First run out and disaster!

C

Carolina

Joined
May 28, 2021
Posts
105
Likes collected
220
Location
Essex
Funster No
81,560
MH
Autosleeper
We bought out first motorhome on 4th July. I was very excited, drove it home and straight to the storage compound. Started planning our holidays but first needed to get a gas system fitted and a reversing camera as neither of us are used to driving without a rear view. We finally found someone in Worthing who could fit us in 26th July.
Decided to take her out for a little run today. She started fine but after about 6/7 miles the Check engine warning light came up in yellow, and the van lost all power. We had to 'limp home' to the storage compound. I phoned the dealers we bought her from and they said if we could get her there they'd look at it, but it is 80miles away. They said turn off engine, lock up and leave for 10 mins, then try to restart. Didn't make a difference. We have a warranty, insurance type, so they said take it to dealer near us and then claim. I think as it is first time out dealer should be responsible for picking it up and repairing it, but my husband now has no confidence in the dealer so would rather someone else repair it.
Van is autosleeper Broadway on Peugeot base( Ford engine) 2012. Has done 16000 miles and was serviced at dealer before we bought it. Any advice welcome, please.
 
It's horrible when things go wrong with a new vehicle 🥺. I might be inclined to get a friendly local garage or mobile guy to come to the van with a plug in device to analyse the fault, then go from there. You could always bill it to the dealer.
 
It’s the dealers problem, the insurance warranty company may well even refuse to pay as clearly less than a month since purchase, it shouldn’t have an issue.

If it helps, mine was a simple temperature sensor, £130 later from Fiat just for the part and a 10 minute fitting job. What I am saying is don’t despair, they are often simple repairs and it should provide years of happy memories.
 
Do you have breakdown cover?

Bit naughty but go somewhere and call them out. If it’s a recovery job, then back to the dealer to sort.

If they fix it then happy days. If not, then they can tell you the fault before recovery.
 
I would recommend taking it to a peugeot commercial garage and ensure it has had the ECU updated per the recall on that engine. They will be the best first point of call and the insurance based warranty should cover the cost. Remember that most dealers are not garages and just farm out service and warranty work anyway. Lancing commercials is likely your nearest suitable garage

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I cant remember what the issue was with our van, but we limped in then I went on to You tube and turned the key pressed the brake and did a 360 or whatever it was they recommended and hey ho it fixed itself out of limp mode.

I tell that as a story, not advice.

Whatever it was it was unbelievably minor and i now have one of those machines that tells me what it is if something were to go wrong and I can reset.
 
I think Carolina is Essex based and was going to Worthing on the 26 th July for extras to be fitted, I would insist the dealer that sold me the van sorted out getting it fixed regardless of the insurance based warranty. Could recovery take it to Worthing (If the garage there will except it for extra repair work) and then bill the dealer. ?
 
Rotten luck.
You probably realise it but you don't need a m/h dealer just a Peugeot/Ford garage near you who can diagnose and fix the fault.
Yes, the dealer 'should' deal with it but if the warranty insurer is happy for you to take it elsewhere that's what I'd do. They may come out and fix it for you to save driving to them. Depending upon the expertise/facilities of the original dealer he may just take it to another garage to be fixed anyway.
Besides, I assume you'll need a local garage for servicing etc. so it'll give you a contact and you will be able to assess their competence/service (at the insurer's cost) for the future.
 
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suavecarve said:
I cant remember what the issue was with our van, but we limped in then I went on to You tube and turned the key pressed the brake and did a 360 or whatever it was they recommended and hey ho it fixed itself out of limp mode.

I tell that as a story, not advice.

Whatever it was it was unbelievably minor and i now have one of those machines that tells me what it is if something were to go wrong and I can reset.
Click to expand...
I did the same on our camper and it worked for me also.
 
I just remembered. We had a service and they forgot to do something that made the engine think it hadnt had a service so all was good

When I say "I just remembered" what i mean is the wife reminded me

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There was me thinking this was a cricket post :LOL:

Hope it all goes ok. Sure it will be nothing major
 
I get so cross when we as consumers take the agents word and pay mega money for a life time treat.
My M.I.L. passed away and that was how we got ours, however, it was a Rapido, we bought about 40mls away, we did have a couple of issues that they sorted, but, we met another experienced Rapido owner, he said look at the mastic joints around the cab....... we did and they were cracking, phoned the dealer........ no chance, the manufacturer will guarantee for 12 months but if sold in between, the warranty is invalid.
To be honest before we had the M/ home, I did look at them and think.... If only!!!! but now I actually own one think myself very fortunate, but by god aren't we ripped off, unless you know the ropes !!!!
 
