Don’t Breakdown in the Outer Hebrides

[Two on Tour]

Are you on Skye or elsewhere?

I post #1 of this thread the OP said that they were in a lay-by near the Eriskay Ferry.

 

[Sugarnan]

lay-by near the Eriskay Ferry.

Doh!, must read posts slowly ! ;(

 

[Jo662]

Currently in a lay-by near the Eriskay Ferry as the Fiat automatic gearbox has decided there are no gears available.

When our comformatic came up with `no gears available ` in turned out to be the clutch!

 

[zedman]

So we are now at a Campsite for a few days to sort out things. AA Managed to get two tow trucks to arrive at the same time and argue over whose job it was but neither wanted to fix the problem which we think is a leaking slave cylinder.

Managed to shame AA via Social Media to take some action and they miraculously have managed to find an earlier slot on a ferry now for August 4th.

Plan to hopefully leave the van here on the campsite and travel as foot passengers to Skye where we have family and then fly back down south whilst the van is recovered to SMC for fixing.

Result ......now the bad news....£2-£4K to fix it

 

[Manic]

van is recovered to SMC for fixing.

Is a warranty thing why it’s going to SMC for fixing, couldn’t it be done by any garage without having it taken all that way.

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[orridge]

Is a warranty thing why it’s going to SMC for fixing, couldn’t it be done by any garage without having it taken all that way.

Yes Warranty as we have only had it a couple of months (used) from SMC.

 

[domf]

Me neither tbh but there are a few on various forums that have found it works

I am not an expert but several things come to mind. One example is that although the power is coming from the Alternator it may not react quickly enough to the sudden increase required for the manual gear change operation, if this were the case then you would get a voltage drop which could play havoc with the computer controlling the gearbox.

I've not seen this myself on comfortmatic (I also have one) but have seen similar "strangeness" on other vehicles which turned out to be a bad battery to not dismiss it out of hand.

 

[IRHP]

I am not an expert but several things come to mind. One example is that although the power is coming from the Alternator it may not react quickly enough to the sudden increase required for the manual gear change operation, if this were the case then you would get a voltage drop which could play havoc with the computer controlling the gearbox.

I've not seen this myself on comfortmatic (I also have one) but have seen similar "strangeness" on other vehicles which turned out to be a bad battery to not dismiss it out of hand.

Yes but 95ah and 110ah is a measure of capacity not voltage or amps available.

 

[landscaper]

These guys towed us off from Skye and were excellent. Lovely people. 7.9 metre Bessacarr. We got them through Safeguard - Ewan McCrea West End Garage, Dunvegan Road, Portree. Dont know whether this is any help or perhaps now you are sorted. Good luck.

 

[jongood]

Life is so much simpler with a manual vehicle.

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[pampam]

Our fiat comfortmatic (autotrail cheyanne) broke at traffic lights when we were going on holiday, the stress was unbelievable with different recovery firms , one recovered us home to a street nearby, whilst we unloaded, then wouldnt take to a garage or dealers (it was sunday morning nowhere open) then second wouldnt recover to dealers cos we were to close to home! So we paid recovery truck privately to go to brownhills ,where it flumoxed everyone they couldnt repair it it was sat in service bay for weeks ,we ended upbuying another motorhome (new) months later i got a salesman from brownhills phoning to ask why id part exed the cheyanne,the customers were in front of him and wanted to know, he soon put the phone down when i told him how long winded and useless his service bay team were in repairing the gearbox , talk about lack of communication from front of house reception , and service bay, it went on for months , i caved and bought a new apache, which was inferior to the cheyanne, which then got part exed for an arapaho what we loved (but hubby was put off automatics and now always wants manual good luck with your gearbox best regards pampam

 

[zedman]

same here.......ive nothing against a full automatic but I'll never have a comformatic gearbox again

 

[Puddleduck]

The AA also use local garages. In our area, the same garage serves AA and Greenflag.

