Not impressed with Fiat Ducato (1 Viewer)

Sep 28, 2015
1,992
2,554
Kingston upon Hull, East Yorkshire.
Funster No
38,946
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Hymer B544
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2001 Caravans 2011 Motorhomes
Two years and nine months old and only 8500mls, driving into Brittany from Normandy, yellow engine warning light.
Turn back to Avranches for nearest Fiat Professional dealer.
After much diagnosis and test drives a new Throttle Body required (360 euros fitted)
Garage staff were brilliant in attending to us straight away and tried to mend rather than replace but to no avail.
Not a good indication of reliability for the future.
 

Bartyfixedit

LIFE MEMBER
Jun 11, 2014
328
565
Maidstone Kent
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31,932
MH
Self Build Ducato L4H3
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Since 1987
Common problem on the Ducato. The scuttle drains at the bottom of the windscreen block very easily. Once blocked the scuttle overflows water onto the engine and electrics under the bonnet with resultant failure of several key components.
Check the drains very regularly, particularly if you park under trees. Mine will block in a few weeks and I am not under trees.

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Lorryman100

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Nov 29, 2015
640
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27/11/2015
For info. With modern engines due to the amount of sensors required to monitor emissions output ( the dtc's which illuminate the MIL are on the emissions side) faults appear all the time. If you get a MIL (engine warning light) indication and the engine goes into limp mode, pull over and switch off the ignition. Then start and switch off the engine 3 times, if the dtc has not failed the test the MIL will extinguish on the 4th ignition cycle. The dtc will still be logged by the EMS but it can be enough to get you home or to a garage. If the MIL does not extinguish then the fault is continuously failing the test and assistance will need to be sought.

DTC explained in my post below.

http://www.motorhomefun.co.uk/forum...ngine-warning-light-help.124529/#post-1738714
(y)
 
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icantremember

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Sep 2, 2010
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Near to Watton in Norfolk
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Hymer T-SL668
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since 2005
Two years and nine months old and only 8500mls, driving into Brittany from Normandy, yellow engine warning light.
Turn back to Avranches for nearest Fiat Professional dealer.
After much diagnosis and test drives a new Throttle Body required (360 euros fitted)
Garage staff were brilliant in attending to us straight away and tried to mend rather than replace but to no avail.
Not a good indication of reliability for the future.
That's a reasonable price .... Our Peugeot Autocruise had the same problem back in 2014 and if my memory serves me right we were ripped off to the tune of around £600 at a main dealer in the UK ...... then it failed again a few weeks later and they changed it for a modified version.
 

Gorse Hill

Free Member
Feb 2, 2013
2,364
1,944
Stretford
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24,533
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Burnster Ixeo IT 734
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2000
Two years and nine months old and only 8500mls, driving into Brittany from Normandy, yellow engine warning light.
Turn back to Avranches for nearest Fiat Professional dealer.
After much diagnosis and test drives a new Throttle Body required (360 euros fitted)
Garage staff were brilliant in attending to us straight away and tried to mend rather than replace but to no avail.
Not a good indication of reliability for the future.
Is it not covered under warranty

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Sep 23, 2013
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Is it not covered under warranty
Depends.

Fiat pan-European warranty is two years. A UK motorhome conversion gets a third year sponsored by the UK dealer network (may be slightly hazy on the exact details). A UK purchased foreign conversion just gets the two years, but Fiat will often contribute if approached about known faults that occur in year three. I got my airbag warning ECU changed under warranty in year three on that basis.
 

Lenny HB

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Oct 18, 2007
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On the coast in West Sussex
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658
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Hymer B678 DL
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Since 2008 & many years tugging
Sorry to hear of your problems at least sorted at a reasonable cost.
I'm not surprised, 8500 miles in nearly 3 years, most problems with EGR valves & throttle bodies are with low mileage Motorhomes. The Ducato is a commercial vehicle designed to do 20 - 50,000 miles a year it's not intended to be left sitting around most of the year.
I've just taken delivery of our 3rd Ducato, over nearly 9 years with the first 2 only ever had one problem, that was the dash light problem in the last one. We do around 8000 miles a year still low by commercial standards hopefully enough to keep the gremlins at bay.
 

makems

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Sep 23, 2011
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Ingleby Barwick,,Teesside
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Sadly had to give up
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2010-2017
Its ot just the Fiat. We had a throttle body go on our Merc MH when we were in Morocco. The part alone cost about £700 including 100% import duty. Fortunately labour is very cheap in Morocco and the mechanics are excellent

