Hi all
I have recently finished a motorhome conversion on my ducato and went to norfolk for a little break this week. On wednesday eve i went to start the van and it just spun over. Tried 3 or 4 times and not wanting to annoy other site users i called the recovery line to get a mech out to look at it. A local yokel arrived 15 minutes later, sure he was hanging around waiting for a bite.
told him the symptoms and he went straight to the fuel filter, pipe off turn the engine, nothing, no fuel at all. He put it back on the filter, did a few twirls and bends looking over the engine and took the filter pipe off again, tuuurnnn her oveeerrrr, sorry my norfolk accent in type He had fuel so quickly put the line back on and said turn her over again and guess what ? Nothing, it was my birthday as well, we were going to wells for a fish supper on the Quay, he then cracked open one of my injectors, i said woooaaw, should you be doing that with that much pressure around, he just said turn her over twice, tightened it back up and hey ho, next turn, off it went.He said it was an airlock ??
I believe these to be a pressured system but said hey ho whatever and got off th the cod and chips. All was well for the evening and indeed in the morning. But when we parked up at holkham, took the dogs for a run, returned to the van Nothing, same thing.We were actually leaving from there to come back home. Called the hotline again, he came out but this time could do nothing, i said how about trying your code reader to see if anythings occuring ? oooo rrrr he said but his reader could not connect with the van. We settled on a ride home on the truck as we were getting nowhere at the lakeside.I am not a mechanic but am not daft. I thought ok no fuel, checked the fuses and relay, still nothing. disconnected the plug on the in tank pump and checked for a short 12v feed upon key turn, Nothing but a 0.035 reading so just a nominal trace which means deeper probs. I then happened to note the lock symbol on the dash so read my manual and here we are. the fault symbol stays on when the key is turned to MAR position, so please can someone tell me where now ? i had a bump in the van last july on the nearside which involved remov al of several items connected to the nsf chassis area to facilitate repairs. I have read here that earth points could be to blame, not being tightened correctly etc, if so where am i to look for them and please tell me in laymans terms as i do suffer from old age memory....
My key could be to blame so does it mean new keys or recoding ?
Getting ahead of myself here, i removed the pump from the tank and did a manual 12v feed to it and it spat like a python so that puts the pump in the clear.
could you please help me with this matter and i promise to post phots of the conversion for you all to see as i am really proud of it
Thanks for your help with this matter, i have kept it light hearted as i actually feel like crying

Hi.
Sounds like it didnt ruin your trip.. but is a worry..

Ok. Keys: the chip is read by an aeriel near lock barrel.

The immob symbol should appear for a few seconds..then go out

Hi
Just as an off-chance & seeing that it has at some stage had a bump of sorts, might be worth checking the Fuel Cut off switch for a partially activated ? or maybe a faulty switch itself or it being disturbed during your fit out or bad wiring connections associated to it. Have heard hitting large potholes can also trigger it!
It is located up under the dash in the drivers footwell & is referenced on page 62 of the owners manual.
Just a thought - sounds odd, fuel 1 minute then nothing the next!
Cheers

Hi
Appreciate the answer. I did look that up before the recovery came. Actually whilst waiting for him. Pushed the top and although not a resounding click I felt a small click but to no avail but I do understand your theory and yes I will be getting these looked at but bank holidays just stop the country turning.whilst writing this the radio has just said Boris Johnson could be prime minister. That will do it. I was wondering whether just to get me to work to get it looked at if I can pulse a short burst of 12v to the pump just to get it going when I turn the ignition on. I work with motorhome s but body side not much ?

So.
Does the lock symbol reliably come on..?

Or just on occasions??

That would be my 1st call..

As it remaining immobilised will probably be the reason for cut fuel.

Charlie

Hi Charlie
Yes as soon as ignition on the symbol appears and stays. I have just removed cleaned and put back the earth strap chassis to gear casing to ensure a good earth but no different. I have booted a little fuel up through a direct 12v connection for 3 seconds whilst cranking but nothing. I guess the control unit stops that anyway electrically ? Never had the lock symbol before that I've noticed and it certainly does not appear whilst driving

Lock symbol is :

Immobiliser active.

So either the key chip isnt being read..

Or as likely.. there is another fault.

Have tried both keys?


We once had a similar issue..
it was Temp. Related.. needed 20'c in cabin

A relay swap fixed it

Confused now mate.
Looking at the fiat manual as I type and it says if lock symbol comes on constantly it is potential fault.
I have had the key tested this morning and the key is good ?

I may be able to help you here.............................

I had a similar problem when my van just stopped after a fuel fill while miles from home. In the end I had to get it recovered then set about finding the fault. Fuel pump ran fine when given independent 12 volt supply. All fuses and relays checked so a head scratching moment.

It ended up being a broken wire in the harness so rather than mess about trying to trace the actual break I traced it back to the connector in the van, cut the wire at both ends and put in a substitute bit of cable. Hey presto!! Works a dream.

If your pump is running with direct power supply have a look at the wires to the plug on the pump, there are power wires and sender until wires as I recall but not that tricky to find. Trace it back (by colour) to the connector and check for continuity with a meter.

Just read your post again and I got the exact same low reading on the test, just enough to let the pump run intermittently but not continuously.

GO FOR IT!!!

Thanks for that input.
I have done a continuity from pin 87 of the relay in the engine fuse box to pin 1 live of the tank pump connector and it is fine. I have done an earth test on connector 2 of the pump connector and I have earth. I have earth and direct battery 12v to relays T09 and T10. I have no feed from the ecu to pin 86 of T10 relay which controls the switching of the relay..
I did a continuity between pin 91 of the ecu plug b the right hand one and got a pulse beep on my tester. Meaning I touched it. It beeped and stopped. I have to try to see if I have a permanent feed at pin 91 of the ecu connector which I will do later.
That's where I am up to to date

I went round all those things and found conflicting and misleading results, it looked as though there was power to the pump but it just wasn't enough so maybe just a few strands of the wire were intact inside the insulation. Touch wood mine hasn't missed a beat since I fixed it I've now got the speedo issue but that is entirely different.

Hope you get it sorted and let us know what it was, the accumulated empirical information on this sort of forum is really handy!

I thanks you all for the input. I will let you know the outcome as i do understand how important even the slightest piece of info is.
But after it self started on Thursday night last week after removing the plug from the ecu to check for live at pin 91, replacing it and magic happened i am no better off.
its going to work on Wednesday to be hooked up to to the fiat computer to see whats happened or indeed whats happening. I have a feeling it is electrical and could involve the dreaded frayed wire scenario but it will be interesting to see if there are any stored faults
I will know more by the end of the week
Thankyou
Brett

Same here, 2012 Ducato 130 Ducatiman I followed you instructions and I got my van started. Two weeks ago was trying to trouble shoot and O2/Lambda sensor keeps coming up every 3rd start (P2231 & P0130), replaced the O2 sensor, no difference. Started to pin out the sensor wires with a tone meter. went to try and start it and car/lock appeared on console, could not start. Got a local auto elec in and he spent a few hours pulling at those wires behind the O/S Headlight, got nowhere and he never came back. So went at it today myself and followed his lead and after finding a few hot relays on the outside fuse box replaced them, lock went out and van started.....I had this problem before 9,000 miles ago when I got van first (see previous hzk916 post). But it has been good as gold ever since, two of the wires to the H/P diesel pump were broken, soldered and S/Wrapped that was two years ago. Early this year one of those same wires had another break further down the wire I soldered in a new piece of wire, all good. I am using two pins with a multi meter (tone).