New member with some news about Comfortmatic gearbox (1 Viewer)

[stanum]

Hello,

I thought I’d post on this forum so that I might save some people the pain I have just been through with my comfortmatic gearbox on my Fiat ducato. My motorhome was made in 2010 and has the 3L engine. The gearbox has been faultless up until last August (14,000 miles from new) when it decided that it wasn’t happy. The automatic clutch would work fine once the vehicle was moving but when pulling off it would just release and either have a bumpy start or just stall. I took it to a garage who relieved me off the £2550 that was making my wallet difficult to fold. They replaced the concentric slave cylinder, clutch and flywheel but were unable to fix the actual problem. I then went to a Fiat dealer to see if they could reprogram the gearbox. They were unable to do this and made the problem worse. They did however give me a few numbers to call where I might be able to get the problem fixed.
I called Motus commercial vehicles in Derby, who were very familiar with the problems I was experiencing. The gearbox needs to be plugged into Examiner diagnostic equipment. The mechanic then explained that the physical control side of the clutch would need to be replaced ie the master cylinder, all pipes and fluids as well as the internals of the clutch that had just been replaced. They won’t touch the job unless they do the whole system otherwise the problem recurs. They did this work within a week and I now have my van back working like new. They charged me £2,740 for the work, which included a significant discount for labour (they felt sorry for me after what I’d already been through).
So I hope this is of some help should anyone find themselves in the same boat.
Happy camping!

 

[ambulancekidd]

 

[AndyPK]

Bl##dy hell!! What a cr#ppy episode.......and rip-off....

Welcome from Ciren......hope your ‘van gives you many more years (without fault)!

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[DP+JAY]

What I dont understand is why you paid the first bill when it wasnt fixed? There's no way they would have got a penny out of me,
DP

 

[Hirsch]

Wow. Hard luck and well done for posting on here to help others. Can't help but agree with DP though.

 

[jonsea]

Hi and

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[pampam]

Had a fiat 3 ltr comfortmatic on an autotrial it konked out brownhills had it for 2 months and couldnt fix it we ended up part x ing for a new apache (paid a lot of vat) didnt like it and part exed again if it wasnt for the gearbox we would have still had the original van but the stress of dealing with the dealers was stroke/heartattack inducing lol ......i cant mention comfortmatic to hubby without him grinding his teeth

 

[Nanniemate]

hope things get better, I got caught out withing weeks of buying my old van. not to the extent of you but I did get the money back.
Things can only get better, have fun in your van as soon as we are aloud

 

[DBK]

Welcome and I can appreciate your "ouch" feeling.

I wonder if the low mileage was a factor? Just 1400 miles a year over ten years. You've got me worried about the low miles ours, with the same engine and gearbox, has done this year. It's 2013 and has done around 50,000 miles - almost run in - but its only done a few hundred this year.

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[f6c]

Welcome aboard

 

[gus-lopez]

 

[davidbaldam]

Hi and welcome to FUN.

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[Figaro]

Sorry to hear about your gearbox woes, just goes to show the importance of going to the correct garage.
Hope those with that GB will make a note of the garage in Derby.
Thanks for sharing

 

[stanum]

Thanks for the welcome guys and gals. Just glad the ordeal is over and I can have some adventures in it next year.

 

[Al-Di]

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[wigster]

 

[Westbarn1]

Sorry to read your tale of woe, and on a selfish note, Im so glad, when I was looking for a motorhome earlier this year, that I decided that I would definitely not have anything with the the comfortmatic.

 

[Scotch mist]

I know how you feel stanum , I also fell foul of the comformattic curse , in France & only 4 weeks old , stuck in 4th gear ,wife flew home while I waited the quoted 15 days till they could look at it , 3 days later & allegedly fixed ( loose wire to speed controller) I drove home , next real outing 1 year later due to CV-19 , broke down in France , same problem stuck in 2nd gear , took 9 days & 5 attempts to get recovered , after 2 weeks we gave up & flew home , it took 8 weeks to fix ,complete new actuation system fitted , I drove it from France straight back to the dealership & started The rejection process as it was clearly not fit for purpose, it cost me £5,500 to reject & get a new MH with the new 9 speed auto

if The MH hadn't Been under warranty I’m sure the bill to fix it would have been way above £5,500

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[Westbarn1]

Love my 9-speed MB Sprinter auto, I'm guessing its actually the same transmission unit in the Fiat.

 

[Scotch mist]

Love my 9-speed MB Sprinter auto, I'm guessing its actually the same transmission unit in the Fiat.

I now have the new fiat ZF 9 speed auto & there’s no comparison to the agriculture comformattic box

 

[Baldeagle7470]

Well to the OP hi and another big .
So sorry to read of your problems and hope you will soon have many miles and smiles with us and your van.

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[HugoBNB]

Welcome! What a sad tale to read. I hope you can now get on and enjoy your motorhome. Safe travels

 

[Vipar]

Greetings peeps welcome from Bexley