Fiat Comfort Matic Specialist wanted

[Monty don]

As my post says Im looking for a Comfortmatic gearbox specialist that deals with these issues all day everyday

Prepaid to travel for the right guy although Im based Milton Keynes

Must be an independent that knows his stuff

Not interested in Fiat Professional set up

Who do you know that's good

Cheers
GB

 

[Pausim]

Not sure there is such a thing as an independent Comfortmatic specialist but it would be interesting to hear if there are some. Having found a Fiat Professional that does understand Comfortmatics I will stick with Adams Morey, Portsmouth.

 

[Monty don]

Got to be Fiat independent that services vans and mh that knows his stuff on the comfortmatic box

 

[billym]

As my post says Im looking for a Comfortmatic gearbox specialist that deals with these issues all day everyday

Prepaid to travel for the right guy although Im based Milton Keynes

Must be an independent that knows his stuff

Not interested in Fiat Professional set up

Who do you know that's good

Cheers
GB

I'm sorry I can't help but can I ask why it has to be an independent garage.

I don't even know what Comfotmatic is but on another thread, only Fiat Professional will do and not some ( alleged by others) back street garage.

What am I not understanding? Whatever, if I can ever afford a motorhome with one I probably won't bother.

 

[Monty don]

I wouldn't let a so called fiat professional garage touch my mh.
Kids withs computers just part fitters not mechanics
They will just empty your wallet

What you need is a good independent that knows these comfortmatic gearboxes

Why would I pay for someone to look at my mh that knows less than me
GB

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[Riverbankannie]

In Kannon Fodda ’s thread about Comformatics, Nick wright wrote

I spoke to company called planet gears in Peterborough as I have had two failure’s in two years I just turned the engine off 20 minutes and was ok. Planet gears told me that most of the time it’s something stupid like a break switch. I’ve seen two horror stories on here that have been done by fiat, they want to put a new clutch in and they don’t have the gear to reprogram it. Planet gears seems to know a hell of a lot more than fiat.

Personally, I am booked in to Adams Moreley Portsmouth.

 

[Lenny HB]

Most Fiat Professional dealers don't even understand Comformatic, no chance with an in dependant they don't even know how to change the clutch fluid neither do a lot of Fiat Professionals.

Only one place to go and they are a Fiat Professional, Adams Morey at Portsmouth, the service manager runs a Comformatic himself.

 

[CazPaul]

Most Fiat Professional dealers don't even understand Comformatic, no chance with an in dependant they don't even know how to change the clutch fluid neither do a lot of Fiat Professionals.

Only one place to go and they are a Fiat Professional, Adams Morey at Portsmouth, the service manager runs a Comformatic himself.

What a ridiculous scenario, how can you just have one place to go, that’s just not right.
Why would you have a system that good, trained independent mechanics don’t understand and there’s only one place that can work on them, what about people in the far north of the UK etc
It can be that complicated a system surely?

 

[jezport]

What a ridiculous scenario, how can you just have one place to go, that’s just not right.
Why would you have a system that good, trained independent mechanics don’t understand and there’s only one place that can work on them, what about people in the far north of the UK etc
It can be that complicated a system surely?

And that's one of the reasons I eould never buy a comfortmatic, that plus all the horror stories.

 

[Lenny HB]

And that's one of the reasons I eould never buy a comfortmatic, that plus all the horror stories.

You only hear about the ones with problems people don't say anything when they are working. We have had two over the last 9 years no problems.

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[L' Hobo]

You only hear about the ones with problems people don't say anything when they are working. We have had two over the last 9 years no problems.

I still wouldn't buy one as there seems only one professional garage in the whole country that knows how to fix them with confidence?

 

[denisejoe]

I know some one who had a brand new Burstner van with conformatic gearbox drove a couple of miles down the road gearbox packed up the supplier who had fiat fitters couldn’t solve the problem so Fiat sent a specialist over who tried every thing eventually Burstner supplied a new mh and sent the old one back to Fiat.
the above suggestions about a garage are recommended on here quite a lot

 

[dunnah01]

Pedant alert but the Comfortmatic is not a gearbox it is only a gear selection and clutch activation system, The gearbox & clutch bell-housing bits are the same as the manual vans.

 

[L' Hobo]

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Pedant alert but the Comfortmatic is not a gearbox it is only a gear selection and clutch activation system, The gearbox & clutch bell-housing bits are the same as the manual vans.

and that has had its own problems!

 

[Fragle]

You only hear about the ones with problems people don't say anything when they are working. We have had two over the last 9 years no problems.

Exactly. You only hear about the things that go wrong.
We have done 20,000 miles in our van 2x 90 days trips to the Pyrenees and the Picos de Europa. Up and down no problem and if it wasn’t for the issues on here I wouldn’t know about and would highly recommend it.

I don’t push it. Driving steady allows the comformatic to do its thing. They are not the fastest at changing gear. Maybe it’s a driving style thing. Who knows. Slow and steady works great for me.

Also there is another thread just started about a broken down MAN based motorhome who also knows someone else with a problem with a MAN. So are they going to be any more reliable.

I’m not happy with the thought of having to go to Adams and Morley every year for fluid change. Went last week 300 miles round trip and great experience but I don’t understand the need for it having spent 15 years building and testing gearboxes.
Until I find a good independent it is what it is

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[Littlewheels]

It’s not the Fiat Professional's necessarily it’s all Marques, you are stuck with all the analysis of modern engines managed by the computerisation within.
l just had a conversation with a Mercedes Technician and he stated if l had realised when going through my Apprenticeship that l would be stuck on one of these all day l would have chosen a different career path. Stuck on one of these being the OBD Computer. I think that sums it up they cannot not now analysis and mechanic without the OBD.
Incidentally even if a Comformatic independent so called expert was found it is highly unlikely he would have access to the correct Software as the cost is so prohibitive.

