Carthago Compactline Breakdown

[Pausim]

As we cruised along the Norfolk roads in automatic mode a warning flashed up that manual gear operation was not available. Initially I thought “I can live with that for a while”. Then my wife said “that might mean we can’t get reverse” and of course she was right. We pulled up in a lay by and discovered that the fly by wire gear selector was no longer talking to the fly by wire Comformatic gearbox. Reverse was not available, we could only go forwards.

I didn’t like the idea of a forward only motorhome so phoned Fiat Camper Assist. To cut a long story short the RAC attended and declared the fault could not be fixed at the road side and arranged for recovery to a Fiat Professional, we chose one near our Sussex home rather than Norfolk. Fiat/RAC/Tears Transport were all very efficient and we were able to drive home in our toad, could have been worse.

I assumed the problem was a Fiat one and was glad we had bought the 5 year extended warranty (new in 2019). Unfortunately it appears the problem was attributable to the Carthago Conversion not Fiat. In converting the dash area part of the wiring harness was left rubbing against part of the brake mechanism, which had chaffed through one of the wires.

I want the motorhome back so I will pay the bill and I am not holding my breath about getting Carthago to pay up. Their warranty has expired. However I will ask nicely through the dealer who imported the motorhome.

I am not aware of other Compactlines having similar problems so it is probably a one off mistake. If you have a Compactline and feel the need to check this out you will need a small contortionist (19th Century child chimney sweep perhaps). The problem seems to be somewhere above the brake pedal. This picture may, or may not, help.

 

[Pausim]

Carthago paid for the repairs. Rather surprised but the speed of their response suggests the problem may be known to them. If it is they ought to consider a recall.

 

[Bolti]

Glad you got it sorted, it nice to hear of a positive outcome.

 

[138go]

Very interesting, glad you got it sorted and paid for. We have the new gearbox, so won’t be affected.

 

[pelican]

looks like the protective sleeve is in the wrong place.

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[Guigsy]

My hab battery is under the driver's seat. I found an adhesive foam patch on the seat base frame that was trying to protect against shorting the positive terminal. But it was so poorly applied that it was doing almost nothing. And it had gone brittle (the van is only 2 years old), so wasn't a great choice of materials either. If the clip on the terminal rotated a few millimetres, it could easily touch.

 

[Pausim]

We have the new gearbox, so won’t be affected.

I expect you are right but there might possibly be similar vulnerable wiring between the gear selector and the gearbox/ecu.

 

[Ditcha]

Very interesting, glad you got it sorted and paid for. We have the new gearbox, so won’t be affected.

Could still be a problem even with the new gearbox as its a wire routing problem so could also be a problem on the 9 speed, good info Pausim nice of you to share