Technical Fuel Additve Warning

[Kithough]

Please help, I have a newly aquired Fiat Ulysse 2004, The Diesel particulate filter additive warning showed its face a day after arriving home with the motor, after reading this forum I purchased the DIY kit from FIAT approx £44, i then after purchasing the additive asked, "How much for you to do it and reset the computer" £70 i was told, including VAT the whole job came to £137

Nice one i thought after reading the prices quoted on the forum of up £1000.

Picked car up, started engine and the warning light came straight on !

Went back into garage, was told to bring car in next week to have them retry with their computer thingy majiggy bob as the engineer has now gone home.

its been retryed,

Then was told a report would go to FIAT HQ for advice and i would hear within a week, 2 and a half weeks later after no one returning my calls i went in to be told i'll have to bring car in and leave for a few days, but their would be a cost !!!

No way i said i've payed to have this job done already which youve not done !!

Anyways months later, FIAT HQ have agreed to pay initial charge that garage want to charge. Don't really want to send car back there.

so my questions are

1. The tanks has been topped up, even though i still get the error message saying tank is low, Will the additive still added to the fuel tank or does it stop doing its job on activation of the error message.

2. if it does carry on doing its job, what is the average time it lasts for before needing topping up again.

Theory is if it carries on doing its job, i'll not reset message and just keep an eye on tank level and pay the £44 to top tank up every 40k etc


Question 3 does anyone know a fiat dealer they trust and who knows about this problem. as i don't trust Preston Motor park especially when i had to give them the flippin part number for the additive in the first place.

Regards

Chris

 

[maisie the ugly bug]

Hi
You could always try a Peugeot or Citroen garage, fiat ulysse is same car as a Peugeot 807 or Citroen C8.
Best of luck

 

[digger58]

As far as I know the additive level has to be re set after filling by the use of the main dealer computer programme, Citroen call it LEXIA, Peugeot - Planet, try the eurovan2 site for a lot of good info on this issue. we had a C5 with this feature and eventually Citroen paid half the cost of trading due to all the problems we had with it, Are you doing a lot of town driving/short journeys? I feel a lot of these problems are down to system not reaching high enough temperatures to regenerate. Hope this helps

 

[Kithough]

I know the onboard computer has to be reset once the additive has been topped up.

However, what im trying to find out is, when the error message appears saying the additive is getting low, does it stop adding the additive or does it continue to work adding the additive until the tank runs dry.

really need a definitive answer to this if someone could help.

regards

chris

 

[digger58]

I think it stills uses the additive as long as its there, not sure, as I said look at the site I suggested, it has loads of info on that including how to get rid of the system altogether! This cures all the problems, remember not all vehicles had this feature from new. what is your driving pattern? having been through all of this I believe this has a huge bearing on the behaviour of the system, the main dealer was inclined to agree with me in the end, This was not designed for a vehicle that only potters around!!!!!!