 

[Pausim]

I still wouldn't buy one as there seems only one professional garage in the whole country that knows how to fix them with confidence?

I think the most likely explanation for there being only a few garages that have become expert on Comfortmatic problems is because not many go wrong. If there were thousands of broken down Comfortmatics all round the country there would be many more garages that knew how to fix them. It has already been said

You only hear about the ones with problems people don't say anything when they are working.

I have supported independent garages for many years but modern engines are run and managed by computers. There are some problems that need a computer fix as well as a mechanic, the resetting of a Comfortmatic being such a case.

 

[Landy Andy]

And that's one of the reasons I eould never buy a comfortmatic, that plus all the horror stories.

Agreed. Too many problems and no one knows how to fix them. Even when they do they just fire all new parts at them. They are a ticking time bomb.

 

[Littlewheels]

I don’t push it. Driving steady allows the comformatic to do its thing. They are not the fastest at changing gear. Maybe it’s a driving style thing. Who knows. Slow and steady works great for me.

Exactly, l have lost count of the number of times this has been pointed out to folk in Threads on here, too many are not allowing the mechanicals of the system time to do its work.

 

[Landy Andy]

Got to be Fiat independent that services vans and mh that knows his stuff on the comfortmatic box

You could give these a call. They know fiats well, not sure on the box though. Very nice to deal with via the phone

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[chaser]

Pedant alert but the Comfortmatic is not a gearbox it is only a gear selection and clutch activation system, The gearbox & clutch bell-housing bits are the same as the manual vans.

So in theory then, can you stick it in ,say third gear by hand and get yourself to a garage.

 

[Aspenshaw]

I'm keeping my fingers that South Liverpool Commercial (who are Fiat Professional, run Iveco repairs for vans and lorries, service/repaors all makes of commercial vehicles, and service/repairs motorhomes) know what they are doing. They put in a new sender to fix my air bag problem 8 months ago and it still works! They have sorted my second gear manual/Comformatic problem a couple of months ago and that still works. They also do MOTs and give the Fiat warranty for repairs.

Chris Hughs is the General Manager. Good guy.

 

[mikebeaches]

You could give these a call. They know fiats well, not sure on the box though. Very nice to deal with via the phone

Who? Call who?

 

[Lenny HB]

So in theory then, can you stick it in ,say third gear by hand and get yourself to a garage.

No, the gear leaver is fly by wire, gear change is controlled by electronics & hydraulics.

 

[jockaneezer]

Who? Call who?

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[Nyvern]

No, the gear leaver is fly by wire, gear change is controlled by electronics & hydraulics.

I vaguely remember that you had a bad experience with Adams Morley and mentioned something here in 2019 about them or was I dreaming?

 

[Landy Andy]

Who? Call who?

Ooopps pic didn’t show.

 

[Mickey1]

Ooopps pic didn’t show.
View attachment 809762

I used these for a new cam belt, very reasonable priced and very nice people.

 

[Lenny HB]

I vaguely remember that you had a bad experience with Adams Morley and mentioned something here in 2019 about them or was I dreaming?

I did that was to do with traction control.
The main problem was the idiot they had on reception, Simon the service manager asked me to give them a second chance so I did. They got rid of that guy apparently he caused problems with quite a few customers.
Since then the service has been excellent and Simon knows his stuff. When I had airbag problems last year I phoned Simon on Thursday afternoon and 8 o'clock Friday they were changing my Airbag ECU.

 

[Kannon Fodda]

I can sympathise with those fearing that problems with the Comfortmatic means they will be ripped off by any garage who employs the apparent modern technique of "lets try changing this" to fix problems. Unfortunately these days, many "mechanics" are in fact merely fitters reliant on their diagnostics software, and don't have the ability to understand and actually look at components to understand if it has failed. There are how ever plenty of good ones out there, the challenge is to find them.

When my Comfortmatic failed earlier this year, I was in a whole world of pain. Indeed there were many doom sayers who suggested I would be in the boat above of parts unnecessarily changed at apparent random.

I'm happy I was pointed in the direction of Adams Morey, Portsmouth. They were busy so it was a fortnight before they could start looking at it properly. It took another 10 days or so to get fixed as they did go through an apparent thorough process of initial diagnostics, opening up, checking parts and fitting replacements. I particularly noted that the parts they checked and replaced differed from the initial diagnostic expectations and even from what they found when they first opened it up, as the estimates changed through the process. No changing of stuff in hope, and very much changing only that which was needed. Yes it was expensive, as the clutch operating seals had failed along with the clutch plate (but not the flywheel), and some of the Fiat parts are extortionate cost, along with main dealer labour charges (albeit Simon Potter was able to lose a bit of that).

The Ducato is a bit of an odd beast being in the Fiat Professional range. Fiat Professional is an uncomfortable no mans land, too big for the car dealerships, yet most of the (limited number) Fiat Professional garages are part of the DAF truck dealerships and thus too small for those truckers (who probably also don't want to deal with private individuals rather than fleet business owners). Adams Morey are one of the very few truck setups who have specific van and motorhome workshop setups (at some, but not all) of their garages. That makes a difference. I also know that they have the direct support of Fiat themselves, which with systems like Comfortmatic can assist in their getting to the root of weirder issues, rather than being reliant on word of mouth internet diagnostics that the independent and less scrupulous may need to rely on.

There must be specialist, independent, gearbox / clutch centres who would also deal with the Comfortmatic. But a key issue is they will have to rely on third party software that mimics some of the Fiat diagnostics and workshop routines needed to repair and calibrate the systems.