Comfortmatic Fluid Changes (1 Viewer)

[Minnie]

I had the clutch fluid changed and recalibrated at Walton summit Fiat professional garage
Was £243 , our local garage which serviced everything else and has just done the timing bent and water pump , wasn’t confident to re calibrate after the fluid change

 

[dunnah01]

Many people talk about having two pots for the fluids, gearbox and hydraulic I believe, I did have two pot in my previous hymer 2.3 2012 but my present fiat comformatic 3ltr 2011 only has the large one..

I’m booked in at Adam’s moray on the 6th for the fluid change and kiss point, is this the one pot that they change the fluid..?

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There are 3 fluids in the Comfortmatic gearbox system:

Gearbox oil - sealed for life and only needs to be changed every 100k + miles or if work is done on the gearbox or clutch, just the same as the manual gearbox setup.
Comfortmatic hydraulic gear selector fluid - sealed for life but a good precaution to change it every couple of years as it may get mildly contaminated by clutch fluid (see below) - this is the stuff in the rectangular reservoir in the photos. It's actually automatic transmission fluid (ATF)
Clutch activation fluid - this is the stuff that gets changed. Fiat can't decide how often to change it but the general consensus is to change it every 2 years. It can become contaminated with the ATF from the gear selector fluid so best to change it just for peace of mind. This is regular brake fluid but can be either stored in a little round eggcup size reservoir clipped to the side of the rectangular selector fluid reservoir (as in your old van) or it can simply be provided from the brake fluid reservoir via a separete hose (this is where the fluid in your current van is stored).

 

[Joie de vivre]

This discussion is very interesting, having had a lot of trouble ourselves.
Our 150 hp Comfortmatic, purchased new in 2021 had it's first service last June at 11770 miles. By a Fiat dealer obviously.
Then at 14500 miles 4 months later we had a catastrophic failure of the gearbox/clutch.
We were on holiday near Nottingham, 350 miles from home. Storm Babet was a day off striking the country.
No Fiat dealer would take our vehicle to help us out, not even our one at home in Inverness, who wouldn't even store it for us (no room to get recovery vehicle plus motorhome into our own property)
After further research found Oakdene Automatic Transmissions on south side of Nottingham.
Had hoped a recalibration would do the trick but it wasn't to be. The top fluid reservoir was empty!
He tried fixing first fault: replaced the 'bomb' with diaphram as pressure couldn't be achieved - suspected broken diaphram. Once all bled through the vehicle functioned in the first instance then diagnostic checks showed other failures further along the line. End result: needed to have a 3-piece clutch and clutch actuator replaced.

Fiat customer services didn't want to know.
Looking back at servicing bill from June we see that all of this is ticked. See photos of bill.
I now see in the owner's manual it stipulates that the gear oil should be changed every 2yrs!

Conclusion-
Fiat professional garages are ripping people off and not doing what Fiat expect of them! You have to be in the know about this particular issue otherwise you wouldn't know.
The Ombudsman wouldn't help because vehicle was just outside warranty.
The Motorhome company didn't warn us on handover either.
Oakdene really know their stuff though! Explained everything with Fiat's exploded diagrams and sourced identical parts from Luk and Magnet & Marelli without going through Fiat (they wouldn't give him a lead time without placing an order and then wouldn't let him cancel the order if he didn't like it!) and without their markup. Consequently our bill was a lot lower than quoted elsewhere on huere. Would definitely use them again if required!

 

[richengland]

I got mine done at Adam’s morey Portsmouth. Pricey but too high a risk not to get it right I’d say.

 

[CazPaul]

This discussion is very interesting, having had a lot of trouble ourselves.
Our 150 hp Comfortmatic, purchased new in 2021 had it's first service last June at 11770 miles. By a Fiat dealer obviously.
Then at 14500 miles 4 months later we had a catastrophic failure of the gearbox/clutch.
We were on holiday near Nottingham, 350 miles from home. Storm Babet was a day off striking the country.
No Fiat dealer would take our vehicle to help us out, not even our one at home in Inverness, who wouldn't even store it for us (no room to get recovery vehicle plus motorhome into our own property)
After further research found Oakdene Automatic Transmissions on south side of Nottingham.
Had hoped a recalibration would do the trick but it wasn't to be. The top fluid reservoir was empty!
He tried fixing first fault: replaced the 'bomb' with diaphram as pressure couldn't be achieved - suspected broken diaphram. Once all bled through the vehicle functioned in the first instance then diagnostic checks showed other failures further along the line. End result: needed to have a 3-piece clutch and clutch actuator replaced.

Fiat customer services didn't want to know.
Looking back at servicing bill from June we see that all of this is ticked. See photos of bill.
I now see in the owner's manual it stipulates that the gear oil should be changed every 2yrs!

Conclusion-
Fiat professional garages are ripping people off and not doing what Fiat expect of them! You have to be in the know about this particular issue otherwise you wouldn't know.
The Ombudsman wouldn't help because vehicle was just outside warranty.
The Motorhome company didn't warn us on handover either.
Oakdene really know their stuff though! Explained everything with Fiat's exploded diagrams and sourced identical parts from Luk and Magnet & Marelli without going through Fiat (they wouldn't give him a lead time without placing an order and then wouldn't let him cancel the order if he didn't like it!) and without their markup. Consequently our bill was a lot lower than quoted elsewhere on huere. Would definitely use them again if required!



