Hi,

I took my van in to the fiat dealers to look at a reason why it was going into limp mode now and again randomly. Anyway decided against them doing the work as they were not convincing me they knew what they were talking about.

Anyway as I was driving away the Airbag light came on, so we took it straight back and they gave us a 'free diagnostic for our troubles'. They assured me it was nothing they had done, but were unable to find the cause. They suggested I pay for a Airbag ECU at a cost in the hundreds of pounds!

Now its MOT time and I need to get this sorted, any ideas? I have checked the seat connections and they seem fine.

My mate had a look with his Snapon ECU Tool thing but couldn't do nothing about it.

At a bit of a loss, and I don't really trust the dealer to find the problem.

It sounds as if they have dislodged a wire somewhere. I would take it to an independant work shop.

there are a couple of places I use here but you dont say what area you are in.

I would not let the Fiat dealers anywhere near my Ducato

Mike

bob72 said:

At a bit of a loss, and I don't really trust the dealer to find the problem.

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Which/what dealer was it?

taffybloke said:

I would take it to an independant work shop.

there are a couple of places I use here but you dont say what area you are in.

I would not let the Fiat dealers anywhere near my Ducato

Mike

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Why not, I prefer someone with model specific training to someone who has not

T14086 said:

Why not, I prefer someone with model specific training to someone who has not

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Some dealers I trust others I dont. I have a Jaguar that the Jag dealer wanted to charge 3 times the price of the the local Independent. the car now has 130k on the clock with 10 stamps in the book from this indie jag specialist at a saving of over £2000. The jag is still going strong and is booked in for its 11th stamp and an MOT.

My Passat goes to the VW dealer because I trust them and they have not taken advantage of that.

Several people have used the dealers for their Ducato's issues and expensive parts fitted without resolving the problems and the customers expected to just keep paying even when the problem has been a known issue with an easy fix.

This is a truck not a ferrari it can be fixed by the guys at the local courier company who also run Ducato's and not at over £100 an hour plus silly price parts.

Example: Clutch
Dealer £1500
Indie £700

Service
Dealer £400
Indie £200

Repair. drive shaft bearing
Dealer. replace shaft (part alone) £300
Indie. replace bearing £80 (including part)

I think I will stick with the folk I trust thanks.

It's a a 2 prong argument though isn't it, end of the day you go with who you trust. IMO airbags should be left for dealerships, not a day goes by when I dont get at least 2 or 3 phone calls for help/advice from independents...why should I help when the information is available through block exemption. BTW I have worked in many independent garages and am certainly not anti-independent however product familiarity is a good thing and can save many hours of wasted diagnostics. Lets us not forget recalls/updates etc of which there are many on the ducato range.

Labour is on average £55-60,if a dealer said it needed a part and it did not resolve the matter I certainly would not be paying.

Your point about only using the dealer for airbag issues is not bourne out by the OP's issues with his light coming on. The dealer has charged him a lot of money and not fixed the problem.

As regards to the recall point, I went to the dealer with the typical Ducato leaking scuttle problem thinking they would fit the engine cover kit that has been introduced to fix this issue to be told they did not know of any leaking scuttle complaints. and no help was offered. :bang:

Needless to say they will never see my van again.

My original reply to the OP was in way of trying to help him to resolve his problem. He dosn't seem to be getting much from the experts.

I am sure you are part of a decent helpful dealership but some are quite the opposite.

I still maintain the OP's best 'bet' is a dealership, however not it seems the one he has already been to. A good dealership would do all they can to help and when they have reached a point they should be calling in the field engineer.

We all have good and bad stories of garages and even a good garage can have a bad day, as in any trade/business. Peoples perception of a lot of money varies. OP has not been back on the forum since starting thread.