Hello!

I have abig problem with my 1993 Ducato 2.5 TD: Is started yesterday, the engine just shut off while driving on the highway and there was a smell of burned plastic. The engine didn't fire on (the starter works! And of course there was enough Diesel in the tank ). I checked the car on the emergency lane and after wiggling some cables and plugs, I tried again and the engine fired on immediately. OK, so we drive on and for another 100 km there was no problem.
But then the same thing happened again: The engine suddenly shut off while driving and there also was this smell again (note that there was nothing during 100 km before!). Because it was dark and we nearly reched our destination I decided to delay the failure search to the next day (today).
So I again checked the car this morning (man, it was cold here in Bavaria ) and found a broken plug on the diesel filter assembly (the lower thick plug with two thick cables, the black one was broken). Ok, I checked if the engine would fire on without connection of that cable, nothing happens. Then I checked with connection and the engine fired on immediately. OK, fine, but the ugly thing was that it also fired on after I remove that cable for another verifcation!
Hmm, since I didn't know what this cable is for, I guessed that perhaps it's some kind of sensor or something like that. So I repaired that plug, hoped that it would explain the problem and we drove off again. No problems - for about 30 km. Then, yeah you guessed right, the engine shut off while driving... Too make it exceptional this time there was also white smoke coming from behind the dash! Together with the already known smell of burned plastic.
OK, I checked that cable on the diesel filter assembly and it was where it should be. So I took the dash assembly apart and found a thin blue/white cable behind the dash that was ugly burned! I made some tests and there's much power on this cable while trying to start the engine: Immediately after engaging the starter this cable begins to smoke!! Note that this cable doesn't seem to burn when the engine runs fine (remember, 130 km without burning or smoking). And since the cable is a small one it shouldn't be supposed to carry that amount of power at all. And also no fuse blows through... So I tried to follow the cable in both directions: In one direction it is connected to plug were it's also connected with another thicker blue/white cable. This cable and the cable after the plug shows no signs of burning. In the other direction that cable disappears in the cable harness... I couldn't find it anywhere. And since I don't have any wiring diagrams it's rather senseless to search for it.

So, here are my questions: Does anyone have a wiring diagram for a 1993 2.5 TD? Or - which would be much better at all - does anyone have an idea what could be the cause of that problem? Any help is really appreciated!! Thanks in advance!

Hi Stickedy,

I had a similar problem (engine cutting out intermittently) with my 1998 TD, which caused me much grief both in experiencing & tracing fault. Luckily it eventually occurred on the driveway!

On the offside wheelarch under the dashboard (my van is RHD; if yours is LHD this location may not apply) is a supersized white plastic 4-way connecting block containing 4 similar giant lucar connectors.

On my van one of these had failed and overheated & corroded & was only making sporadic contact; unfortunately it was the main battery feed to the ingintion switch!!

With hindsight the clue was that when the engine cut out all other ignition controlled functions also failed; in fact in my case it was operating the indicators that occasionally triggered the problem.

Best of luck with fault

Thanks for your reply! Unfortunately the problem isn't related to those connectors: I had enough time today to check the car and I found that this burned cable lead to the preheating unit right above the battery. The two cables to the connector "a" are burned! I examined the unit and found that many solder joints are burned or look if the got very hot in the past. So it seems that my problem is located in the preheating unit...

Anyway, is it possible to remove the unit and bridge the right calbes so that the engine will work without the unit being connected?

In fact it doesnt' work properly since 1993: When the heating light shut off the battery will be empty. So I just start the engine each time in winter without letting it pre-heat...

Does anyone have detailed informations or electrical details about that preheating unit? It looks quite simple so perhaps it's possible to locate the problem and fix it...