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Jun 30, 2010
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Cornwall
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1992 VW Auto sleeper Mono
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Since 2005 this time
Old is best fellas, no nanny state electrics, sensors or other Bank balance crippling fixings, built like a Centurion tank, Real wood cabinets, Way under £10k, and interesting, gives you a hobby, the update of the interior. Still got the basics the £100K M/H have got, 3way fridge blah blah blah

Sold the 02 & seriously looking for an early Merc 305 Not anything on the net yet that I would go to see, either rust buckets or grossly inflated prices carrying the self styled "Vintage tag" that sellers are deluded in thinking will warrant a serious increase in price
 

sdc77

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Jan 28, 2013
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Weardale, Co Durham
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24,456
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Coachbuilt
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since 2011
Our was replaced a couple of years ago..covered by the warranty we got with the (used) van... in fact it was an effortless claim.
 

Fletton

Free Member
Oct 19, 2014
1,531
2,501
Lincolnshire, UK
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33,882
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Knaus Sky I Plus 650LG
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First MoHo - April 2015
I got my airbag warning ECU changed under warranty in year three on that basis.

@TheCaller
My airbag light decided to light up on the way down to the dealers... only this week... one month over my two yrs...

2015 with only 17.5k on clock..

Altough it is intermittent ( at the moment )...

My Moho dealer arranged for me to take it to their local Fiat dealer for a diagnostic...

Needless to say whilst the fault was on the system - it was no longer present at the time.

So no conclusion from tech!!..

It only decided to return when I was about 2hr down the road!..

Did yours start as intermittent... prior to failing?

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Jan 8, 2013
8,478
11,516
Dronfield - Derbyshire
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24,202
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Burstner Lyseo 690G
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Happy FLT since 2011
Mine came on as I left for 5 weeks in Europe. It's still on, I be interested in knowing the answer when you cure it.
 
Jun 17, 2012
2,919
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North Essex
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21,517
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Autotrail Delaware
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>12 but <13
Possibly a bad connection, often caused by plug under seat for side airbags when seat has been moved.
 
OP
OP
Hettie's Crew
Sep 28, 2015
1,992
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Kingston upon Hull, East Yorkshire.
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Hymer B544
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2001 Caravans 2011 Motorhomes
Having said originally "not impressed" I must point out we had our previous one three years without a hickup.
We had just had a trying day and paid out 360 euros, which now seams good value from others experience.
I was impressed by them trying to fix the old one, which amounted to stripping and cleaning the electrical connections, but I don't think a main dealer in Britain would have tried.

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Sep 23, 2013
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Did yours start as intermittent... prior to failing?
Yes, it did.

Possibly a bad connection, often caused by plug under seat for side airbags when seat has been moved.
Indeed & I'm told that this is a more common cause of the light coming on than actual failure of the ECU. It was the first thing to be checked on mine, but sadly wasn't the cause - although the connections hadn't been clipped back to the seat correctly.

As is so often the case, the problem isn't with the main unit - the airbags in this case (or Secondary Restraint System, to give it it's posh name, as it includes the seatbelt pre-tensioners as well). The problem is with the sensor system that monitors the main unit.

But from a safety point of view, it's worth noting that if the dashboard light is on, then the SRS is disabled - in other words, if you hit anything, the airbags won't fire - or so I'm told.

While bearing that safety aspect in mind, for anyone faced with a delay in getting it fixed & an imminent MOT, the MOT check is not that the system works, it's that there isn't a light on the dashboard telling you that it doesn't work. So a failure of the warning light to come on & show that the system doesn't work is actually an MOT pass.
 
Sep 23, 2013
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@Fletton Worth noting that my warranty claim was sorted out through Camper UK in Lincoln, who were very good - and I hadn't bought the van from them.

Even now, it might be worth contacting Fiat with your story & a copy of the invoice & asking if they would contribute. There is a thread on here with my story - I'll look it up later; got to dash now. The lady at Fiat was very helpful - others have dealt with the same lady & report the same helpfulness.
 
Sep 23, 2013
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@Fletton Worth noting that my warranty claim was sorted out through Camper UK in Lincoln, who were very good - and I hadn't bought the van from them.

