Stuck in France

We had a very similar problem a few weeks back. Recovered from Norfolk to Adams Morey in Portsmouth who discovered that part of the wiring harness had chaffed through under the dash board, just above the pedals. This meant the gear selector was not communicating with the gear box. Took them several hours to trace the fault but quickly and easily repaired.

The bad news was that they did not consider the fault to be covered by the 5 year extended warranty because the fault arose from the repositioning of the wiring loom by Carthago during their construction process. I was happy to pay up and get back on the road.

I took the matter up with Chelston who sold us the motorhome. They referred it to Carthago and within a few days the cost of the repair was refunded to me via the dealer. The fact that Carthago paid up so promptly suggests to me they already knew about the problem.

I suggest you get the wiring harness checked out. Picture of problem area here. https://www.motorhomefun.co.uk/forum/threads/carthago-compactline-breakdown.263073/
 
I note a thread from 2018 in mech&tech about the same issue.

Various suggestions and views not dissimilar to those expressed here, not least dissatisfaction with French garages.

Got stuck 12 years ago outside Agen with a Transit that had a leaky pipe in the cooling system. It took 3 weeks for the part to come from Germany and wasn't that expensive, but was seriously hassleful. I don't speak French, but the receptionist could make herself understood in ze iingleish, and did her best, but found it quite hard.

She told me they had a salesperson in the franchise who could speak Spanish and she would ask him to help us all out. He refused to speak to me. I even offered Catalan - which I didn't really speak at that time - and that was refused too (this is pre-2017) so, I was utterly and completely at the mercy of the garage!

I stayed in a very cheap and nasty hotel in Villeneuve Sur Lot until my money ran out and then escaped back to Catalunya with money put in the bank from Spain and a credit card that was supposed to be dead but worked!

After the van was collected two weeks later, I have never been back to le France!
 
Dear Ducato said:
I hate all this modern technology, from Sat Navs to all this electronic ignition stuff and all the sensors. Most of my driving career has been with coaches and cars. I once drove from Cornwall to Folkestone with a 6 inch screw holding the distributer lead into the coil! It was still there when I sold it 6 months later. I have fixed filters on a coach near Desvres on a school trip, changed a coach wheel en route for Paris before I got on the ferry and carried out most of my mobility problems to get me home. I drove from St Omer to Calais stuck in 2nd gear on my Willys Jeep. Thankfully, it was on a Sunday and a kind farmer with a whopping great tractor pulled out in front of me and I stuck behind him near enough to Calais. Made it to the French passport control and it started in gear, but wouldn't do the same at the English one! However, a neighbour and his cadet group were behind me in a Land Rover and trailer, and they towed me on and off the ferry, left me in the lay-by outside Dover Docks until the AA took me home! It is getting increasingly hard to maintain your own vehicle, almost as if there is a conspiracy between the insurance companies, motor manufactures, rip-off garages and everything else to do with motoring.
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I couldnt agree more, the amount of electronics problems people are reporting is ridiculous, Ive had similar issues with my car Mb 7g, I'm fed up of auto,s, older vehicles and clutch pedal for me.

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dunnah01 said:
Sounds like you're all bring taken for mugs by garages that don't know what they're doing and changing things until they get lucky
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I was very happy with how Adams Morey, Portsmouth dealt my problem. Motorhome delivered to them Friday PM, worked on it on Monday AM and phoned me to say ready for collection by early afternoon Monday. The Van Services Operations Manager worked on it himself because they were fully booked until later in the week. He also provided pictures of the problem so that I could pursue the matters with Carthago. Good service and I am happy to recommend them to others.
 
www.motorhomefun.co.uk

Carthago Compactline Breakdown

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...
www.motorhomefun.co.uk www.motorhomefun.co.uk
 
Update ...

Yesterday the garage got the van and this morning got the phone call ... the gearbox is totally knackered and will cost €9,000 to repair. After spending all day talking to the garage and RAC .The garage can fix it, but, they can get all the parts except one, which may take up to 6 months to get.

The van is going to be transported home and we will get taken home by train and boat probably.

Obviously our planned trip is f***d but we will get home and after a delay so will the van.

I am truly pissed off that a new van, 16 months old, can have such a catastrophic failure.
 
