Ducato 9 Speed Auto Gearbox Overheating (1 Viewer)

[CazPaul]

My Honda Insight Hybrid CVT is just coming up to 200k miles after 14 years of ownership from new. It has not missed a beat. My favourite ever car for never having any money spent except on servicing and consumables. Did 1000 miles to Germany and back in October. I guess it will fail soon but it does not owe me anything. I hope my new EV camper is as reliable!

What EV camper have you got/getting?

 

[Landy Andy]

I thought Land Rovers were RWD if so can't be the same box.

They have transfer box on the back of gearbox to provide front and rear , and also high low range.

 

[MoHoSam]

If you are interested there's an interesting 'post' about the ZF gearbox on Wikipedia. Here's the link:

ZF 9HP transmission - Wikipedia

en.m.wikipedia.org

 

[Ditcha]

According to this write up I didn't realise the 9HP was built 100% in America, also it might answer the question why Chrysler have had problems with the box as they make their own 9HP under license themselves so could this be the reason for reliability issues?

Broken Link Removed

 

[ANDKEZLULA]

I would like to add to the original thread, I had exactly the same issue in southern Germany in September. It was fine once cooled down, then drove about 700 miles home without further incident. Booked in with local fiat professionals and they apparently had to wait around 4 weeks for a special tool to check the gearbox level!. Once checked they said it was half a litre low, they topped it up after checking quality of oil & carried out some sort of update. No further faults & have done another 1500 miles so far (currently in Spain) fingers crossed

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[dunnah01]

Can't help noticing it's the same box in a FIat 500 as in a Ducato van - how times change

 

[Guigsy]

Can't help noticing it's the same box in a FIat 500 as in a Ducato van - how times change

Don't VW put the same DSG in Polos, Crafters and 350bhp Golfs?

The ZF8 goes in cars from 150bhp to 1000bhp.

 

[SpeedyDux]

Don't VW put the same DSG in Polos, Crafters and 350bhp Golfs?

The ZF8 goes in cars from 150bhp to 1000bhp.

As long as it doesn't go wrong until the warranty expires ...

 

[dunnah01]

Don't VW put the same DSG in Polos, Crafters and 350bhp Golfs?

The ZF8 goes in cars from 150bhp to 1000bhp.

Yeah - that's because they're all behemoths nowadays

 

[bigtree]

Don't VW put the same DSG in Polos, Crafters and 350bhp Golfs?

The ZF8 goes in cars from 150bhp to 1000bhp.

The Golf R is only 315hp.

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[ED O'DARAC]

Not wanting to divert the thread, but the mention of hail took me back to 2013 when these rascals caused millions of Euros damage in the town we lived in in Germany. Luckily we were between campers at the time but the damage to our Ford S-Max was pretty hideous.
View attachment 847546

Wow! Dethleffs factory was affected with all motorhomes awaiting delivery! The insurers paid out but insisted they 'roof' all stock storage areas! (Acres of roofs!!)

 

[Tighchris]

What EV camper have you got/getting?

Not wanting to hijack this thread I have a Vauxhall e- Combo. Broken Link Removed

 

[CazPaul]

Not wanting to hijack this thread I have a Vauxhall e- Combo. Broken Link Removed

Thanks, is it from a recognised converter?

 

[IRHP]

I would like to add to the original thread, I had exactly the same issue in southern Germany in September. It was fine once cooled down, then drove about 700 miles home without further incident. Booked in with local fiat professionals and they apparently had to wait around 4 weeks for a special tool to check the gearbox level!. Once checked they said it was half a litre low, they topped it up after checking quality of oil & carried out some sort of update. No further faults & have done another 1500 miles so far (currently in Spain) fingers crossed

4 weeks for a tool!!! Couldn't they drain and measure how much came out then put it back in?

 

[Ditcha]

4 weeks for a tool!!! Couldn't they drain and measure how much came out then put it back in?

Computer said no !

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[Ditcha]

Good YouTube break down of box here.

 

[ANDKEZLULA]

Apparently not!!! In the end I called them on a Friday & was told they still haven’t received it, I then contacted fiat uk and miraculously on the Monday it had arrived!

