hi i wonder if you have any advice for me...

i have a vivaro 1.9 diesal van and have had very heavy black smoke coming out the back when i am driving ,, it gets sluggish and cuts out. i was told to clean out the egr valve which i was doing every other week until it got so bad i bought a new egr and fitted it and drove ok for 3 days, then the black smoke came again and got sluggish and cuts out and loss of power. i took the new egr valve off to check and it was black and oily just like the old one.... where is this black oily stuff coming from?? and how do i stop it?? or is it any other part doing this to the egr valve... i have had enough and its driving me mad....numerous mechanics dont seem to know. thanks mark.

i had problems with glow plug light coming on , loss of power, rubbish fuel usage. followed advice about unplugging mass air flow meter , and after improvement i bought a new sensor. best thing i have done.cant believe i hadnt noticed how bad van had been running until i changed it. i now have proper pull away, turbocuts in on time and means it !! i can actually accelerate up the steepest of hills without loss of speed , fantastic. would of cost over fifty pounds just to put van on diagnostic machine, with no guarantee of finding anything. so thanx to the advice , it has saved me a packet and given me a new van again.

to add near end of conversation if getting oil getting to egr etc, easy spot down the r/h side of the engine it is most lokely that the seal inside the vacuum pump has failed and needs replaceing. (3 bolts and a pipe to fix)also sounds like my cam sensor to be replaced too.

Just had the same problem as the OP.Loss of power at low revs then cuts in full after 2000 rpm.

Turned out to be the Maf sensor,the high pressure fuel sensor and the boost sensor.After replacing all these the van now revs through the range with no let up on power.

The boost sensor fault shows up as the orange management light coming on at 2500 rpm or under heavy load. ie, hills.Its the black box on the right hand side of the bulk head with two small pipes coming from it.Unplug the two pipes and join them together with a small bit of tubing.If the boost is better then its the sensor on the bulkhead and costs approx £27 to replace.Also check that the two small pipes are clear and also where they plug onto the engine remove them and insert a small stiff wire into the hole to make sure its clear.Mine was blocked solid.

Hope this helps others as this van can be a nightmare to fix with these faults.

Master 2008 120 dci

I had all the scary lights and limp mode for a few days as main symptoms but also had no temp guage working (no lights on bar scale) and rad fan staying on from startup to 10 seconds after shutdown, never even heard the fan before !!

Suspected temp sensor, ordered new one ebay tenner, meanwhile took it to my local independant MOT place for a diagnostic. "£40 please yes you have a problem, but we dont know what it is".

Ok still no fix, got temp sensor, fitted, still no guage and limp mode etc.

Was googling too much and getting worried about the costs that may be involved !!!

Decided to change fuel filter, needed it anyway and was going to change thermostat as even when hot rad hoses remain cool but heater is toasty.

Was playing around with temp sensor plug and it literaly fell off its connecting wires leaving a perfect break at the wire exit point but the plastic sheaf slid from the wires. Ahha !!!!!, had to push some copper strands tightly into the plug to make a good connection then affixed and insulated with some gunk, soldered the new wires onto the slightly cutback good existing copper and taped it all up. Reconnected and alls well again, no lights no fan.