Shocking is all I can say.
I hope the manufacturer sorts it out satisfactorily for you when you get it home.
 
Manxcat said:
Update ...

Yesterday the garage got the van and this morning got the phone call ... the gearbox is totally knackered and will cost €9,000 to repair. After spending all day talking to the garage and RAC .The garage can fix it, but, they can get all the parts except one, which may take up to 6 months to get.

The van is going to be transported home and we will get taken home by train and boat probably.

Obviously our planned trip is f***d but we will get home and after a delay so will the van.

I am truly pissed off that a new van, 16 months old, can have such a catastrophic failure.
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That is a rotten outcome and I can understand your feelings about it. You are owed a full explanation about how such a major failure could occur in such a young vehicle, hopefully you will get one in due course.

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Unfortunately, this is modern manufacturing. I have had a Vauxhall van and a Mitsubishi 4x4 both have severe drivetrain issues from new, both resulting in enormous amounts of damage and inconvenience.
Unfortunately your trip is Fubar'd but you'll get home, the van will get home and you can do the trip another day.........I'm trying to sound all upbeat but I'd be doing my absolute nut.....again!! My local Vauxhall dealer virtually barred me from their premises 😂
 
Manxcat said:
Update ...

Yesterday the garage got the van and this morning got the phone call ... the gearbox is totally knackered and will cost €9,000 to repair. After spending all day talking to the garage and RAC .The garage can fix it, but, they can get all the parts except one, which may take up to 6 months to get.

The van is going to be transported home and we will get taken home by train and boat probably.

Obviously our planned trip is f***d but we will get home and after a delay so will the van.

I am truly pissed off that a new van, 16 months old, can have such a catastrophic failure.
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16 months old? Shouldn’t that be covered under warranty?

I had a problem with a Comfortmatic in France in 2017 on a new Carthago with 2500 miles on the clock and 3 months old. The French garage took six weeks to sort it it, trying one part after another. Gearbox was taken out and put back in. They eventually replaced the hydraulic block that shifts the gears. Only fixed after I wrote to the MD of Fiat UK, within 3 days of my complaint. 12 months later it faulted again in the UK and a garage in Maidstone found that the problem was a gear position sensor. Replaced and never faulted again. I’m not convinced that wasn’t the problem the first time around in France.

None of this cost me a penny because it was less than 2 years old. It was just massively inconvenient. Perhaps stupidly, I still bought another Comfortmatic… time will tell !
 
If you haven’t already, deal with it through Fiat Camper Assist. When I took the extended warranty out on my new van in 2019, they told me that even if you break down outside a Fiat Dealer, do not go straight to the dealer, because the work won’t be done under warranty. Contact Fiat Camper Assist and they will deal with the dealer on your behalf.
 
Dont know where you’re based in UK but Express Gearboxes in Portsmouth fixed our semi automatic gearbox problem really quickly (albeit not a cheap repair). They were very familiar with motorhome gearboxes and what fails in them. Even though this wasn’t the reason for our breakdown, while the gearbox was in bits, James strongly recommended we change the bearings as they are prone to failure. He said they’ve had vehicles in that were only a year or two old and the gearbox had failed due to this same bearing failure.
 
Assuming your van is being returned unrepaired, it will be interesting to see if your UK garage makes the same diagnosis.
I was quoted over €3000 for similar fault to yours on my Comformatic in Spain but after repatriation unrepaired, Diss Fiat in the UK diagnosed and repaired for just over £300, after finding the fault within an hour.

Yes, that IS correct, three zeros in Spain and two in UK!

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Sorry to say we had a c-matic fiat based swift kontiki. Superb van. 2010 bought 2 years old. New flywheel and clutch 4 years later. In 2019 recovered 4 times 3 of which were gearbox failure despite being repaired/past fit for service by Fiat Pros. It had to go. Couldn’t cope with will we get there and if we do will we get back. !!!

Hence no longer have a comfortmatic. The later 9 speed true auto box is a winner, wish it was installled in the car

sorry not a story you want to hear, given replies on this forum it’s a bit of a lottery We and others are happy with the c-matic operation when working but an expensive frustration when not.

can only wish you luck and good fortune in getting it sorted.
 