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That seems a very fair, in fact cheap price.

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[Mleabon]

I had the clutch fluid changed and recalibrated at Walton summit Fiat professional garage
Was £243 , our local garage which serviced everything else and has just done the timing bent and water pump , wasn’t confident to re calibrate after the fluid change

My usual mechanic won't touch the comfortmatic.....

 

[S.Whitehead]

Is it the 130, 150 or 180 hp variant?

180 hp

 

[S.Whitehead]

Is it the 130, 150 or 180 hp variant?

180 hp

 

[Smithster]

Is it the 130, 150 or 180 hp variant?

It was a 130 remapped to 180.
They took out the gearbox and said there was a very small leak on the slave cylinder that had got on the clutch. A new slave cylinder and new clutch was fitted. I went over on the train and picked it up. After a few miles driving home it started doing the same thing, losing drive but still ticking over, in to neutral back into drive and off it would go.
Back to Adams Morey who put it on their computer and said it was coming up with a two footed code. I have always driven automatics two footed after racing them in the old days. Never had a problem before! The Hymer got confused and was going into limp mode! The morel of this story is you have to drive one footed only. A costly lesson.

 

[Abacist]

Back to Adams Morey who put it on their computer and said it was coming up with a two footed code. I have always driven automatics two footed after racing them in the old days. Never had a problem before! The Hymer got confused and was going into limp mode! The morel of this story is you have to drive one footed only. A costly lesson.

Interesting comment about driving automatics two footed - never ever heard of that before! Always taught to drive RHD auto with right foot only and to tuck the left foot well out of the way.

As I said on another thread the Fiat Comformatic clutch and gearbox don't like to be held on an incline or hill at the bite point as the clutch quickly overheats. You need to stop, take gearbox out of drive and use footbrake or handbrake until the road is clear to engage gearbox with drive and set off again. Trying to balance the clutch and accelerator like a hill start in a manual car is a big NO NO for the conformatic.

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[Colin McCourt]

Another recommended mobile engineer who knows what he is doing. https://www.facebook.com/LoganVehicleServices

 

[gus-lopez]

I have always driven automatics two footed after racing them in the old days. Never had a problem before!

That is the problem though,it is not an automatic ,it is a robotic manual & if the eml was working correctly as soon as you touch brake at the same time as throttle it should go in to luimp mode.Even full automatics do.

Always taught to drive RHD auto with right foot only and to tuck the left foot well out of the way.

everyone used to drive full autos 2 footed. But with modern ones , & by that I mean even from early 2000's,you had to remember that you could not brake with the left foot whilst the right foot was touching the throttle.
The use of cruise control as well led to the double switch (normally open/normally closed) brake light switch that also dropped out cruise as well as turning on brake lights,leading to eml limp mode if foot was on throttle.

 

[lorger]

Another recommended mobile engineer who knows what he is doing. https://www.facebook.com/LoganVehicleServices

Thanks for that as he’s not to far from me, can you tell us what you had done?

 

[Lenny HB]

I was always a two footed auto driver but you can't do it on any vehicle these days. Even my manual car if after going through some water and want to dry the brakes out if you brake with your foot on the throttle the engine goes to tickover or cuts out.
So many functions appear to be controlled by the brake light switch APIA.

 

[Colin McCourt]

Thanks for that as he’s not to far from me, can you tell us what you had done?

I didn’t but a FB friend of mine on an Adria site said he had had his Comfortmatic box serviced by him. He is an ex-Fiat tech who knows his way around it. I trust the person’s recommendation.

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[lorger]

I didn’t but a FB friend of mine on an Adria site said he had had his Comfortmatic box serviced by him. He is an ex-Fiat tech who knows his way around it. I trust the person’s recommendation.

Thanks, I’ll send him a message and see what he says as van will be 4 years old this year.

 

[stevewagner]

I’ve never driven any automatics with two feet. Difficult to keep a smooth ride with two,feet.

 

[Colin McCourt]

I’ve never driven any automatics with two feet. Difficult to keep a smooth ride with two,feet.

Agreed but all rally drivers perform left foot breaking so it’s probably a matter of practice. Wouldn’t do it myself personally as the comfortmatic doesn’t like both pedals being pressed at the same time.

 

[stevewagner]

Agreed but all rally drivers perform left foot breaking so it’s probably a matter of practice. Wouldn’t do it myself personally as the comfortmatic doesn’t like both pedals being pressed at the same time.

Yes I used to do toe and heeling with my Lotus Cortina but with an automatic you want it smooth.

 

[Scout]

just to add I took my (almost ) 6 year old van to Adams Morey Portsmouth a few weeks back, they are very very efficient, parking is super tight but we manged ok with a 8.5 mt tag axle .

I asked about the fluid drained off and was told my the fitter, it was clean with no black bits, Ive only done a few hundred miles since and had no problems, but not really noticed any difference driving, perhaps it will show up more on more tricky roads.

The cost was as quotes £147 and a few pence

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