It’s known as Sod’s Law. You get things like this happen when taking ownership of a new or second hand motorhome and once sorted you can normally get back to enjoying your new life on 4 or 6 wheels. Hope you get it sorted quickly so can enjoy the rest of the summer.
 
Thanks for all the advice.
Hope we can get it sorted quickly so we can get it to Worthing to get gas fitted, or it'll be a while until we can get another appointment. Husband is looking on you tube for limp mode but solutions are beyond his expertise. ( which is zero! 😎😁) Will ring a recommended commercial repairer tomorrow, for diagnosis. Hope we can get it there or they can come out to van at storage. We are having a cool drink now, calm us down and cool us down too.
 
Was it just serviced before you got the van? My son’ car was serviced recently and though he had used it a couple times on short journeys to work without issue, he then went to drive up north and was about 50 miles into his journey when he got the engine warning light, loss of some power etc. He was close to where we were staying so swung by so that we could have a look. Turns out the new air filter hadn’t been fitted in properly. Luckily, he was able to get the cover off so that he could lift the filter out and put it back in properly. Similar had happened to us following getting a 2 year old car which had been just been serviced. A bracket holding a rubber hose hadn’t been put back in place. This caused loss of power and engine lights etc coming on. Might be worth having a look or getting someone who knows something about engines having a look.

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If it helps - a very large number of times that cars and motorhomes go into limp mode is due to software problems and not engine problems. My new Vauxhall company car shortly before I retired was constantly going into limp mode and I had to wait weeks for Vauxhall's to write new engine software to address the problem. Like a home computer just turning the car off rebooted the software and back to normal sometimes but not every time. Maybe a visit to a Fiat Professional Garage and getting them to reinstall the engine software with any updates may overcome the problem.
 
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Have you disconnected the battery for a few minutes to reset the fault.
 
You just need someone to plug a code reader into the opd port It’s odds on to be an issue with emissions control equipment as with that very low mileage in the past nearly ten years the emissions stuff can and does get gummed up.
 
Just disconnect the battery and reset it and take it back to your dealer to fix.

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If you reset the battery will you not wipe the codes making it harder to get a diagnosis??

Just a thought.

Cheers James
 
It was serviced in September I think, have papers., but it hadn't done many miles since then. I was so excited planning and arranging trips for after gas is fitted. I have signed up for rally on here.
Now I've lost my enthusiasm and really disappointed with the van. I'll be ringing garage tomorrow so hopefully I'll be feeling better about it then:unsure:
 
Swifter said:
Try not to panic . I am sure things are going to be ok . I do totally understand your worries and fears but I have a feeling this will be an easy fix 👍🏻
Please don’t loose enthusiasm ❤️
Click to expand...
Quite alot of us have had problems please dont get disheartened as Swifter said. There are many friends on here.
 
We’ve been plagued with problems with ours recently, it really makes you lose confidence. This was so bad I was ready to throw in the towel. Shoddy workmanship meant van was back and to to the repairers, then on returning from Cornwall in May van went into limp mode, luckily we’d just got off the m5 at our interim overnighter when van went into limp mode. Hubby was low loaded home, it was the alternator. All got sorted, next journey van went into limp mode again back to garage they couldn’t find anything wrong with it advised Italian service but also to use some diesel supplement like redex. We’ve used it and things seem to be ok, fingers crossed. All other jobs in the end had been done to Our satisfaction. We’re now in Dorset and the van internal bits and engine have work faultlessly. Confidence resumed. Defo, if not already got it, get breakdown cover, our van is now 8 years old, had since new and we’ve had to use the service at least 5 times, only once for a serious issue. Other times we hadn’t got out of the storage compound. My point, albeit longwinded, stick with it, it will come right in the end and confidence will be restored.

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suavecarve said:
I cant remember what the issue was with our van, but we limped in then I went on to You tube and turned the key pressed the brake and did a 360 or whatever it was they recommended and hey ho it fixed itself out of limp mode.

I tell that as a story, not advice.

Whatever it was it was unbelievably minor and i now have one of those machines that tells me what it is if something were to go wrong and I can reset.
Click to expand...
 
SometImes but not always a random fault will send the van into limp mode, but if the fault does not repeat itself after 6 restarts the eml will extinguis. Even if you disconnect the battery the ecu will remember the fault and a diagnostic reader will see it. We had an intermittent problem for a long time that could not be found. But after a few restarts the light would go off and there was no fault code stored. Turned out to be very slight corrosion on the plug that goes into the fuel rail.
 

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