It shouldn’t be that frustrating and complicated. Similar automated manual gearbox systems seem to work in trucks for hundreds of thousands of miles.
 
A second opinion from another Fiat Professional may give a different slant on the problem. Without removing the gearbox diagnosing such a catastrophic failure must be difficult. Have Fiat Camper Assist been involved?
 
We haven't involved camper assist as the van is 27 months old so out of warranty. We live in the Isle of Man so restricted to choice of garage. We do have good relations with the garage so are hoping things will be resolved. I plan to complain to Fiat as I can only believe this is a fault from manufacturer.
 
Really sorry for the OP but what is going on where a gearbox from a major manufacturer that is less than 2 1/2 years old that has probably not done many miles be knackered? And we hear sagas like this time and time again about c matics! €9000 ive got to belive they dont want the job.

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orridge said:
Manxcat Just a thought do you have Fiat Camper assistance ? might be worth trying them if you do.
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Even if you are out of Fiat warranty they may offer to help. However, be prepared to dig deep into your pockets as I had a similar issue in Germany and it cost me 7,500 Euros - and took the Fiat Professional dealer over 3 months to fix!
 
Are you sure your warranty is up as Fiat usually give 3 years.

EDIT: just checked, its only cars that are 3 yrs. Thats a pity, hope you get it sorted much cheaper in the UK
 
Manxcat said:
We haven't involved camper assist as the van is 27 months old so out of warranty. We live in the Isle of Man so restricted to choice of garage. We do have good relations with the garage so are hoping things will be resolved. I plan to complain to Fiat as I can only believe this is a fault from manufacturer.
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Ah, I thought it was only 16 months old, my mistake. If you have no Fiat Professional Garages on the Isle of Man I would seriously think about leaving it with one on the mainland if you want to take the matter further with Fiat. They may also get a higher priority for parts if some of them are in short supply. Adams Morey in Portsmouth gave me all the evidence I needed to get a contribution from Carthago on a 30 month old gearbox, it was their conversion that caused the problem.
 
What a FUBAR, I hope you get it sorted soon. Parts shortages makes any breakdown a major potential PITA now :Eeek: I only got on my trip because someone on here alerted me to Crashdata having new airbag ECU's in stock. I would not consider a euro trip without all the safety systems working!!
 
irnbru said:
Are you sure your warranty is up as Fiat usually give 3 years.

EDIT: just checked, its only cars that are 3 yrs. Thats a pity, hope you get it sorted much cheaper in the UK
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Surprisingly, the Fiat Ducato warranty is only two years if the conversion was carried out in the EU (ie a continental brand of motorhome), but if converted in the UK eg Swift, or Eldiss etc, then they come with a 3-year warranty. I'm not sure why, unless we have some legal minimum length of warranty on new vehicles made or converted in GB&NI? :unsure:

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Manxcat said:
We haven't involved camper assist as the van is 27 months old so out of warranty. We live in the Isle of Man so restricted to choice of garage. We do have good relations with the garage so are hoping things will be resolved. I plan to complain to Fiat as I can only believe this is a fault from manufacturer.
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I would have thought that this might be covered by the consumer rights act, unless its changed, a dealer must fix, repair, exchange or refund on anything that has a defect or fault where the item would be expected to last at least 6 years, check sale of goods act 1979 and consumer rights act 2015. Remember it's the dealer that must deal with it don't let them tell you to contact the manufacturer, that's up to them to sort out.
 
ChrisL said:
I would have thought that this might be covered by the consumer rights act, unless its changed, a dealer must fix, repair, exchange or refund on anything that has a defect or fault where the item would be expected to last at least 6 years, check sale of goods act 1979 and consumer rights act 2015. Remember it's the dealer that must deal with it don't let them tell you to contact the manufacturer, that's up to them to sort out.
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Interesting but if that straight forward then effectively all cars, for example, have what amounts to the equivalent to a 6 year warranty surely ?
 
I would follow the advice already given and get fiat camper assist involved it's only just out of warranty.
They cannot deny it should not have such a problem in such a short space of time.
 
If youhave paid for your van on finance i would get in touch with them ,as they have expertise and bigger guns to fire,

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