Technical Glitches and engine warning on highways

[lycopersicum]

Hello everyone,
I bought a 2013 Ducato (2.3L 130 hp, 150,000 km) three weeks ago and quickly ran into engine trouble.

First drive: 500 km (highways), a "check glowplugs" warning came on but otherwise it ran perfectly fine.
Took it to the garage to get that fixed, it was a disconnected cable on one of the plugs.

Second drive: 500 km (highways), worked fine for 2 hours and then the cruise control started disconnecting randomly every hour or so. Later the check engine light came on while downshifting at a toll booth.

The next day I drove it to a garage. The check engine light was off when I arrived; they couldn't find anything wrong aside from noise that suggested a worn clutch fork or thrust plate (slight clanging noise in neutral that goes away when depressing the clutch pedal fully).

Third drive: 500 km (highways). Again it worked fine for 2 hours, then the glitches started again. This time I didn't use the cruise control; with each glitch the engine RPM would abruptly dip with a jolt and come back up to speed after half a second. This happened twice and then the check engine light came on exactly the same way, while downshifting at a toll booth.

The next day I drove it to a FIAT garage. Again the check engine light was off when I arrived. They found a bunch of warnings, cleared them, saw that the oil level was too high (maybe 1-2 cm above max) but told me that didn't need fixing. They took it on a test ride, said it ran fine and thought it was dirty fuel. They told me to just reset the car if the check engine light came back on.

Fourth drive: 500 km (highways). Same pattern: it worked fine for 2 hours, then the glitches started again. Later the engine light came on while accelerating together with a big puff of white exhaust smoke that lasted maybe 5 seconds. From then on it was in limp mode and couldn't get out of it by resetting the car. I left the highway and while reversing to park the engine stalled with a warning about oil pressure. So I got it towed to a garage and I'm hoping they find something this time, but they're too busy to look at it at the moment.

I'm a little worried that I bought a problem car. What do you think of all this?

There was no other warning light and the temperature gauge was exactly mid-range whenever I looked (which I'm now thinking is a little suspicious).

 

[jackwhoo]

Possible crankshaft sensor is starting fail when it gets hot...... failing crankshaft sensors often do not set a fault code. Though I .Can't see how that would cause white smoke

Well worth having the large ground wires checked, Battery to chassis, chassis to engine.

 

[bugsymike]

I will let others better qualified to advise on the rest of issues, but "The next day I drove it to a garage. The check engine light was off when I arrived; they couldn't find anything wrong aside from noise that suggested a worn clutch fork or thrust plate (slight clanging noise in neutral that goes away when depressing the clutch pedal fully)."
If just resting your foot slightly on clutch pedal I would have agreed, but if you have to completely depress pedal you are isolating the gearbox, so would indicate noise from that area. It's not unusual on a high mileage vehicle but certainly not ideal.

 

[lycopersicum]

Thank you both, I'll check up on that and report.

I'm wondering if the excess oil could explain everything? I see reports that overfilling can cause the engine to misfire and also cause low oil pressure. But the FIAT mechanic wasn't worried about it.

 

[bugsymike]

Any chance it was trying unsuccessfully do a Regen of the DPF hence the white smoke and could possibly account for raised oil level if diesel contaminated. Does oil smell like diesel and thinner than normal oil?

 

[lycopersicum]

I don't remember how the oil smelled. But it was quite black whereas it was supposed to have been changed before the sale by the dealer.

 

[bugsymike]

I don't remember how the oil smelled. But it was quite black whereas it was supposed to have been changed before the sale by the dealer.

Diesel engine oil does tend to get contaminated and black quite soon after oil changes, especially with higher mileage vehicles, but level shouldn't rise or smell of diesel etc.

 

[lycopersicum]

Quick follow up; it was the DPF. Had to be replaced as well as one injector.

 

[Reg 65]

Thanks for coming back to let us know.
Its very helpful for future reference, but some people don't bother to let us know.