I initially joined this Fiat forum in the Punto category to obtain related advise for to doing maintenance work on my daughters car (Dad jobs).
Recently I decided to call it a day with my Kia Sedona and thought I'd go for a 7 seater Doblo as a more economical replacement. I've taken a chance and bought I cheap one of ebay with the view to tidying it up and running with that.
So today I completed the purchase of a 2005 1.9JTD Family with 107k on the clock. It does need a thorough good clearout and clean out on the insides along with a few repairs. On the outside the nearside front wing as got a dent and the offside front wing needs a bit of attention. It looks like somebody as caught the drivers door whilse reversing and pulled off the door stop and damage the panels. Nothing I can't live with short term until I can confirm that mechanically it's all sound prior to spending any money on the cosmetics.
The only real issue is a severe oil leak. Although the seller did state that it had an oil leak, his description was 'it drips when running'. Turns out it pours, hence me not being able to drive it home today.
I had a look underneath and there is an approx. 4mm hole in a component casing (not the block). Having just put 4 litres of oil in the engine, its was making quite a mess. With oil in the engine, it seemed to run fine. That said, the yellow engine fault light was on. Decided to switch it off and sort out towing it home tomorrow. Did think about arguing with the seller and try and get my money back, but for £430, thought it would be worth taking a chance and have a go at doing the repairs. From the outset when bidding, the intention was to do the timing belt and water pump, so if a replacement casing can be sourced, the oil leak will be addressed at the same time (if possible).
I need to do a be bit of research on the 1.9 engine before having a go at the repairs.
Please can anybody advise if the timing is belt or chain driven. Also, can anybody confirm what the component is with the leaking case. It's positioned right at the bottom of the engine on the drivers side under the timing belt. My initial guess is it's the oil pump. Thanks for any replys.

Welcome

Hard to tell without a picture (is oil filter/housing leaking?) however I can answer the other questions...timing belt which I recommend you change with the water pump as nothing else really goes wrong with these engines and can do 400-500k miles.

At £430 you can't really lose

Thanks for reply T14086.
Fingers crossed it might just be a new oil filter/casing. Are the filters on these engines the fibre ones that go inside a casing or older conventional filters whereby the whole thing unscrews?
Whilst I'm asking, if you don't mind, is the JTD the 105 output engine as opposed to the 120hp. If it's the 105 I would guess it's a 8 valve engine which will make an easier job of doing the cam belt. I see I'm going to have to do quite a bit of internet trawling to get familier with these motors.

Re the £430, that was my thinking - had a bit more trouble trying to convince the wife when I got home without the Doblo - she's convinced I've bought a pup. If it proves to be the filter I'll be 1-0 up.

Cannister unscrew oil filter.

Yes belt on 8v easier, same engine as GP,stilo variants etc, good solid engines.

Think I had better start another thread under the technical section.
Towed the Doblo from the seller to my mates workshop no dramas.
Got the oil filter changed and eliminated the oil pouring out, but unfortunately, that's not the end of the story. Now left with oil dripping from under the crankshaft pulley. I'm not sure if it's a seal or the sump gasket leaking.
My mate reckons it will more likely be a seal area problem rather than the sump gasket. We took the oil filler cap off with the engine running and there was a noticeably bit of air pressure blowing (could feel it with my hand approx. 4" above the filler hole). It might be an overfilled with oil scenario because the oil was about 1" over the 'full' mark on the dip stick.
Initially I have decided to do the cam belt and water pump change and will get a crankshaft and cam shaft seal just in case that is the where the problem is. There is a possibility that the leaking oil might be travelling down under the cam belt casing and coming out lower down near the crankshaft area.
I've seen a waterpump for approx. £32 and a cam belt kit rounabout the £60 mark on ebay. Will see what the local main dealer comes in at before committing to buy off ebay. As for the seal, I believe it might be better to go with geniune seals from main dealer, unless anybody knows of an alternative supplier with good quality seals.
Does anybody know of any links where I can view Fiat part number catalogues and diagrams.
I have seen a link on the Multipla section giving a step by step 'how to' guide to do the cam belt, again does anybody know of any better 'how to guides' that I can view?
Thanks for any forthcoming responses

Hi Pedro

I hope that you have already sorted the engine and the oil leak? Perhaps the leak was caused by overfilling and subsequent pressure pushing the oil out of the seals? Please let us all know what happened.

