Joined the Comfortmatic failure club

[Clive Beeza]

Had an 8 speed ZF in the Jaaaag which was lovely, so looking forward to the experience when we get around to moving on from our beloved Le Voyageur

you'll never be happy with anything else after the le-Voyageur

 

[Clive Beeza]

I have a comformatic new to this only done a couple of thousand miles, have always left foot braked when driving proper automatics, soon found this is very intolerant if you touch the brake before your foot leaves the accelerator, straight into limp mode, a little disconcerting! Now I am aware of this I am more careful

not the way to drive an auto
park your left foot firmly on the floor not the brake pedal

 

[Alesupper]

Our 3.0l Comfortmatic went berserk at about 25k, worked around it by a combination of restarting, resetting parameters with MES and using manual mode for about 20 more limp modes for the next 5k. Finally refused everything in southern Spain at around 30k. Luckily I limped to a motorwaty aire so could try all sort in MES. Managed to get 1st gear but wouldn't go into 2nd no matter what I did until I did the arnagedon ''clutch self-calibratuon enable' routine and voila, all gears and no limp modes or messages. I've done about 12k since then and no problems whatsoever. I've go the confidence back and no longer worry about the dreaded 'gear unavailable' message.

Out of interest, which version of MES do you use? Registered or Multiplexed?

 

[gus-lopez]

not the way to drive an auto
park your left foot firmly on the floor not the brake pedal

Why not?
They way I have always driven a proper torque converter auto:

 

[AG 2602]

I’m a member of the Pilote owners club on Facebook where there is currently a discussion around conformatic servicing. It seems that Adams Morey are sending any customers with issues re comformatics are being directed to their Southampton branch and that they are only recommending changing the fluids if you have problems!
Don’t shoot the messenger as I haven’t verified this with AM (as mines not due until next March) but just wondered if anyone on here had spoken to AM recently.

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[Mleabon]

I had my comfortmatic serviced at Adams Morey and it was reported that there was some black sludge indicating deteriorating seals. Is it an easy or hard job to replace the seals and does it cost much? Thanks.

Adams Morey have provided the answer to my question. They don't replace the seals only the complete master and slave cylinders. They have to take the gearbox out so normally replace the clutch at the same time and possibly the flywheel but only if necessary. Worst case price is approx £4200 including VAT. AM advise just keeping an eye on it at the moment if there are no issues. It's due a Comfortmatic service next year.

 

[Ducatian]

I’m a member of the Pilote owners club on Facebook where there is currently a discussion around conformatic servicing. It seems that Adams Morey are sending any customers with issues re comformatics are being directed to their Southampton branch and that they are only recommending changing the fluids if you have problems!
Don’t shoot the messenger as I haven’t verified this with AM (as mines not due until next March) but just wondered if anyone on here had spoken to AM recently.

Is this a recent discussion? I was at AM Southampton last month for our habitation check and then moved on to Portsmouth for the MOT and Comfortmatic Fluid Replacement. However, at the time, Southampton were touting a forthcoming move to additional new premises in Southampton, setup just to look after Motorhomes . . . .

 

[AG 2602]

Is this a recent discussion? I was at AM Southampton last month for our habitation check and then moved on to Portsmouth for the MOT and Comfortmatic Fluid Replacement. However, at the time, Southampton were touting a forthcoming move to additional new premises in Southampton, setup just to look after Motorhomes . . . .

Yes it is and that would make sense thanks

 

[dunnah01]

Out of interest, which version of MES do you use? Registered or Multiplexed?

I have a registered version from around 2015. It's been on a few laptops now but just needs a quick email to Gendan to transfer licence.

 

[DuxDeluxe]

you'll never be happy with anything else after the le-Voyageur

This is so true….

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[Janeanne1965]

The new Fiat auto is a 9 speed ZF box; proper auto and an absolute dream to drive according to those who have one.

