Afternoon all, hope you can help? I’m looking at a used truck but never headed down this route before as I’ve always been a big van & Luton operator… In your opinions what would you class as excessive mileage on an fh12. Obviously the type of work it’s done will be an issue… Whenever I’ve seen certain vans, 150k on transits is life end for me but 300k on a sprinter is fine…
Looksexpensive:
Afternoon all, hope you can help? I’m looking at a used truck but never headed down this route before as I’ve always been a big van & Luton operator… In your opinions what would you class as excessive mileage on an fh12. Obviously the type of work it’s done will be an issue… Whenever I’ve seen certain vans, 150k on transits is life end for me but 300k on a sprinter is fine…
When it goes over 1million K’s it’s probably time to move it on 
Looksexpensive:
Afternoon all, hope you can help? I’m looking at a used truck but never headed down this route before as I’ve always been a big van & Luton operator… In your opinions what would you class as excessive mileage on an fh12. Obviously the type of work it’s done will be an issue… Whenever I’ve seen certain vans, 150k on transits is life end for me but 300k on a sprinter is fine…
its down to how they are looked after, my curtainside ■■■■■■ 07 had done nearly 300k and still running well when sold and is still going ok, my 60 reg ■■■■■■ is on 230k engine is perfect and runs well
Denis F:
Looksexpensive:
Afternoon all, hope you can help? I’m looking at a used truck but never headed down this route before as I’ve always been a big van & Luton operator… In your opinions what would you class as excessive mileage on an fh12. Obviously the type of work it’s done will be an issue… Whenever I’ve seen certain vans, 150k on transits is life end for me but 300k on a sprinter is fine…When it goes over 1million K’s it’s probably time to move it on
not 100% true my scanny is on over 1m and running sweeeeeeeeeeetttttttt with no faults at all 
Seeing as this thread is sliding towards the lighter vehicle side ,my 5 cyl sprinter is on 1035000ks ,my problem is what can a buy new to match it ? Iam looking at 3 yrs unlimited Milage warranties so there’s only the V6 merc or them things that the Itals turn out ! I currently do 28.5 mpg solo ,24-25 with crane on and 18-23.5 at 6300kg towing depending on load and route ,I know these figures are not great but for a 5 pot geared for towing at 60 mph they’re good .
No right or wrong answer to that question. What you need to consider if how well it’s been looked after. At our place we recently got rid of a load of 57 plate FHs. One of them had nearly 900k on the clock but it drove like brand new and the engine pulled like a train too. Others we have are half that mileage, crash and bang over every pebble on the road and couldn’t pull the skin off a rice pudding.
getting back to the truck side of the question, i think something with 500k still has a good bit of life left in it if its been, and continues to be well looked after , my MAN is just on a million kms and if it wasnt for the fact of having to go inside the M25 on a regular basis over the coming months i would have kept it a bit longer
Cheers all, seen a few all around the 600k mark. I’m thinking, yes, can buy used outright & just have to worry about replacing bits as n when… OR… Lease new and let the dealers sort it out. Hmmmm…
One of my first artic loads was Peterhead in a ex john Raymond 94 fh420 it had done well over a million ks it’s only fault was drifting out of reverse and 2nd when shunting .
My fh is a 54 plate and now just past 1.1m kms. It has oil and filters done every other inspection. I’ve had many issues with the clutch, now on the 5th one ffs but the engine has been good as gold. Replaced an intercooler pipe, the turbo and the sump (a previous garage had over torqued the sump plug) but the internals have been solid. TOUCH WOOD.
Goaty:
My fh is a 54 plate and now just past 1.1m kms. It has oil and filters done every other inspection. I’ve had many issues with the clutch, now on the 5th one ffs but the engine has been good as gold. Replaced an intercooler pipe, the turbo and the sump (a previous garage had over torqued the sump plug) but the internals have been solid. TOUCH WOOD.
We have a 2003 FH on nearly 1m Kms, still drives very well, has a few niggles, but nothing major. But we also had a problem with the sump plug, when we were told it was something like £700 for a new sump, got our machine shop to make up a new location point for a sump plug. 
Looksexpensive:
Cheers all, seen a few all around the 600k mark. I’m thinking, yes, can buy used outright & just have to worry about replacing bits as n when… OR… Lease new and let the dealers sort it out. Hmmmm…
Hands down lease new & let the dealer sort It out. Particularly at the moment as they’re desperate to move euro 6 for a price.
If you buy 2nd hand you must get a warranty particularly if you don’t have loads of money in the bank to pay for those nigly maintenance jobs or those cataclysmic issues which WILL HAPPEN.
TRUST.
If you buy 2nd hand outright you can just park it up if the work dries up or your major customer goes bust and probably scrape by covering the mortgage on agency. If the same happens and you’re tied into a lease or hire purchase agreement you won’t be able to cover that and the mortgage.
Without dealer level software there is a limit to how much you can diagnose and fix yourself these days but being able to do a lot of basic maintenance jobs will put you at a big advantage.
i just use a OBD fault code reader i got from screwfix for a 100 quid, least i know if its anything serious before i ring and book it in with them
chaversdad:
i just use a OBD fault code reader i got from screwfix for a 100 quid, least i know if its anything serious before i ring and book it in with them
a what ■■? do they plug into anything ?
Denis F:
chaversdad:
i just use a OBD fault code reader i got from screwfix for a 100 quid, least i know if its anything serious before i ring and book it in with thema what ■■? do they plug into anything ?
And does it give you anymore information than looking at the diagnostics screen on the dashboard?
it does and it doesnt, well what i mean is it brings up faults in the order they happened and says what they are in simple terms, instead of FFR100-30 it will say something like “fuel pressure malfunction”
there not perfect by any stretch but i find it handy at times
Looks a bit like this but it was being discontinued by screwfix in the sale so i didnt pay this much for mine