Haven't started on the repairs yet I'm afraid. In all honesty, only got it home today, first time I've driven it properly.
Got geniune Fiat parts through BristolStreet, Birmingham for a satisfying £118 including P&P. Parts purchased are water pump, timing belt kit, cam shaft oil seal, crankshaft oil seal and door check strap. Initially, I was going to do the repair at my mates workshop, but after giving it thought, decided to buy the locking tool and have a go at doing it myself, rather than pay somebody else. I have investigated trying to find an independant garage with the correct kit but had no joys so it's going to be a DIY effort.
Just need to find the 'how to' thread again in the Multipla section and give it a go.

http://eper.fiatforum.com/

we look after you here

Made a start and can confidently says it's the timing belt end crankshaft seal that is leaking.
Got the auxiliary belt off no problems via the 'double' spanner method, i.e. correct size ring spanner on belt tensioner, then applied extra leverage with a larger ring spanner interlocked. Using two splined sockets (think 45s), I was able to securely hold one bottom pulley bolt with one socket whilst undoing another bolt with the second socket, worked a treat. From there I was able to undo the timing belt cover bolts. Covers came off O.K. apart from one slip up on my part. It proved necessary to loosen off one of the auxilliary belt guide rollers to allow enough clearance for the cover to be removed. I thought it would quicker to use a racket spanner and unfortunately I undone the bolt to far before realising that there was not enough room to get the racket spanner off the end of the bolt head. So for now it's stuck there until I've got the patience to try and tighten the bolt back it with a pair of grips far enough to free the racket spanner. Next operation was to support the engine from underneath and remove the top timing belt end engine mount.
At that point I decided to start the engine to see if I could locate the oil leak. No leaks at the top end but oil lose at the bottom and it could be seen flowing from underneath the crankshaft pulley down over the sump so that is where the problem lies. Next job is to undo the main crankshaft bolt in readiness to remove the pulley to get at the crankshaft oil seal. For initial safety reasons I decided to temporarily re-secure the top engine mount. Tried my luck by putting a 19mm impact socket on a breaker bar and cracking off with engine power. Attempted with three cracks on the ignition but unfortunately, the crackshaft bolt is not budging. Gave up on that idea, so investigated the possibility of securing the crankshaft with the alignment tool held on by 2 bolts. I was able to use an extended axle stand as a wedge up against the bolted on alignment tool to give a leverage point to try and undo the crankshaft bolt. No joys, but I was able to see that there is movement within the top engine mount vulcanised rubber. The next approach will be to use the engine mount as a pattern to make up some sort of solid bracket to fix onto the engine mount bolts. This in theory, should give a solid fixing with no movement when I next have a go at undoing the bottom crankshaft bolt.
I did read somewhere that it's possible to remove an inspection plate on the bell housing and secure a locking tool onto the flywheel ring. If I can find this inspection plate, I might investigate the possibility of making an engine locking tool.

Hi Pedro

Thanks for the detailed progress! Please let us know the next stage.

Had another go at the weekend with no resultant progress. Took the top engine mount off and used a heavy duty puller to act as a securing bracket. I was able to get more leverage on the crankshaft bolt but not enough to crack the bolt off.
Decided at that point to investigate the possibility of using some sort of flywheel locking device. Had a look around the bell housing and found a small inspection plate held on by two small 8mm bolts. Removed the plate and found that this must be a place for a flywheel locking plate to be inserted. As I haven't got the proper flywheel locking tool, I'm going to have a go at making one out of a piece of box section metal. That's a job for in the week.
I'll start taking some photos and perhaps try and compile a 'how to guide' to assist others who may be faced with the same task at a later date.

Impact gun?

Found the problem - it's a LEFT hand thread:bang:
Started another post and big thanks to davren for reply showing a technical sheet informing of the thread direction - bought a brand new bolt from dealers for £2 to be 100% sure. I'll have another attempt of undoing the bolt tomorrow, only these time pushing clockwise.

Pedro,

I'm late to this thread.

I admire your determination to restore a somewhat neglected/abused Doblo to good mechanical and cosmetic health. I hope you can continue with the updates - it makes excellent reading.

Mrs_G's Doblo has covered a massive mileage but is currently at the garage undergoing the largest job so far. Long story short - Using coolant but none seen dripping or any trace left by a dye put in the coolant. It would loose about a pint on a 700 mile run to Scotland and back and was becoming difficult to start when cold. It would turn over and then 'jam up'. Wait for the compression to fade and would then start with a HUGE cloud of smoke out the exhaust. Turns out the head is cracked . I thought about it long and hard, looked at some other vans and have decided to bite the bullet and have a new head fitted. The rest of the van is in very good condition, last year I had the gearbox rebuilt, a new clutch at the same time, new wheel bearing and front discs and pads. So hopefully in a week or so it'll be back on the road earning its keep.

