Of course not. That's not the scenario of this or other similar threads. The OP is talking about a vehicle for a specific trip in Australia where - we're assuming - he's planning on needing to fix things himself, probably away from support resources such as breakdown firms.
And if it's not one of these things? What about the cambelt and associated repairs to any damage caused by that failure? Say the OP has bought a 110 repaired poorly in exactly the same way as the poster with the dodgy cambelt?
What I'm saying is that all these TDi/TD5 threads seem to concentrate almost entirely on the TD5 reliance on the ECU when there's a very good chance you could drive thousands of miles without it ever going wrong. At the end of the day, unless you're carrying an entire 110 in kit form, the most likely fault is one you can't fix. Yes, carry a spare fuel pump, how does that help when it's the water pump that fails?
Anyway, why not carry a spare ECU? If the trip is that important then it's a wise spare to carry and can be sold on eBay on return or possibly even returned to the supplier if not used. A device such as the Nanocom is probably a good idea anyway for this trip - I know at least a couple of the guys here have one permanantly fitted.
I agree 100% that simpler engines are good fun to work on. I love the 'fuel in here, spark in here, wheels go round' approach that made it fun to work on MGs when I was younger. But even simple engines can and do develop faults that can't be fixed simply and it seems to me that most of these threads are actually saying that the common faults with TDis are well-known and easy to fix while potential faults with a TD5 might involve work on the ECU. I'd be willing to bet that if he takes a TD5 any fault won't be related to the ECU and if he takes a TDi any fault won't be a common one.
I had a 300tdi until june last year. I had it for 18 months and it NEVER let me down. I bought it with a melted number 4 cylinder and drove it down from Glasgow to Bath as it was. I then carried on driving it for a further 3 months until I found a decent engine at the right price. It smoked like a pig for the first 2 mins after start up and the piston slapped like anything but it kept on going with very little loss of power.
My current landy, A TD5, I bought in August last year. So far it's had 2 top hoses, 2 coolant temp sensors, 1 bottom hose, 2 thermostats, 2 radiator expansion caps, I expansion tank, 4 Fuel coolers, 1 engine rebuild,
Even now it's not 100% right. I plug it into my diagnostic most times I'm driving it cos I don't trust it. Everytime I plug it in it has some fault or other showing.
I don't trust my TD5 to go shopping so there's no way I'd ever think about taking one on a trip around the globe. Give me a 300tdi any day. You cannot beat their reliability.
If you take spares with you on an expedition you want to take the basic things that will keep you running. With a TD5 you would need to carry a complete engine with all ancillaries.
I recently had a problem out on a days laning. I spent most of the day in limp mode and if I tried to go above 50mph or floor it I spat all my coolant out. All it was was the new expansion cap was fooked again and the new coolant sensor too.
There were no faults on the diagnostic. I had it plugged in the whole time. The only clue to anything was that just once in the day the coolant temp jumped from 85 degs to 1500 degs for 5 seconds. What chance would the average person have of sussing anything out? If you plug it in after you have problems there are no faults.
