Just been up town & had to open the tailgate to put a few bits in the boot (as you do) and the f*&%$£g tailgate stops halfway.
I push it a bit, it lifts a bit more then stops.
It's not even as though it's that cold out there today (well not round here at any rate).
Monday, I'll be having a word with Perrys, this is sooooo not acceptable, the tailgate should be able to lift itself all the way (as mine did originally) using the gas struts.

oh no...I spoke too soon

Oh dear, sorry about that sludge
Mine seem to be working better now for some reason

Fingers crossed you get it sorted (again) soon.

Lyn

Perrys!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Say no more


Once bought a car from their Bletchley branch - I was warned not to by a colleague between paying the deposit and collecting the car but like a fool I continued.

Long story short: I'd rather walk everywhere than ever ever ever ever ever by a car from them again.......

TBH, I can't see how it is their fault, it is possible they've been sent a pair of dodgy struts.
I didn't take that much notice of the old struts, but the new ones look meatier somehow & they have a name - 'lift-o-mat' (sounds really corny!) B418 - I would have thought that genuine parts would be labelled?
I've googled the part & I came across an Alfa romeo forum where a guy has the lift-o-mat B418 strut & his measures 11".

Well, was going to pay Perrys a visit after work.
Walked up to the car, pressed the remote, lifted the tailgate & it went nearly all the way up (about three inches shy)

I mean, surely brand new struts shouldn't be affected by the cold as much as older struts?
I've never had problems with struts on other cars (although I guess the tailgates weren't as heavy - but then I see on the 'lift-o-mat' website that you can buy struts that exert huge forces.

Maybe these just need to 'bed in' & loosen up a bit?

Well, a week later & the tailgate manages to lift almost all the way (just about an inch shy now) but the last couple of days have been much warmer - despite the freezing temps overnight!

sludgeguts said:

Well, a week later & the tailgate manages to lift almost all the way (just about an inch shy now) but the last couple of days have been much warmer - despite the freezing temps overnight!

Click to expand...

Mine's been like that since new, I've always had to push it that last inch. I think the tailgate is just too heavy for the struts.

Looking at the techy specs on the 'lift-o-mat' website, the struts I have now exert an extension force of 150 - 1150 Newtons. The diameter of the outer chamber is 22mm. Upgrading to a 28mm diameter tube would give an extension force of up to 2100N and an extension of 500mm (as opposed to the 400 this size gives).
I don't know what was on there originally but I swear these have a greater diameter outer chamber.

sludgeguts said:

Looking at the techy specs on the 'lift-o-mat' website, the struts I have now exert an extension force of 150 - 1150 Newtons. The diameter of the outer chamber is 22mm. Upgrading to a 28mm diameter tube would give an extension force of up to 2100N and an extension of 500mm (as opposed to the 400 this size gives).
I don't know what was on there originally but I swear these have a greater diameter outer chamber.

Click to expand...

I'm going to measure mine to see if it's the same...

roughly (I don't have a Vernier caliper) I reckon the external diameter is about 22mm.
They are Lift-O-Mat and then it says B418.
Is your Doblo the original shape with the bigger front grill?

RichDoblo120 said:

I'm going to measure mine to see if it's the same...

roughly (I don't have a Vernier caliper) I reckon the external diameter is about 22mm.
They are Lift-O-Mat and then it says B418.
Is your Doblo the original shape with the bigger front grill?

Click to expand...

Mine also says lift-o-mat B418 but I'm certain the old ones didn't have anything on because I really noticed the difference.
My dobbin is the newer shape (2006)

strange that, so it had different struts before but it's the same shape as mine? Mine's an 06 too.
As I said though, I've always had to push the tailgate the last inch or so even when it was brand new.

btw...thanks for the mini-egg voucher, I'll be off to the local Woolies with that tomorrow.

here's the link for anyone who didn't spot it

mini-eggs voucher

it runs out on Saturday so don't hang about

You're welcome, hope you enjoy. My boys have printed off loads & will descend on woolies tomorrow

I agree with you about the tailgate being too heavy for the struts, IMO, these are only just capable of lifting the tailgate & really should be uprated to the bigger struts - although I'll bet if you had the meatier struts, you'd never, ever, ever be able to pull the tailgate down (has visions of people hanging off the tailgate in an attempt to lower it

this is getting a bit off topic but the mrs went into Woolies armed with the voucher and they said it only applied to the 100g bags, which weren't in stock. They had rows and rows of 200g bags though.
It's a conspiracy .

My tailgate always needs an extra push for it to go the last inch or two.
However on the plus side I got my free mini eggs from Woolies today. Cheers.

Rustymini said:

My tailgate always needs an extra push for it to go the last inch or two.

Click to expand...

Is this some kind of double entendre?

My struts not working too well this morning when I went out at 8.30. It was very cold and frosty, so I'm hoping that's why.

Now we're all inspecting our struts and finding faults.
There's going to be a queue of Doblo owners at every Fiat garage in Britain complaining about struts

Having owned a number of hatchbacks, English and foreign, I would say that it is the norm to have the strut push up to wihtin and inch or two, then need a helping hand to make the last little bit. Also, as I said before, they do seem to suffer from the cold.
Glad we bought Dobbin with doors!!