Next van will almost certainly have this option

It's a dream to drive if it works! We have a Fiat Rapido 8096df new last August. It has the new Fiat gearbox not the Ducato. This May, and with only 1500 miles on the clock, the drive shaft failed. Game over. We had literally just arrived on Corsica. 17 days later a replacement drive shaft arrived at the Fiat garage. Lovely you might think. Well, having googled whether a broken drive shaft can do damage to the gear box ( it most definitely can ) upon our return I took it back to the dealer and asked them to check the gear box for signs of damage. They did this and reported that we need a new gearbox and a new drive shaft as the new one which was fitted has broken splines at the point where it interacts with the gear box.
So, it seems it was the gearbox which is faulty and which has damaged not one but two drive shafts fitted to the front passenger side. All work done is confirmed as under warranty. However, our Italian island hopping trip this summer was ruined!! It'll take a few thousand miles of motor homing before we get our confidence back in our motorhome.

 

[BaileySteve]

Is this a recent discussion? I was at AM Southampton last month for our habitation check and then moved on to Portsmouth for the MOT and Comfortmatic Fluid Replacement. However, at the time, Southampton were touting a forthcoming move to additional new premises in Southampton, setup just to look after Motorhomes . . . .

Yes, the Fiat Professional van and DAF Truck workshops are being split at Redbridge.

New van workshop is at Adanac Park about a mile away the other side of the motorway from the Parts Hub in Nursling.
, and we are taking on the additional Stellantis franchises of Citroen, Peugeot and Vauxhall (aftersales only) to compliment the existing Fiat sales and service operation. This isn’t motorhome specific, but will give us more capacity in both sites.

Due date to go live is next week at Adanac Park.

 

[rambo]

40 pages latter and there is moor bad than good said about these autos.

 

[PlacidoD]

40 pages latter and there is moor bad than good said about these autos.

It does not need to be 40 pages later before you reach that conclusion. Whether that gives us a balanced picture of ownership is more difficult to judge. If I faced a bill of over £4k and breakdown ruining a holiday in the middle of Europe I would make lots of noise about it on this site and warn others. But I do wonder how many owners are out there who have no complaints. We have had a few posts in this thread to that effect.
Sadly it seems almost impossible to buy new or used a van with near certainty of trouble-free ownership. Even buying new brings no real guarantee of trouble-free ownership which is awful given the price!! True it may help insulate against eye-watering cost for a few years but that is no solace if your van is off the road for months awaiting spare parts.

Anyway I am sufficiently put off that I would now take quite some persuading to own a Comformatic.

 

[Lenny HB]

40 pages latter and there is moor bad than good said about these autos.

Like all forums only the people that have problems tend to post.
We had two vans with Comformatics over 10 years.
First one we did 30,000 miles in just under 3 years, last one 46,000 in 6½ years, no problems.

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[PlacidoD]

Like all forums only the people that have problems tend to post.
We had two vans with Comformatics over 10 years.
First one we did 30,000 miles in just under 3 years, last one 46,000 in 6½ years, no problems.

The trouble with buying used (as any new owner would now be) is that you have uncertainties over how careful were the previous owners! Even a full service history may not give assurance. Although plainly with Comformatic an Adams Morey FSH would be very encouraging a full service from some unrecognised garage would give no guarantee as many miss the need to give attention to the gearbox.

 

[Mleabon]

It does not need to be 40 pages later before you reach that conclusion. Whether that gives us a balanced picture of ownership is more difficult to judge. If I faced a bill of over £4k and breakdown ruining a holiday in the middle of Europe I would make lots of noise about it on this site and warn others. But I do wonder how many owners are out there who have no complaints. We have had a few posts in this thread to that effect.
Sadly it seems almost impossible to buy new or used a van with near certainty of trouble-free ownership. Even buying new brings no real guarantee of trouble-free ownership which is awful given the price!! True it may help insulate against eye-watering cost for a few years but that is no solace if your van is off the road for months awaiting spare parts.

Anyway I am sufficiently put off that I would now take quite some persuading to own a Comformatic.

I've not had any complaints really. It has been good till now apart from Finland but it was -19c. Running the engine a while sorted it out. It's just not the best choice for ice and snow. I'm hoping regular serving will prevent a big failure.

 

[Ducatian]

I'm happy knowing my one and only failure" (dropping into limp mode) was of my own doing.
Stop/start traffic queue on a hill at a junction enticed me to double foot the brake and accelerator. The effect was immediate.
Muscle memory from driving automatics in America for 20 years maybe.
Now, my left foot stays happily rooted out of the way.