Hi Niall - the symptons on Mrs G Doblo sound very similar to my now poorly Kia Sedona. It used to use approx. 2 litres of coolant per 500 miles and got progressively worse. When it was topped up, clouds of white smoke bellowed out of the exhaust. As the coolant level went down, the white smoke deminished but the heater in the car was none existent. Guess it was running on hot air rather than hot water. What was another give away was the coolant temperature guage would run at normal reading which was approx. 1/3rd on the guage. Then when the coolant got lower, the temperature guage would travel upto the red full mark and come back to half way as the fan kicked in. Oddly enough, it never boiled in it's later life. Whilst all this was going on, the car ran normal, and what I really loved about the 2.9 diesel Kia was that it pulled like a train. Even uphill in 5th, I could feel the turbo come in and it still had plenty of pull. It finally broke down approximately a month ago and in all honesty, the rust factor doesn't justify spending money on the Kia. The one area where people get caught out with Sedonas is that there is a rear compartment heating systems. Coolant heater pipes T off the main system and the pipes run under the car to the rear. In the area over the exhaust system, the pipework converts into a metal tubing section. It's this metal segment that corrodes and the resultant lose of coolant doesn't get noticed which normally results in cylinder head/gasket issues later down the line.
Hence me buying the Doblo - mobile shed when required with 7 seats for when I want to take the family with grand-children out, only alot more economical - when I've got it repaired.
As for the repairs on the Doblo, got the crankshaft bolt off by standing on the 3/4" drive T bar. After aligning the timing marks, released the tensioner and slackened off the belt. Pulley came off in my hand to reveal the suspect oil seal. Initial glances it didn't look that bad, however there was a couple of worrying score marks on the casing where the seal is located. Went to use my cordless drill only to find the battery had discharged since I last charged the battery. Nett result was it took me alot longer to screw in a self tapper into the oil seal than it should have done. Finally got the self tapper to bite hard enough to get pressure on it for succesful removal. Upon comparing to the new replacement seal, the inner edges did look to have excessive wear, so fingers crossed, that's the culprit.
Greased up the outer edges of the new seal, and gently taped home via a similar sized socket. After completely removing the tensioner and guide pulley, next up was the water pump replacement.
Should have mentioned that with the top engine mount completely removed, with the trolley jack supporting the engine, it is possible to gain extra room by gently lowering and lifting as required.
Back to the water pumped, found it awkward to get onto the 6mm internal hex bolts. Then with the 2 hex bolts out of the way, found the top 10mm bolt was obstructed by the cam sprocket cog. Took a chance and turned the sprocket cog back to fully expose the last waterpump bolt. Safely removed the last bolt prior to attempting to remove the pump. Decided not to drain the coolant system and elected to catch the escaping coolant from below the waterpump. Waterpump was awkward to remove but with a bit of pulling and pushing, managed to manipulate it from beneath the cam sprocket cog. Fitting the new replacement waterpump wasn't quite as simple. As I didn't want to risk damaging the new pump, I decided to slacken off the cam sprocket cog. Decided the best course of action was to lock up the cam sprocket with a spare flywheel locking wedge that I had in my toolbox. Worked a treat and after removing the locking tool had enough slack to locate the waterpump correctly. Upon looking again at securing the waterpump bolts, reckoned it would be easier to remove the cam sprocket cog completely. Like the crankshaft pulley, the camshaft sprocket cog as got locating slots, so I feel pretty confident that I can realign the cam sprocket and crankshaft pulley prior to fitting the new timing belt. In hindsight, I should have locked the cam shaft and loosened the bolt prior to removing the original timing belt.
With the new waterpump secured, as I bought a new cam oil seal as part of the package with the other new components, I've decided to renew the cam shaft oil seal for good measures.
That's as far as I've got for now.

When I'm sober I'll try and read all that.... but thank you

But I got rid of my 2003 Doblo, which had been brilliant, when it kept failing to start in the cold and I'd replaced all the glowplugs, and had more tests made than the Queen has for a sniffle. It was a pain and threatened to cost far far more than it was worth, and was a real worry as I need the car for work and twice I'd had the AA man out.

I've now got a 2010 Doblo... Very new indeed, with lots of 'aids', like a hill-holder, that I really really don't want.

Don't like the ventilation grills either, the round ones are genius, the 'new' ordinary horizontal slats are not!!! Or not having the A/C switch incorporated in the heater dial - now I have to hunt for it an a row of dim lights .... and probably other stuff too, like the buried door handles...BUT, it is quieter, and more comfortable, and has Bluetooth.

And less rear legroom, but a better driving position with a light clutch - with a very abrupt pick-up from standstill... but a great radio...


Sad aren't I!

Believe I've sorted the oil leak - got it all back together and took it for a run. Touch wood no dripping oil. I was a bit worried about the replaced Cam Shaft seal - it was more of an acute angle to get at with the cordless drill to that of the crank shaft seal. Unfortunately I did leave a score in the cam shaft and did attempt to smooth if off with emery clothe. It was an unknown if I was successful or not but I did the best I could.
I did notice a squeel coming from the engine bay, so today I took the auxiliary belt off and run the engine. This confirmed that the squeel was associated to the auxiliary belt. Checked that the cam belt cover was tightened on securely and checked then put the auxiliary belt back on, checking it was put back in the original directional position. Squeel still evident and I did notice that the auxiliary belt does appear to have a slight side way movement so I'm suspecting the tensioner may have a bit of detrimental ware. Going to run it for a bit and then revisit to see if there's any further deterioration or loader squeeling.