The "local" garage the AA used here was the far side of Edinburgh, more than 50 miles away. The Greenflag garage is less than a mile from home and owned by a good friend who does all our vehicle servicing anyway

 

[orridge]

These guys towed us off from Skye and were excellent. Lovely people. 7.9 metre Bessacarr. We got them through Safeguard - Ewan McCrea West End Garage, Dunvegan Road, Portree. Dont know whether this is any help or perhaps now you are sorted. Good luck.

Thanks we are sorted for the moment thanks but currently on Eriskay, wish we were still on Skye would make life a lot easier.

 

[drpeej]

Our alternator packed up at the Butt of Lewis (as far from home as we could have been without going to the Shetlands).

RAC were less than helpful and as it was still driveable they suggested I took it to a garage in Stornoway. After taking it to several garages that were too busy I found one that tested it and confirmed the dead alternator. However he couldn't get a replacement for several days so we took a risk and headed south.

My thinking was that if we could just get back to the mainland I could then get recovery or a repair if we got stuck.

Amazingly, we managed to get all the way home to the midlands.

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[Reevsie]

Had a similar problem with my Kontiki. Was told by a Fiat professional dealer the loom is a bit short behind the bulkhead and to wiggle the wire that runs under the wipers. Amazingly, it fixed the problem. Pulled on the wire and the problem re-occurs. Happened 3 times in 3 years and each time the gearbox was okay after wiggling the wires.

I know a friend who had a new gearbox fitted under warranty. Cured the problem for 3 weeks then it re-occured. He wiggled the wires and it was working fine.

Hope all gets sorted for you.

 

[gus-lopez]

Amazingly, we managed to get all the way home to the midlands.

If you have solar panels along with either a split charger or battery master charging the van battery the lack of alternator isn't usually a problem during the day.

 

[drpeej]

If you have solar panels along with either a split charger or battery master charging the van battery the lack of alternator isn't usually a problem during the day.

We have both. We also charged with EHU wherever possible

 

[orridge]

I post #1 of this thread the OP said that they were in a lay-by near the Eriskay Ferry.

Just above the ferry must have seen it load/in-load at least 7 sevens during the 36 hours we were at the lay-by for. Toilets, Shower & Chemical point should anybody be travelling between Eriskay & Barra…

 

[domf]

Yes but 95ah and 110ah is a measure of capacity not voltage or amps available.

Agreed. I don't get that either though a lower CCA could arguably have an impact

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[PaulC70]

Just above the ferry must have seen it load/in-load at least 7 sevens during the 36 hours we were at the lay-by for. Toilets, Shower & Chemical point should anybody be travelling between Eriskay & Barra…

Was there last month and did a wee review

 

[Nick wright]

So looks like our 3 week trip around Scotland and the Outer Hebrides is coming to an end after 10 glorious days of sunshine on Skye and the Islands.

Currently in a lay-by near the Eriskay Ferry as the Fiat automatic gearbox has decided there are no gears available.

AA trying to assist but using a garage on the mainland so the first recovery vehicle could not fit our Laika on it so towed is a few metres off the road to a lay-by but now need something bigger which might have to come from Mallaig but the ferry’s are full for days on end to recover us back to a Fiat dealer somewhere in the UK

lovely view from the layby though but not going anywhere anytime soon.

fridge is full and toilet is empty so could be worse…

I was in Scotland two weeks ago with a Laika 5010 had the same problem twice in two days with a 2018 6 speed automatic I put it in neutral left 5 minutes and it reset it self and it has never happened again

 

[nicholsong]

I had a non-starter incident in the middle of a remote Greek island recently.

Fortunately it is one where I have been going for 43 years and have 'good credit' socially, a couple of phone calls and 15 minutes later George called me back to say Nikos will be with you in 10 minutes, which he was.

Starter battery had given up - after only 12 years in my possession and ?? before that! - but I had been advised by my commercial garage here about 5 years ago to hang on to it as they were built better then,, as it proved to be true.
Nikos whipped it out, stuck it on his scooter and was back in an hour(but he had made 4x 15 mins. trips) - sorted €150, plus a good drink.

