frankellul said:

I purchased an 06 Fiat Doblo 1.3 multijet just over 3 months ago currently has 40000 on the clock, the timing chain broke and is now in a garage awaiting repair. I am not impressed does anyone know what the timing chain intervals are on this model? The car has been regularly service by the previous owner and by me.

Is this just another case of the legendary FIAT reliabilty

Surely their must be some responsibility taken by FIAT for this woeful situation

Frank:bang:

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Sorry to hear that. Cam chains are supposed to last the life of an engine. In the case of a diesel at least 225,000 miles! That's the whole point of using cam chains instead of belts!
The whole reason people prefer cam chains instead of rubber cam belts is that cam belts often need changing every 5 years or 70,000 miles which ever comes earlier. More cars now are going back to reliable cam chains.
So its crazy that we are finding that multijet Cam chains actually need replacing every 40,000 miles and are actually less reliable than belts!

I'm beginning to realise that the best Diesel engines are VW TDi and Peugeot HDi. The latter is the master of diesels it uses a robust rubber cam belt that can last for 120,000 miles! A bloody good engine. Just wish I'd got a Peugeot HDi instead of my multijet

Whilst the Peugeot HDi might be more expensive, you need to remember why you're getting a diesel; to save money and the 1.4 HDi offers excellent fuel economy. The multijet offers even better economy but not nice when your fuel savings are wiped out with the cost of a cam chain replacement every 40,000 miles or a new engine because the cabin snapped! It's all about avoiding false economy and the Multijet engine is a false economy. Excellent MPG but expensive and frequent maintenance costs!

All chain engines need the correct oil, learnt this on a corsa and other BMW's. Wrong grade starves the tensioner and chain lube feed. Can any chain under tension with no oil last? They dry up then the gears wear in a kinda hook fashion and keep hold of the chain as it goes round, hence the flapping rattling noise

AlquarUK said:

Our chain has just broke at 90k and cost a grand to fix. Reliable my arse, this has been the most unreliable vehicle our company has owned since 1972!!! It has more problems in the first year than our previous TWO sukuki's has in 8 years daily use.

Clutch ate itself when new.
Gear shifter broke off.
Turbo actuator stuck.
Ignition barrel eats £250 keys wearing them out every few years.
Front tracking became 4k tyres wear after arm bushes all wore out in 60k
Cam Chain snapped

etc etc thats just the major stuff

Apparently the hydraulic tensioner on the timing chain is sensitive to incorrect oils, dirty oil and incorrect spec oil etc and bump starting in reverse a big no no.

Local engine services rebuilds 5 engines a week!
FIATS are a joke as far as I'm concerned and We'll NEVER have another.

Spec from factory is 5/40 but have been advised to use 5/30 C2 low SAPS by both the main dealer AND engine services, so looking into this despite FIAT originally supplying us with non low sap universal 5/40 as I believe is stated in the service book.

I'll post how I got on.

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The Multijet is pure false economy. Yes it has excellent MPG. 50 MPG urban. But what you save on buying diesel is soon wiped out by the frequent expensive maintenance costs!

OMG did they ever realise the whole idea of using Timing chains is that they are actually meant to last the life of an engine? That's 225,000 miles in a diesel at least! Unlike belts which need to be changed every 70,000 miles or 5 years. Why then did they use chains that only last 40,000 miles?

OMG how I regret getting rid of my lovely VW lupo, for a Panda. Its timing belt was in excellent condition at 80,000 miles and 14 years old ! Now I have a multijet panda that will need an expensive new chain every 40,000 miles . EPIC FAIL

So if you get a multijet be prepared to have the Chain replaced every 40,000 miles. And changing a chain is more expensive than a belt especially when it has to be changed so bloody frequently. Oh and the timing chain cover, once taken off it will always leak oil as the new gaskets and seal are rubbish.

MountainRunner said:

The Multijet is pure false economy. Yes it has excellent MPG. 50 MPG urban. But what you save on buying diesel is soon wiped out by the frequent expensive maintenance costs!

OMG did they ever realise the whole idea of using Timing chains is that they are actually meant to last the life of an engine? That's 225,000 in a diesel at least! Unlike belts which need to be changed every 70,000 miles or 5 years. Why then did they use chains that only last 40,000 miles?
So if you get a multijet be prepared to have the Chain replaced every 40,000 miles. And changing a chain is more expensive than a belt especially when it has to be changed so bloody frequently. Oh and the timing chain cover, once taken off it will always leak as the new gaskets and seal are rubbish.

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See above, cheap garages use cheap oil and wrong grade, all non correctly maintained chain engines eat chains,
All diesels need an oil change at least every 6 months.

MountainRunner seems a little misinformed.

ALL chains have a design life,
his 80K miles in 14 years is a perfect example of where a chain wins hands-down over a belt.

a chain is in an oily environment,
so will not degrade when parked-up unused for extended periods,

the belt would need to be replaced ( with pulleys) every 5 years or so.
can be @ £1000 per change in some engines.

the chain overhaul is @ £800 in the GM / FIAT 1.3 engine, and would only be changed once in that 80K miles , 14 year period.

charlie

love my multijet engine,,,fiat all the way

hello all,
we have an 08 doblo 13 d multijet, 65k, was concerned about timing belt change at that mileage, but from reading this it seems it has a timing chain? is this correct?

Hi, well having read all the above, I think the answer is.......YES

hi

I have a 2007 doblo cargo 1.3 multi jet. It's at 68,000 miles. I've had no engine issues. Do you think I should get the timing chain changed now or wait until there sounds like issues are developing ? And can anyone confirm what this "correct oil and grade" is as there is lots off talks out this being a big issue for the timing chain so I'd really appreciate confirmation.

Any help appreciated.
Dave

If get it changed, mine Snapped at 92,000miles and is now causing me a lot of hassle as it has completely mashed the engine £££s

I had no pre warning of it snapping ie. Noise

Hi - please can anyone help?

My 2007 Doblo Cargo 1.3 Multijet's timing chain just snapped (120,000 miles) - I'm waiting to hear back from garage as they are investigating likely cost of repair. They have also had an issue with removing two of the fuel injectors, apparently.

Please can anyone advise if it's worth my while repairing or whether I'm just opening myself up to lots of further costs down the line? On first inspection they suggested it would cost anything up to £1000 depending on the damage done inside the engine.

Part of my inclination towards getting it fixed is that I had a lot of stuff replaced (suspension, wheels, exhaust, brakes) just last year so was thinking that apart from the engine being knackered (!), everything else is in good order (plus, apart from this happening and the big bill last year for the work detailed above, the van's been no trouble at all - I've had it/serviced it from new).

Thanks for any advice

Dan

So let's be clear on this, the cargo pre-dpf is a different engine, if chain snaps just does the rocker's, think with people carrier and cargo with dpf is game over, will update when my brother's dpf cargo has been looked at.

So they all have rockers, how come people are paying£1000+ for chain snap, should be around£400 it doesn't even bend the valves or piston's. New rocker set, chain kit and sump gasket. It's just bad luck or not correct oil, my brother is on 180,000 no chain replacement I'm on 160,000 no replacement, other brother 110,000 chain broke he gets oil change at local garage, where I change my own with 100% correct oil. The 1 with snapped chain said it was noisier after first oil change, from local, go figure.