Vito any good?

[BTB 500]

No rust on my 10 year old W639 Vito, or any of the dozens owned by dog training friends (some of whom are on 2nd or 3rd Vitos). 638s and very early (ungalvanised) 639s are complete rust buckets though. A friend had a 54 plate Vito that almost fell apart.

Vitos are used by the Police and as taxis in London, and I've never seen a rusty one of those. Or any of the Vianos that are used all over as hotel/airport shuttles.

Of course there may be the odd one (as I've heard of occasional modern S Classes with rust), but it's definitely not a major issue. And if you're buying a 10+ year old one it should be pretty obvious if there is a bodywork problem.

 

[luke2152]

Thanks all for the advice. I looked at a few and brought an '07 compact 111. Has a few faults but the price was right. Im sure i can sort them myself but bit of advice is always good as they may be common. So firstly gearchange is clunky but feels more like cables/linkages than the box itself. Secondly side and rear doors don't lock off they key fob - pins on one of the sensors are stuck so hopefully replacing that will fix things (does one faulty sensor affect all 3 doors?). Lastly is an annoying metallic rattling like a loose heat shield guess that could be anything and might be annoying to find. All the important mechanical stuff seems ok though touch wood

 

[wu56Shoozz]

Photos please??

 

[StMarks]

Thanks all for the advice. I looked at a few and brought an '07 compact 111. Has a few faults but the price was right. Im sure i can sort them myself but bit of advice is always good as they may be common. So firstly gearchange is clunky but feels more like cables/linkages than the box itself. Secondly side and rear doors don't lock off they key fob - pins on one of the sensors are stuck so hopefully replacing that will fix things (does one faulty sensor affect all 3 doors?). Lastly is an annoying metallic rattling like a loose heat shield guess that could be anything and might be annoying to find. All the important mechanical stuff seems ok though touch wood

Congrat's at finding yourself one you like.
Gearchange is a common complaint. It may be a good idea to drop the old gearbox oil & replace it with ATF-U. There is an excellent explanation here.: http://www.mercedes.gen.in/poor-first-gear-selection-manual-gearbox-problem-w639-vito-cure/
That site is also a great source of information for sorting other issues IMHO.
There are a number of heatshields above my Vito's exhaust, so it may well be worth having a crawl around under there to check yours out. Whilst you're underneath, maybe also have a look at the handbrake adjustment/splitter assembly (central on the vehicle) as mine was "showing signs of neglect in an adverse environment".

Oh, and like he said.; Pic's please.!

 

[luke2152]

Source of the sloppy gear shift was a stripped thread on the bracket on the gearbox where one of the bushes attaches to that the linkage pivots (so the bolt was just wobbling about and not quite falling out. Drilled and helicoiled it and now shifting is sharp although 1st and 2nd synchros feel a little worn but actually not bad.

However I drained the oil and replaced with ATF-U. The old oil came out looking like quicksilver and a few substantial metal chunks as well which appear to be gear teeth so I'm actually bloody surprised the gearbox works well. I might go looking for a used 'box to rebuild so I have a spare one ready to go if this one dies.

 

[BIG UN]

Worst examples of the lot are sprinters, vianos etc. which can rust on almost every panel. Mercedes paint prep in the factory must be abysmal on some examples.

Tbh I have seen plenty of Sprinters with Tinworm but can't say I've seen any Viano's at all, even in the 638 form they never seemed to suffer like the van did..

Sent from my SM-G920F using Tapatalk

 

[rf065]

Taken from a random Viano review internet search,
"The Viano is often made to work hard for its living, clocking up high mileages and a lot of time stop-starting around cities (or on the M25) as a taxi. Check service history and the quality of its maintenance carefully. Owners report that build quality is not up to the usual Mercedes-Benz passenger car standards; they note electrical faults, rattles and squeaks in the cabin, problems with the seat construction, air-conditioning and ventilation failures, locking and ignition failures, sat nav failures, stiff manual gearboxes and an alarming tendency towards premature rusting."
Not sure why I'm the only one that notices them on here?

Russ