Vito 108 losing water

[legfan]

Hi, newbie here looking to buy mb vito 108 van its a 99 t and has 78,000 on the clock, the guy im buying says the only problem with it is that its started losing water after about 100 miles, engine not overheating just the water warning light coming on. Spoke to a mechanic who warned me to stay clear as he suspects head gasket problem although he is no merc specialist, could there be a more simple explanation and what should i be looking for when i go to look, thanks for any advice.

 

[television]

Hopefully one of our sprinter members will see the post and give you some answers.

Welcome to the forum. Malcolm

 

[Sprint'n'Go]

As with any engine in any vehicle, if it is losing water it must be going somewhere and if it is not leaking externally then it must be going internally which unfortunately means Head Gasket.

I am suprised the seller has brought this up unless he knows it is a major fault and is trying to cover his back (i.e I told you there was a problem when you bought it so don't blame me that it needs £2000 of repairs)

In my opinion it would probably be best to move onto the next van and cross this one off the list as they are not exactly rare so you can afford to hold out for the right vehicle to come along. However if you are determined to go further with this one then a few things to check are leaky waterpump, water in engine oil or even possibly a leaky core plug in the engine block. Unfortunatley, if the water is leaking into a cylinder in small amounts you may not be able to spot this in the exhaust as it may not be producing tell tale clouds of steam in the emissions.

 

[dava]

Next! If it is the head gasket and they are kinda prone for it move onto the next, the head off is a big job.

 

[Sprint'n'Go]

Next! If it is the head gasket and they are kinda prone for it move onto the next, the head off is a big job.

Got to agree here. Just done the headgasket on my 200Tdi Landrover a few weeks ago and all through the job I kept thinking that I really wouldn't want to attempt similar work on my CDi Sprinter, what with only being an amatuer mechanic

 

[dava]

There easy compared to a vito as the 5 pot sprinter you may as well take the eng out as we do with the vito

 

[legfan]

Cheers guys, think i'll give this one a miss as i simply can't afford £1000+ for a repair job and there is no way i could attemp this myself! will look for something else, thank you.