Whatever happened to the great 'Juddering Fiat clutch' saga?

[Twincam Escort]

Ive been out of the motorhome circles for the last 10 years.
My last motorhome was a Ford Transit base.
However its just occurred to me that there was a right ding dong going on at the time with a high proportion of Fiat Ducato based motorhomes with juddering clutches and failures under warranty that Fiat were trying to wriggle out of.
I remember seeing pictures of burnt out clutches and flywheels and the owners being accused of having a less than competent driving technique.
I think they were around 2008-2010 vintage? And affected the 2.2 the most?
I notice a lot are still in circulation now, so assume there was an improved clutch that almost all effected have had fitted?

 

[prb]

We have a 2009 Ducati based MH. Used to get juddering in reverse up a slope, particularly with a race car on a trailer. I believe an updated engine or gearbox mount improved it. Now a retired racing driver so never took it forward. Don't seem to have much of an issue now as long as I am light footed.

 

[Lenny HB]

It only happened on some motorhomes not all were affected. Most had the gearbox mod done that lowered the reverse gear.
I had a 2008 Hymer It never had any problems although I told Fiat it did to get the mod done.

 

[Dorwyn]

I would think if you try very hard, you could wipe out any clutch, mine can sound a little distressed given a heavy foot!

 

[PeteH]

Ahh "judergate" allegedly because the fiat gearbox used the (higher) first gear set as reverse? . I experienced that too on a 2007 2.3. The gearbox of which was rebuilt twice (and under warranty ) 3 cheers for Fullers they put their hands up both times.

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[Mikeco]

The van we had in 2008 had it done, lower reverse gear and new engine mounts.

 

[Twincam Escort]

Seems like they got to the bottom of the problem then.
There is a noticeable absence of posts about it compared to before, where it was every other post.
Uprated clutches, driving technique and total denial by Fiat where the favorites.

 

[haganap]

I had a 2007 effected "scandal Juddergate".

The industry was up in arms, people refusing to buy Fiats etc etc.

Mine juddered like Boris at a press conference.

we got over it by generally driving forwards, avoiding reversing uphills and had the van on the same clutch 5 years and 40k later. Only sold it because it was a Besaccar and they forgot to seal the floor and that rotted before the engine went.

 

[WillH]

Mine was done at 5k miles, no hesitation from Fiat once I made my concerns known. Dealer and Swift tried to palm me off. Had the gearbox rebuilt with a lower ratio reverse gear, new mounts and clutch rebuilt. Got 70k on the clock now with no further problems.

 

[ambulancekidd]

Sounds kinda typical of our normal choice of base vehicle for motorhomes.

Hope FIAT pull their socks up.

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[Baden87]

And the other problem was water going into gearbox and knackering synchros, had mine fixed , cost me £1000 but it fixed the problem completely

 

[PeteH]

The popular Acronym?. Fix It Again Tomorrow!.