Can anyone help me. Over last 2 months i have had trouble with the engine dipping on tickover as though it is about to cut out. It has been Fiat again, first it had new egr valve then problem continued, then second time had a software download on ecu and cured it for about a month now its started again so back to fiat and they admitted they have a few doing it and dont know what it is. So are saying because ni fault code is coming up they cant do anything. Anyone any answers. I still suspect egr valve is faulty. As soon as it gets warm engine runs fine.
Technical 2008 Ducato 2.2 100bhp Idle erratic when cold
- Thread starter Andy 418
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Technical 2008 Ducato 2.2 100bhp Idle erratic when cold
Davidireland
New member
When you do a software download you have to run engine to relearn egr and other fuel pressure regulators etc. Don't know if your garage has done this. Could be a software problem too if no faults appear. Has your fuel filter been changed recently?
I'm not sure if they had it running I shall ask. Fuel filter not been changed could this cause problem when it's cold? It has only done 16,000 miles
The filter could be blocked but I think you would get a low pressure fault code. Were fiat able to recreate the problem when they had it? You can monitor and graph the pressure as its ticking over. If you had water in your diesel you could have a worn pump or injectors.
If you use an incorrect diesel additive ie one with methyl alcohol this will carry the water through the filter. Get the garage to check the pressure against reference values when cranking from cold.
pilot injection & high pressure pump need reprogrammed, I have seen vans needing a good 10 mile run after this before they will idle properly.
Another possible cause is the fuel regulator on the rail.
Thanks for the info. The van does the hunting all time before reaches operating temp. Think I will try different fiat dealer as I don't think the one I use have a clue what they are looking for they just keep saying can't do anything because no fault code is coming up.
I took it in in November with the fault and they put new egr valve on and said it was fine now. Started it next morning same fault so went back in and they said had to do a software update on it then it ran fine till about a week ago and it's started again. Now they saying let it develop so can get fault code
correct, no code means nothing to go on but a trained tech should be full of potential areas of thois kind of fault. Just by monitoring the parameters at cold start up should identify the fault area.
Fiat garage are saying everything is in parameters. I'm now wondering if it could be a fuel issue? I always fill up at morrisons and after Reading reports on it not good. Trouble is I don't do many miles and notice on there pumps it says there diesel has 7% biodiesel in. Only says in small writing though. Anyway I always keep tank full, very rare it goes under half. Van can be stood for a week sometimes and I've read biodiesel is a bit heavier than diesel so I'm wondering if the bottom of the tank is more biodiesel than diesel and the engine is not liking it. I have drained fuel filter off twice and each time after that it appears to start up and run fine when it's cold but next day has same problem again. :bang:
Did the fiat garage test it cold though? It can take a long time for things to cool enough the problem to reappear.
Regarding the fuel filter is a nominal 2 micron filter so easily blocked however a filter problem would appear under throttle as well as idle.
Might sound silly but when was the oil changed last and what oil was used. A ducato ambulance here wouldn't start at all without a tow lately when it got to very cold because it had 15w-40 in it. Changed to 5w-40 synth and happy out again.
Same problem here and no joy with fiat:
http://www.roadtestreports.co.uk/road-test-reports/Fiat/Ducato/
If you are paying fiat for diagnostics I would just take it to a diesel specialist.
The engine is the ZSD-422 found in the modeo and transit so if you're very lucky there might be a hint on their forums.
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I left the van previous day so it would be cold when they tested it next day. Oil was changed at service last may and has only done 6000 on it. I changed it myself last week because I know garages can just put in whatever they have in the barrels they buy.
I'm not paying fiat it's all warranty work. I'm going to change fuel filter and try tank of different fuel and if no better i will take a different fiat dealer to let them see if they find anything.
I know transit is having a lot of egr issues.
Picked van up today all seems good so far. They say could not find any faults but have reset all parameters and proxys and seems to be ok. Will see how it goes over next few days.
Why would all parameters be out of right settings? Does anyone know? Is it going to do the same every 15000 miles? Which means when warranty runs out will have to pay to have them reset all time.
Why would all parameters be out of right settings? Does anyone know? Is it going to do the same every 15000 miles? Which means when warranty runs out will have to pay to have them reset all time.
Well van was ok for two days and the fault is back. I've been told to check lambda sensors to see if they are too carbon up and give them a clean down as they could be sending false readings for fuel mixture. Is this possible making the parameters run out but not registering any faults?
Andy, examiner is a very powerful tool......in the right hands! If the idle is that bad then by monitoring parameters it should be obvious enough to spot something that is not right.
Just a thought, Corkman mentioned ford engine...if its same as transit (I believe it is) then we were changing temp sensors by the bucket load and I know Fiat are using these 'one-fit' sensors.
Just a thought, Corkman mentioned ford engine...if its same as transit (I believe it is) then we were changing temp sensors by the bucket load and I know Fiat are using these 'one-fit' sensors.
I know what you are saying, but it has been to 3 different Fiat dealers now and all say when they they plug in and do readings everything is working as it should be and no faults are showing anywhere so they can't say what is causing the problem. I understand they can't just keep throwing parts at it and to be honest I'm sick of wasting time going back and forth to dealers all time and getting same answer. Trouble is 2nd year warranty runs out in may and I don't want to be stuck with big bill to sort it myself. Dealers say let it develop but not really getting any worse. All they do is reset parameters and it's ok for day or two then comes back. :bang:
You can check the lambda sensor with an oscilloscope. From what I remember of the toyota zirconia ones you should have a periodic waveform between 0.1 and 0.8V repeating about once per second. When they're bad they get slow and the waveform loses amplitude i.e. goes from 0.3 to 0.6 or something like that.
I can't believe there are no signs in examiner. Do you know anyone with an obd interface, most can rear o2 sensor data.
Or get your own here: http://www.enginecheck.co.uk/order.php
You can get working interfaces from about 15 quid upwards but if you're not very technical and/or don't fancy spending hours chasing down decent software. I'd go with the gendan one above or something lfrom scantool.net
http://www.scantool.net/
I can't believe there are no signs in examiner. Do you know anyone with an obd interface, most can rear o2 sensor data.
Or get your own here: http://www.enginecheck.co.uk/order.php
You can get working interfaces from about 15 quid upwards but if you're not very technical and/or don't fancy spending hours chasing down decent software. I'd go with the gendan one above or something lfrom scantool.net
http://www.scantool.net/
John C S
New member
My suggestion would be for Fiat Dealer to keep it overnight, plug in examiner before they start it from cold and get some live data on what it is doing.
A good tech should then spot if a component is not reading.
A good tech should then spot if a component is not reading.
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