- Joined
- Jul 21, 2011
- Messages
- 254
- Points
- 74
hi to the fellow members of the forum i also am a severely disappointed owner of a ducato van i bought the van in Brisbane and that was my first mistake,pre delivery not done decals all over vehicle no wheel alignment done wiring harnesses exposed in loading area gear shift linkages not adjusted so the selection of a forward gear not possible,and these were the good parts .
With 2300 km on the clock it received its first defect for a broken headlight adjuster vehicle off the road till daylight reported to dealer was told they were too busy to repair(have since found another dealer that has actual mechanics )
At the time of the first peace of mind service 5000k i reported that the front end had settled severely and i had only an inch of compression i was told this was a fiat problem and i had obviously overloaded my van when shown a weighbridge docket of axle loadings i was told again nothing could be done about it as Fiat would not do anything about it and he knew of no fix for it ,I made one phone call to King Springs on the Gold Coast and was told its a common problem and they had supplied several sets of springs to dealers to rectify it (part number KFFR-37 for those who are interested totally transforms the vehicle you can now keep up with traffic without bottoming out the vehicle) If it is known by aftermarket suppliers why not Fiat ?
4 months on (i purchased the vehicle in feb this year) Check engine light came on i pulled over lifted the bonnet checked fluids and rang fiats service number they had conveniently placed on the windscreen was told they had no idea what it could be as engine was running and was advised that i could nurse it home as i was over 1500k from home .Later that night it lost all power and was sooting badly i limped the vehicle into Taroom and camped for the night.when i rang Fiat in the morning i told them of the problem and was advised that while they advertise 24hour seven day a week Australia wide breakdown service Taroom was too far away for them to either get a mechanic or a tow truck to recover my vehicle (Taroom is on the Leichardt Highway what we call the inland way from Melbourne to Cairns) So much for truth in advertising when ATECO was questioned about this i was told sorry but thats the way it is .RACQ Towed me to Toowoomba where it was diagnosed an o2 sender fault 1 week later new sender fitted and new code high fuel reg pressure and guess what parts nil stock Australia and was advised it could be up to 5 weeks to get into country .Through trade contacts i found one in Melbourne through Bosch and had it delivered overnight .New part new code now the injectors are leaking back did leak-back test on injectors and found no4 injector leaking 50ml in 15 secs nos 2 and 3 35 ml in 15 secs and no1 20 ml in 15 secs all out of spec remember this vehicle is only 4 months old with 64000kms on the clock again injectors nil stock Australia and a further 5 weeks wait could be on the cards (obviously Ateco the Australian importer has no idea on how to keep or order parts especially when i can have parts sent from the US and UK in a week) Thankfully the dealer in Toowoomba raided a new vehicle in their yard to get me going (much thanks to Brian and the crew at Classic Autos)
So in 5 months of ownership its been off the road for a month with these sort of problems occurring so early and with Ateco not wanting to supply dealers with support/parts im surprised that any are actually sold in this country
Heres a list of whats been replaced so far :
! x Spare wheel carrier
1 x Headlight Adjuster
1 x Air con Compressor
1 x High Pressure Fuel Regulator
4 x Injectors and fuel lines
2 x Front Springs
1 x Sliding door Sensor
1 x Radio (still waiting for that to come back from testing only 2 weeks so far )
Hopefully this list wont be growing but the time it spends off the road is not acceptable in this day and age
Cheers Adam
With 2300 km on the clock it received its first defect for a broken headlight adjuster vehicle off the road till daylight reported to dealer was told they were too busy to repair(have since found another dealer that has actual mechanics )
At the time of the first peace of mind service 5000k i reported that the front end had settled severely and i had only an inch of compression i was told this was a fiat problem and i had obviously overloaded my van when shown a weighbridge docket of axle loadings i was told again nothing could be done about it as Fiat would not do anything about it and he knew of no fix for it ,I made one phone call to King Springs on the Gold Coast and was told its a common problem and they had supplied several sets of springs to dealers to rectify it (part number KFFR-37 for those who are interested totally transforms the vehicle you can now keep up with traffic without bottoming out the vehicle) If it is known by aftermarket suppliers why not Fiat ?
4 months on (i purchased the vehicle in feb this year) Check engine light came on i pulled over lifted the bonnet checked fluids and rang fiats service number they had conveniently placed on the windscreen was told they had no idea what it could be as engine was running and was advised that i could nurse it home as i was over 1500k from home .Later that night it lost all power and was sooting badly i limped the vehicle into Taroom and camped for the night.when i rang Fiat in the morning i told them of the problem and was advised that while they advertise 24hour seven day a week Australia wide breakdown service Taroom was too far away for them to either get a mechanic or a tow truck to recover my vehicle (Taroom is on the Leichardt Highway what we call the inland way from Melbourne to Cairns) So much for truth in advertising when ATECO was questioned about this i was told sorry but thats the way it is .RACQ Towed me to Toowoomba where it was diagnosed an o2 sender fault 1 week later new sender fitted and new code high fuel reg pressure and guess what parts nil stock Australia and was advised it could be up to 5 weeks to get into country .Through trade contacts i found one in Melbourne through Bosch and had it delivered overnight .New part new code now the injectors are leaking back did leak-back test on injectors and found no4 injector leaking 50ml in 15 secs nos 2 and 3 35 ml in 15 secs and no1 20 ml in 15 secs all out of spec remember this vehicle is only 4 months old with 64000kms on the clock again injectors nil stock Australia and a further 5 weeks wait could be on the cards (obviously Ateco the Australian importer has no idea on how to keep or order parts especially when i can have parts sent from the US and UK in a week) Thankfully the dealer in Toowoomba raided a new vehicle in their yard to get me going (much thanks to Brian and the crew at Classic Autos)
So in 5 months of ownership its been off the road for a month with these sort of problems occurring so early and with Ateco not wanting to supply dealers with support/parts im surprised that any are actually sold in this country
Heres a list of whats been replaced so far :
! x Spare wheel carrier
1 x Headlight Adjuster
1 x Air con Compressor
1 x High Pressure Fuel Regulator
4 x Injectors and fuel lines
2 x Front Springs
1 x Sliding door Sensor
1 x Radio (still waiting for that to come back from testing only 2 weeks so far )
Hopefully this list wont be growing but the time it spends off the road is not acceptable in this day and age
Cheers Adam