Even now, it might be worth contacting Fiat with your story & a copy of the invoice & asking if they would contribute. There is a thread on here with my story - I'll look it up later; got to dash now. The lady at Fiat was very helpful - others have dealt with the same lady & report the same helpfulness.
Omitted a tag from that post - the 2nd para should have been @Hettie's Crew

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Sep 23, 2013
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OP
OP
Hettie's Crew
Sep 28, 2015
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Kingston upon Hull, East Yorkshire.
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Hymer B544
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2001 Caravans 2011 Motorhomes
Just had a nice day at Saint Cast Le Guildo, started up to go to our site and the amber engine light is back on, again accompanied by the buzzer and 'check engine' message.
Pissed Off may not cover it.
Bank holiday tomorrow so we'll be heading back to Avranches for Tuesday.
So much for touring Brittany.
 
OP
OP
Hettie's Crew
Sep 28, 2015
1,992
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Kingston upon Hull, East Yorkshire.
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Left this a couple of days to be sure but all appears well after returning to Avranches Auto.
After more diagnostic and testing it appears they had let some muck in when fitting the new throttle body. EGR cleaned, light out and alls well. No further charge.
They said they had fitted an updated Throttle Body. I thought the Throttle body issues on Ducatos was earlier than 2014.
 
Jul 10, 2016
413
385
hucknall
Funster No
44,017
MH
Swift bolero 712sb
Exp
10 years
Talk nicely to fiat in Milan . It works. I've had over £1000 worth of work done out of warranty. Parts shouldn't ever fail under 10k . Not fit for purpose if they do.

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TheBig1

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Nov 27, 2011
17,509
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many many years! since I was a kid
the original throttle body design was poor and they seized up very quickly. the updated pierberg throttle body and upgraded wiring loom is essential

airbag warning lights can be a number of faults, but if intermittent could be the plug under the seat or the clock spring behind the steering wheel airbag
 
Aug 6, 2013
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Kendal, Cumbria
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Yes, it did.


Indeed & I'm told that this is a more common cause of the light coming on than actual failure of the ECU. It was the first thing to be checked on mine, but sadly wasn't the cause - although the connections hadn't been clipped back to the seat correctly.

As is so often the case, the problem isn't with the main unit - the airbags in this case (or Secondary Restraint System, to give it it's posh name, as it includes the seatbelt pre-tensioners as well). The problem is with the sensor system that monitors the main unit.

But from a safety point of view, it's worth noting that if the dashboard light is on, then the SRS is disabled - in other words, if you hit anything, the airbags won't fire - or so I'm told.

While bearing that safety aspect in mind, for anyone faced with a delay in getting it fixed & an imminent MOT, the MOT check is not that the system works, it's that there isn't a light on the dashboard telling you that it doesn't work. So a failure of the warning light to come on & show that the system doesn't work is actually an MOT pass.
The MoT looks for the warning light self-test at Switch-on. If it doesn't illuminate for a few seconds before turning off (to indicate no fault) then it will fail.
 
Sep 23, 2013
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The MoT looks for the warning light self-test at Switch-on. If it doesn't illuminate for a few seconds before turning off (to indicate no fault) then it will fail.
That might be true - if they know how many lights to look for & where they all are & can check that they all light up in those couple of seconds.

But if the light fails to come on for the initial self-test, that indicates that the light doesn't work, not that the SRS has failed. I have a feeling that rates an advisory, rather than a fail. But I don't have access to the relevant documentation to check for myself.

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Gedbradleigh

Free Member
Aug 19, 2015
26
1
Funster No
37,759
We are on our 4th throttle body yes 4th on a 7 year old Swift Kontiki. The last one lasted just 8 months. Fiat have now said they need to diagnose further but to do this they need an old diagnostic machine as our van is old !!! Going back in on Tuesday so hopefully they will get to the bottom of it.
 
Aug 6, 2013
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Kendal, Cumbria
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Le-Voyageur RX958 Pl
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since 1999
That might be true - if they know how many lights to look for & where they all are & can check that they all light up in those couple of seconds.

But if the light fails to come on for the initial self-test, that indicates that the light doesn't work, not that the SRS has failed. I have a feeling that rates an advisory, rather than a fail. But I don't have access to the relevant documentation to check for myself.
Me neither but my Smart failed when the SRS light wouldn't go out. The tester said at the time that they looked for the light illuminating then going out (Smartie fault was loose earthing screw on SRS ECU found by me).

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