 145k before it had its first oil change.

I did the J as part of a clutch change (due to driver abuse not failure).

 

[Chris Stevens]

I work next door to a car repair business, and invariably the ones needing new engines, gearboxes, or other costly repair work are European. Other than servicing Jap stuff doesnt seem to be providing them with much money. Honda or Toyota seems to me pretty much the only choice if you are buying used, and dont want the prospect of very large repair bills at some stage in the future.

 

[premmington]

its a fiat engine.... same as the alfa 1.9 jtd

1.9CDTi suffer from programming problems relating to the Bosch EDC15, the car will go into limp mode and record some very strange codes. Air intake systems are over complicated, plus they eat turbos-intercoolers. Whole 1.9CDTi engine is just a bad concept (Fiat design made in India) for what should be a good fast car. Best avoided over 50.000 miles unless you have money to burn. Auto gearbox models even worst news. Only good news is, if it chucks the cambelt off, it may only break all the followers not bend the valves if you are lucky.

1.9CDTi suffer from DPF (diesel particulate filter) problems requiring regeneration or replacement. It is now coming to light, there is a programming issue. Update is avail to change the passive regeneration parameters.

1.9CDTi Do attempt to change glowplugs, unless you equipped with correct threaded extractor and centering tool to drill them out. 50% of the stupid undersize pencil glowplus snap off when being removed. Also do not attempt to change the cambelt without the correct lower timing plate, it is just not possible without the correct tool bolted to the oil pump mount bolt.

1.9CDTi suffer from air manifold intake flap failures at 65.000 miles (ish). The intake manifold blocks up with soot becuase the EGR valve is open too much, the solenoid which controls the flaps has so much power it breaks the top control bar. Nasty expensive job to do! Replace cambelt, waterpump, remove diesel pump and one stud that holds it to the head assembly to gain access to the manifold bolts. The solenoid is very-very to difficult to get to. We have done as many as three a week in our workshop, its an 8.5hr job! Which is reason enough not to buy the Fiat DTH engine. We have put three on the same taxi which has done 280k.

 

[Chris Stevens]

Rapid Welding use Hiace vans, one of which has done 400,000 and still going strong.