Hi,to all you Doblo owners,it[as I've found out,full of surprises]is a most unusual vehicle,my wife drives one and is very happy with it,I have just done all the filters for it and an oil change,4 new tyres and an MOT,lovely,then she says "I can hear a ticking sound from underneath,on looking,I found a spark coming from the edge of the sump to the bottom pulley wheel or vica versa,can anyone tell me if this is a rare occurence or normal I'm mystified I've checked all cables round the engine for rubbing,bare lives cleaned the main earth on the gearbox and the battery and the spark remains[about 1 every 2 secs].It is a 1.3 multijet 04 reg,has anyone any ideas?

oh I forgot
Is it safe to drive as she is using it as normal?

no its not normal

Thank you for replying , I suspected as much,am still at it and found that if I earth the pulley wheel to the roll bar at the front the spark stops,so I'm assuming it's travelling along the crankshaft to the pulley wheel then jumping across to earth itself on the sump

Hi, i know its a while ago but i have just developed the same problem! . . . . any idea what it was?

Thanks

Ian

Hi.
I am wondering if this engine as a damper pulley (it has a rubber sandwich). My old Audi 80 TD had one and it did the very same, it was a static build up and sparked merrily in dry weather. there was a small braid between the inner and outer part of the pulley that had corroded away causing the problem.
If this is the case in your vehicle I would be inclined to get it sorted out ASAP as the high voltages produced could well wreck the ECU.

Thanks for that, i'll have a look tomorrow.

Ian

I don't understand, surely the pulley wheel and the sump are both earthed.

Never heard of this phenomenon on a car before, but if it is a rubber insulated damper pulley, then the outer part of it, in combination with the drive belt, could be acting as a type of Van de Graaff generator and causing the sparks.

Well i'm getting confused too now . . . . just sat and watched it, only happens every 10 or so seconds, sometimes its ok for a minute of so then it starts again. It's just jumping the gap from the pulley to the engine block, about 3mm.
I have run a seperate earth to the block just in case it was an engine earthing issue but no change. I cant make it out . . . . help!

Is the pulley metal?
Is the spark from the pulley or the belt.
Is there any resistance between the pulley and battery -ve.

Hmmm, Reading this thread makes me want to have a look under the OH's Panda. She called me out to it the other evening & every few seconds I heard a loudish 'tick' coming from behind the dash - I thought it was a solenoid of some sort but this sounds familiar!

UP!

a friend of mine with....a 2006 Doblo 1.3 mjt (!) has the same "problem".

But why always the Doblo? This engine is mounted on other cars and those sparks only on Doblo pulley?
You solved?

Solved!

It was the Crankshaft V-Belt Pulley!
It has a rubber profile on the side of the engine block.
This profile was gone outside of its place, and rubbing against the block, it made that spark (static electricity).
.
Changed the pulley: all solved!