France this summer in my Rapido 9095. Firstly, the gas regulator. I know that the orifice plate in the fridge manifold is prone to blockage, so a few days before setting off I checked it was clear and that fridge cooled OK. Saturday, 6am departure from Newark for Dover, swapped from hook-up to gas and... no fridge ignition. No hobs working either. Cracked the joint, and no gas getting through the Truma regulator. Searched the forum and found that many others have been there before me, and regulator failure is a common problem. Set off hopefully at 7am, with Mrs co-pilot Googling and ringing possible servicing agents down the A1. We found a great guy at Hitchin Caravans and Motorhomes who dropped his other work and fitted a new regulator while we had coffee. It's not the Secumotion crash-safe one, but got us going. Relating the tale to several people we met in Aires through France, we often heard "Oh, I always carry a spare regulator!" I've since read the various conspiracy theories about condensation in the pipes (unlikely), heavy oil fraction in the gas collecting in the pipe, or oil leaching from the plasticiser in the pipes (both possible). Anyway, I'm going to replace the rubber hoses with stainless, and ensure they slope back to the cylinder.
Then, the gearbox (Fiat 6-speed manual), which has only done about 36,000 miles. On the Autoroute near Vierzon, doing about 60, sudden juddering, vibration noise. I thought it was a bad bit of carriageway until I realised it was from our engine. Pulled on to hard shoulder, then tried l lower gears and found we could limp off to an Aire without too much gearbox noise. AA Recovery sent a French mechanic who said Ducato gearbox failure was not uncommon, but our van was too big for his lift. Rang his mate in the other garage, who said he was on holiday for two weeks (August...). Phoned our local garage at home for a reference quote, and they said about £3k for exchange gearbox, £7k new one (fitted, incl. new clutch). (sh*t!). They confirmed what the French mechanic had said, that it was a reasonable risk to drive in the lower gears at low revs, so we decided to press on about 50 miles to our destination for the next 8 days.
None of the garages in Chateauroux could repair it in less that 2 to 3 weeks, even if we could afford it, so our choice at the end of a lovely holiday was to come home in a hire car and get the MH transported back, or limp back at 40 mph. We chose the latter, and we and the two grandchildren holidaying with us actually had quite a nice 3-stopover journey back to Calais. MPG was better as well, at 33-plus rather than 26-28.
Found Nicky in Newark who can repair the gearbox, but couldn't remove it, so had so persuade my garage to remove the gearbox and hand it over for repair. Investigation showed one bearing had failed, damaging gears 5 and 6, and a synchro ring, possibly from continued driving.
We picked up several comments and stories along the way. 'The Fiat gearbox is prone to failure'. 'It is really designed for Ducato box vans and not for 3.7T motorhomes'. 'Water can get into the gearbox' - this is certainly not the case with ours. 'The gearbox is a stretched version of the 4-speed one, and adding gears 5 and 6 has made it less robust'. 'Gear 6 is high in the gearbox, and unless the gearbox is overfilled with oil, it can be starved'.
The caveat. Nicky ordered the replacement parts, but had difficulty getting gear 5. "it is on back order", then "it is discontinued" !!! This is a gearbox built in 2009, and already spares are discontinued???
Anyway, I think he has now sourced one for our gearbox, but I hope none of you need one in the future ....
makes for interesting holidays.....
Paul.
h
Then, the gearbox (Fiat 6-speed manual), which has only done about 36,000 miles. On the Autoroute near Vierzon, doing about 60, sudden juddering, vibration noise. I thought it was a bad bit of carriageway until I realised it was from our engine. Pulled on to hard shoulder, then tried l lower gears and found we could limp off to an Aire without too much gearbox noise. AA Recovery sent a French mechanic who said Ducato gearbox failure was not uncommon, but our van was too big for his lift. Rang his mate in the other garage, who said he was on holiday for two weeks (August...). Phoned our local garage at home for a reference quote, and they said about £3k for exchange gearbox, £7k new one (fitted, incl. new clutch). (sh*t!). They confirmed what the French mechanic had said, that it was a reasonable risk to drive in the lower gears at low revs, so we decided to press on about 50 miles to our destination for the next 8 days.
None of the garages in Chateauroux could repair it in less that 2 to 3 weeks, even if we could afford it, so our choice at the end of a lovely holiday was to come home in a hire car and get the MH transported back, or limp back at 40 mph. We chose the latter, and we and the two grandchildren holidaying with us actually had quite a nice 3-stopover journey back to Calais. MPG was better as well, at 33-plus rather than 26-28.
Found Nicky in Newark who can repair the gearbox, but couldn't remove it, so had so persuade my garage to remove the gearbox and hand it over for repair. Investigation showed one bearing had failed, damaging gears 5 and 6, and a synchro ring, possibly from continued driving.
We picked up several comments and stories along the way. 'The Fiat gearbox is prone to failure'. 'It is really designed for Ducato box vans and not for 3.7T motorhomes'. 'Water can get into the gearbox' - this is certainly not the case with ours. 'The gearbox is a stretched version of the 4-speed one, and adding gears 5 and 6 has made it less robust'. 'Gear 6 is high in the gearbox, and unless the gearbox is overfilled with oil, it can be starved'.
The caveat. Nicky ordered the replacement parts, but had difficulty getting gear 5. "it is on back order", then "it is discontinued" !!! This is a gearbox built in 2009, and already spares are discontinued???
Anyway, I think he has now sourced one for our gearbox, but I hope none of you need one in the future ....
makes for interesting holidays.....
Paul.
h