It pays to break down where you know people. Happened to me on the same island with my boat's alternator. Local advice -'Go up to bus garage for the cruise ship passengers buses. Walked in, guy stopped work, bench tested it - regulator failed. How long to get a spare? - climbs into his loft, fits spare regulator(Bosch, so common on German vehicle alternators) bench tests it under load. I was out of there in 25 mins.

How lucky am I?

There are lots of other reasons to love that island and fortunately we will be back there in a few weeks to continue our tirp in the MH which is parked in the boatyard.

Geoff

 

[orridge]

Update Day 4:

Couple of nights on the campsite at Kilbride which I can highly recommend should you pass through South Uist, DJ the Owner is fantastic and nothing is too much trouble for him.

Did find in the torrential rain the waterproof glands for the solar panel are no longer waterproof so had water running down inside, they have washers in them that probably disintegrate over time so revealed them. Worth a check every now and then I guess.

Cleaned the van, ate a lot of food, gave some away to campers and some frozen stuff going with us to Skye.

First of two taxis coming at 12pm to take us to Lochmaddy followed by the ferry to Skye and another taxi to Broadford.

The van will sit here for another week before the truck from the mainland arrives to take it back via a few different ferry crossings so expect it back down South by next weekend.

The plan is to stay in Skye for a few more days to salvage some of the trip then a train to Inverness and the Sleeper back down to London on Tuesday.

Thanks for the support and ideas on what could be the problem, have tried them all several times and no joy so will have to leave it to the experts instead.

 

[orridge]

Forgot to add checked with Comfort about Insurance cover leaving it here onsite whilst we left and that was ok after a few calls and a referral to the Underwriters.

I wonder what would have happened if our insurance did not cover leaving it unattended for a week on a site and the keys with the site owner would AA’s insurance have covered it.

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[orridge]

Is there a sadder sight than this.

Just arrived home in darkest East Sussex after four taxis, One ferry and three trains.

Motorhome enroute to SMC.

Wonder if anybody will spot it through the Highlands, the Lowlands, Northern England and down back into the Midlands.

 

[Sapper520]

Is there a sadder sight than this.

Just arrived home in darkest East Sussex after four taxis, One ferry and three trains.

Motorhome enroute to SMC.

Wonder if anybody will spot it through the Highlands, the Lowlands, Northern England and down back into the Midlands.
View attachment 523424

Ours was on a flatbed some weeks ago….luckily ours was fixed in a day.

 

[Grianan]

Glad you got it fixed. All car problems in Torridon go to Lochcarron and that’s mainland - I’ll check next week with permanent residents if they have AA etc, I’m guessing not unless they travel down south.

 

[Two of usI]

Is there a sadder sight than this.

Just arrived home in darkest East Sussex after four taxis, One ferry and three trains.

Motorhome enroute to SMC.

Wonder if anybody will spot it through the Highlands, the Lowlands, Northern England and down back into the Midlands.
View attachment 523424

Have you now had your van back and what was the fault ??? We are now in the same situation..... although at home, were just setting out for a weeks holiday..... had the AA out, they can't fix, so has to be recovered to the agent who can't look for 10 days, then £100 to put on the fault finding computer so we can get an assesement...... van is not 3yr old so assumed it would be warranty...... no chance..... M/ homes only have a 2yr warranty so we have been told !!!! fuming !!!!!

 

[orridge]

Have you now had your van back and what was the fault ??? We are now in the same situation..... although at home, were just setting out for a weeks holiday..... had the AA out, they can't fix, so has to be recovered to the agent who can't look for 10 days, then £100 to put on the fault finding computer so we can get an assesement...... van is not 3yr old so assumed it would be warranty...... no chance..... M/ homes only have a 2yr warranty so we have been told !!!! fuming !!!!!

Sorry to hear your troubles.

Nope still at the dealers since August 10th. They did some troubleshooting along with Fiat but nothing conclusive although an error with the brake stop light was detected and that sensor replaced. Suspect faulty clutch so that is being replaced and hopeful to be back on the road this week.

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