 

[MoHoSam]

Just updating everyone on the ZF replacement gearbox for our new (8 months old) Sonic. I had a surprise message on 4th January saying the gearbox had arrived. The techies had started prepping the vehicle the day before (3rd Jan.), and on the 5th I got another message saying the vehicle was ready for collection. I picked it up on Monday 8th and have given it a couple of short test runs over the past week, probably covering a couple of hundred miles, and I'm pleased that all seems well. Long may that continue (he says with fingers crossed!).
The next hurdle will be to update the maps on the Uconnect 10 - a task that I started looking into 4 months ago when the vehicle broke down!

 

[ANDKEZLULA]

Fingers crossed for you. We are currently in Wissant to catch ferry home today.We have done around 3000miles since the gear oil top up & update with no further faults so hoping its sorted for good.

 

[MoHoSam]

Hi all. You might remember I picked up a new Sonic last May, after waiting 18 months. Five thousand miles later, in Aug. '23, the ZF9-speed gearbox failed in Belgium. The vehicle was off the road for 4 months, and a new gearbox was fitted in January this year. If that wasn't bad enough on a brand new vehicle, it's just happened again. Less than a mile away from the house, whilst heading for France last Thursday, exactly the same symptoms kicked in and the vehicle now languishes in the pound at the Fiat Professional dealership once more. The techies are at a loss as to why this has happened yet again. Come on Fiat! What's wrong with you? The vehicle isn't a year old yet!!!

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[125BEER]

Sorry for your yet another failure but do you know what happened to the original box they replaced...?

Cheers

 

[MoHoSam]

Sorry for your yet another failure but do you know what happened to the original box they replaced...?

Cheers

Hi 125BEER. That's the million dollar question. The techies that carried out the gearbox replacement (and analysis) didn't know what had gone wrong with the original box, and Fiat claimed to not know either. Still a mystery.

 

[Peavy]

Hi 125BEER. That's the million dollar question. The techies that carried out the gearbox replacement (and analysis) didn't know what had gone wrong with the original box, and Fiat claimed to not know either. Still a mystery.

The same problem again?, this just blows my mind.

 

[ElGato]

Been meaning g to update this thread for a few weeks & keep forgetting.
He got back from Spain by driving for 1½ to 2 hours then resting for ½ hour that way got back without any problems.

It went back to Fiat Professional dealers, they then diagnosed it was a faulty solenoid as it was out of warranty when the fault occurred but the gearbox under fill was found Fiat would pay for parts and he would have to pay for labour. Quite a big bill as most of the front of the van had to come off.

After the repair they took it for a test drive and it went wrong.
So now they have changed the gearbox, the torque converter & the gearbox ECU.
So it's fingers crossed.

Jesus I’m having kittens at the thought right now…

 

[ElGato]

Hi Lenny
We have a six month old Rapido 8086DF on a Fiat chassis with the much vaunted Fiat 9 speed auto box. Maiden voyage last month (June 2023) we drove all the way down to Dubrovnik in Croatia. About 1700miles. Just out of Dubrovnik, the red gearbox warning light comes on, then the yellow 'gearbox oil overheating' light comes on. We then lose power, engine is racing and we're going nowhere. Managed to limp off a busy road and called Fiat Camper Assist. It was a Sunday. After waiting about an hour to talk to someone who could speak English, we were told that as it was a Sunday, they couldn't help us as they don't work on Sundays. Unbelievable. He suggested we stay put till the next day when they would send a recovery truck. It was 35 degrees C. We're parked in a difficult spot, partially blocking access to a busy garage.
So we ignored this advice. I tried to start the engine and it fired up and the gearbox lights stayed off, although the amber 'check engine' warning light stayed on. We set off again and this became the pattern, red light, the yellow gearbox oil overheating light, stop the van for a while then set off.
We were planning on staying in Europe for another month, but Fiat camper Assist were useless; in fact we got no support at all. It took them 5 days to even call us back, and that was only because an excellent lady at Brownhills beat them up.
Thanks to her, we got an appointment with a Fiat Professional garage. They ran diagnostics and confirmed the problem lay with the Torque Converter due to insufficient oil in the gearbox. However, they could do nothing about it and suggest we get the van back to our UK dealer (Brownhills). They confirmed that in their opinion, the van would be OK to drive back to the UK.
So we cut short our holiday ( we had planned to tour for another month), and limped back to Blighty. The van is waiting to go back to Brownhills for repair.
To say we're disappointed is a mega understatement. Things go wrong, we accept that, but the total lack of back up on a brand new van's Breakdown Assist is unacceptable. Also, how can there be 'insufficient oil' in a new gearbox?
So it seems your friend is not alone.

What was the eventual outcome?

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