Jim IOW
New member
Hi all, hope everyone is safe and well, thought I would recount the last few months of Doblo ownership...
Way back in 2004 I had a brand new Doblo as a company car which was pretty well perfect for my needs at the time. Fast forward fifteen years and I had moved to the Isle of Wight and was working as a musician I had a Jaguar S Type for day to day and a Fiat Scudo for the band and my photography. The clutch went in the Scudo, it is a pull clutch and a complete nightmare and although I had it replaced, the thing was nigh on undriveable. I had the idea of selling both and buying one vehicle that would do the job. Fond memories of my Doblo led me to think that this was the answer so I started looking and bought a 2007 silver 1.9 Multijet Doblo. First was the air con did not work, the dealer sorted that, it was the condenser. The glow plug warning light comes on, it still does, but the dealer replaced the glow plugs and then a load of wiring. I booked it in with a local guy to do the cam belt, and a t junction in the injection system was leaking, so that was replaced at the same time. Oil change light came on, did the oil and filter. I thought all was well until..
A strange noise accompanied acceleration, then it went into limp mode, the fault code indicated a problem with the DPF, my local guy cleaned it, I used an additive recommended by a fiat mechanic. The level of soot within the DPF was unbelievable. The codes were re-set but within two miles we were back into limp mode with DPF fault. I decided to bite the bullet and replaced the DPF, this lasted a day before we were back into limp mode with a DPF fault.
I am attending college and we have a students studying motor technology so I approached their lecturer who has access to software from all of the manufacturers. He took the exhaust system off completely. The back box was blocked with soot, the DPF was completely blocked and the CAT was also blocked. He cleaned all of these. He was extremely surprised that the DPF was by then, less than a week old, I had to show him the receipt to prove it.
The car then ran for nearly a whole day but went back into limp mode this time with "Engine Failure" as a warning. The exhaust was again extremely dirty,and I said that if it had any bearing on what was happening that I was still getting this strange "Hissing" noise when accelerating. He kept the car for about a week and then had a breakthrough, the cause of the trouble was the high pressure hose to the turbo. The split was not apparent as off boost there is a vacuum which holds the hose together, soon the ramp at idle it could be seen, but under load the pressure is positive and the split opens. It appears that the split was causing the problems. he replaced the hose and on that score all has been well, at odd times the engine sounds as though there is something chirruping away under the bonnet but it seems to be running fine.
He looked at the glow plug warning light issue, the glow plugs work but intermittently the car thinks there is a problem so probably an issue with the control unit, it is not affecting the car in any way so I have left it.
ABS failure warning on first start of the day if it is cold or damp..Some owners report that this could be a battery, if the battery is less than 100% perfect it causes the ECU to report the first fault, some others have suggested condensation on a ABS sensor I do not know if either are true, but once over the first start of the day it never reappears, my MOT tester says this will not be a problem come the test.
On occasion I get a noticeable judder when lifting off or stationary in traffic, I have been told that this may be something to do with the regeneration process where the injection system momentarily diverts fuel to be burnt in the DPF. It is always cleared by turning off and on or when the traffic clears and I can drive a little faster.
The handling was a little odd and stability was an issue, none of which I remembered from my original Doblo. The front tyres were worn but not illegal, but they were a very cheap budget brand. I have just had these changed and it has transformed the car, I did not realise they were so sensitive to tyres.
I get the odd strange message, bulb failure for one, although all bulbs were working, it cleared itself.
On the plus side, it takes my guitar amps and PA system, all of my photography equipment, is very economical and we are using it as a micro camper and funnily enough makes me smile when I drive it. I added a DAB radio with Bluetooth, using a windscreen DAB aerial and have no issues with reception at all.
There really is not much out there that can rival the practicality of it, especially for the bargain price that they are secondhand and despite it's foibles I can't imagine being without it!
Way back in 2004 I had a brand new Doblo as a company car which was pretty well perfect for my needs at the time. Fast forward fifteen years and I had moved to the Isle of Wight and was working as a musician I had a Jaguar S Type for day to day and a Fiat Scudo for the band and my photography. The clutch went in the Scudo, it is a pull clutch and a complete nightmare and although I had it replaced, the thing was nigh on undriveable. I had the idea of selling both and buying one vehicle that would do the job. Fond memories of my Doblo led me to think that this was the answer so I started looking and bought a 2007 silver 1.9 Multijet Doblo. First was the air con did not work, the dealer sorted that, it was the condenser. The glow plug warning light comes on, it still does, but the dealer replaced the glow plugs and then a load of wiring. I booked it in with a local guy to do the cam belt, and a t junction in the injection system was leaking, so that was replaced at the same time. Oil change light came on, did the oil and filter. I thought all was well until..
A strange noise accompanied acceleration, then it went into limp mode, the fault code indicated a problem with the DPF, my local guy cleaned it, I used an additive recommended by a fiat mechanic. The level of soot within the DPF was unbelievable. The codes were re-set but within two miles we were back into limp mode with DPF fault. I decided to bite the bullet and replaced the DPF, this lasted a day before we were back into limp mode with a DPF fault.
I am attending college and we have a students studying motor technology so I approached their lecturer who has access to software from all of the manufacturers. He took the exhaust system off completely. The back box was blocked with soot, the DPF was completely blocked and the CAT was also blocked. He cleaned all of these. He was extremely surprised that the DPF was by then, less than a week old, I had to show him the receipt to prove it.
The car then ran for nearly a whole day but went back into limp mode this time with "Engine Failure" as a warning. The exhaust was again extremely dirty,and I said that if it had any bearing on what was happening that I was still getting this strange "Hissing" noise when accelerating. He kept the car for about a week and then had a breakthrough, the cause of the trouble was the high pressure hose to the turbo. The split was not apparent as off boost there is a vacuum which holds the hose together, soon the ramp at idle it could be seen, but under load the pressure is positive and the split opens. It appears that the split was causing the problems. he replaced the hose and on that score all has been well, at odd times the engine sounds as though there is something chirruping away under the bonnet but it seems to be running fine.
He looked at the glow plug warning light issue, the glow plugs work but intermittently the car thinks there is a problem so probably an issue with the control unit, it is not affecting the car in any way so I have left it.
ABS failure warning on first start of the day if it is cold or damp..Some owners report that this could be a battery, if the battery is less than 100% perfect it causes the ECU to report the first fault, some others have suggested condensation on a ABS sensor I do not know if either are true, but once over the first start of the day it never reappears, my MOT tester says this will not be a problem come the test.
On occasion I get a noticeable judder when lifting off or stationary in traffic, I have been told that this may be something to do with the regeneration process where the injection system momentarily diverts fuel to be burnt in the DPF. It is always cleared by turning off and on or when the traffic clears and I can drive a little faster.
The handling was a little odd and stability was an issue, none of which I remembered from my original Doblo. The front tyres were worn but not illegal, but they were a very cheap budget brand. I have just had these changed and it has transformed the car, I did not realise they were so sensitive to tyres.
I get the odd strange message, bulb failure for one, although all bulbs were working, it cleared itself.
On the plus side, it takes my guitar amps and PA system, all of my photography equipment, is very economical and we are using it as a micro camper and funnily enough makes me smile when I drive it. I added a DAB radio with Bluetooth, using a windscreen DAB aerial and have no issues with reception at all.
There really is not much out there that can rival the practicality of it, especially for the bargain price that they are secondhand and despite it's foibles I can't imagine being without it!
