Comfortmatic Gremlins

[Tall_Mike]

Comfortmatic Gremlins have struck us big time -

 

New Fiat X290, 9 months old, 2300 miles on the clock. Under warranty. We are the first owners

 

Drove about 120 miles to Shropshire (From Reading) no issues at all, spent a great weekend. As far as I am aware, no particular precedent or warning of the issues to come.

 

Coming down the slip road to the Motorway, going home was a loud "bing" and a red warning, - couldn't see the damned display in the sun - but it quickly went away and everything seemed fine.

 

Got to the M54 M6 junction, - third lane, - Van lost all drive from 6th Auto, engine running, nothing, coasted through the traffic to the hard shoulder, absolute panic time, nearly got wiped. - Engine still running, - after about 5 mins decided to see if we still had forward motion, we had, - probably should have called Fiat Assist there and then but decided to proceed.

 

Best way I can describe it as if someone put the van in neutral although it wasn't revving abnormally, no drive at all, simply freewheeling motion

 

Drove normally everything seemed fine, but being very cautious in the slow lane - maybe 50 miles, - another loud "bing " picked up the message "transmission problem consult handbook" this time as it was a little darker - error cleared very rapidly, - But really worried by now, wife had her head in her hands.

 

Another 20 miles - normal driving and then the same loss of drive on a roundabout, slightly less panic but still shaking, tried quickly putting it into non auto, no difference, slight pause and off we went again. No further problems in the remaining 30 miles or so.

 

In between times - Van drove perfectly.

 

Absolutely dreadful, wife and I are still shaking from the Motorway incident, how we managed to avoid being rear ended was a down to good driving by myself and those around.

 

Going to be calling my local Fiat agent first thing tomorrow, - if this is Comfortmatic and it's going to do this, and if the agent cannot assure me that it's fixed, bit worried because it is an intermittent fault so I cannot show the dealer, but hope some interesting errors will be picked up on the computer - I cannot live with it, too dangerous.

 

[Tall_Mike]

Had a long chat with the Service Manager at our local Fiat truck place who seemed an honest and realistic guy.

 

Van drove perfectly on the way there - probably about 10 mile trip.

 

He explained that most Comfortmatics are rock solid although occasionally one or 2 give issues and when they do they can be a handful, his plan is to first put our van on the computer and check for errors, given that it threw an error he felt something should be there.

 

Most likely they will replace the packs surrounding the gearbox, he advised that it's too hard to work out what's wrong within these boxes, - They have one other van on their books, not a MH, That has seen similar issues to ours and this action fixed the issue.

 

- He 100% sure that all works will be covered by guarantee so that's a relief, we are about 9 months into a 2 year warranty, didn't have much doubt, but you never know.

 

He also advised that Fiat are really pushing the Campervan market, - they do not want motorhomes with issues and tend to pull out the stops to address problems when they occur, - Also they provide good technical support to their agents (The manager felt he might need Fiat's assistance in our case).

 

I would imagine Fiat do not want to see Camper van owners plastering the internet with issues and problems with their nearly vans.

 

Came away with some feeling of confidence that they can resolve our issue - let's see how they get on.

 

[david lloyd]

Wew are on our second Motorhome with a comfortmatic box fitted and really appreciate the easy driving style on long journeys. Not had any problems with either apart from the idiosyncratic way they decide to change up or down so it would be good to hear the final,outcome - keep us posted.

 

Good luck with the repairs/fix.

 

David

[Mike88]

The gearbox is reliable but the occasional issues that have emerged always seems to be due to the electrics. One I can recall which was difficult to diagnose eventually led to Fiat providing a new gearbox only to find that this did not work either. The eventual solution was minor boiling down to a broken windscreen wiper wire at the rear of the dashboard area which apparently also feeds the gearbox.

 

I have had no problems whatsoever with my Comfortmatic box.

[Tall_Mike]

Thanks, keeping the thread going mainly for the interest of others - Currently haven't heard anything from the Agent but expect too soon.

 

In a 9 month old van that has covered less than 2500 miles of careful use and I feel pretty disappointed while accepting this could happen to anyone, that's what the warranty is for.

 

Did some research - found 3 or 4 instances of such problems on the Web.

 

The causes seem to be:

 

Wrong Battery fitted for a 3ltr Van.

Dodgy wiring - In the Windscreen wiper motor area.

Clutch problems or Slave cylinder leaks onto the plates. (Don't think it relevant for us in this scenario)

Problems with the Gearbox packs - electrical units, servo's etc.

(In one case the customer was supplied a replacement van)

 

In none of the cases I found was the actual gearbox itself found to be at fault although in one case it was changed for a new one.

[Tall_Mike]

Quick update.

 

Called the Garage today - The computer has shown up several errors with the Brake switch.

 

While sounding innocuous it is hooked into the comfortmatic system and provides information, for example "I am braking so I may need to change down". Think it does more than this.

 

The garage doesn't have one in stock, only rarely do they ever need to change these, so need to send to Italy for the part, should be here on Tuesday.

 

They are optimistic that this will solve our problems but cannot give 100% certainty, - They will take the van on an extensive test run, I pointed out that this issue is very intermittent but dire when it does happen, they can only do their best here. We drove all the way to Shropshire without issue - then we need to use the van and see what happens.

 

Does this make sense to the experts on here? - Brake switch problem.

[Dave225]

The brake is indeed the key to the Comfortmatic as all instructions rely on the brake being activated first. If it is sending dogy signals then the Comfortmatic will get confused and probably just shut down.

 

Hopefully this fixes all your problems because as others have stated, it is usually very reliable, especially as the ealry issues of wiring have been solved.

[Tall_Mike]

To update everyone - Worth adding to the knowledge on Comfortmatic.

 

The Fiat dealer fitted a new brake light switch, they took it out for 1/2 hour and re-checked the computer, - no errors, - We have done 2 trips now and no apparent issue so I am going to call the problem fixed. The original problem was very intermittent anyway - so lets see how we go.

 

I found out that there are many versions of brake light switch, each according to the options, - ESP for example or Hill Start, - our van has neither, it is essential to check. As mentioned, the unit is a piece of the whole Comformatic system feeding to the ECU which make it different, our old unit was sending incorrect signals.

 

It has changed our vans behaviour slightly in that when stopping I feel I have to brake a little harder and there is occasionally a tiny lurch as it drops down to first but once moving - no change at all. You soon get used to it. - Might ask our dealer to take it for a spin sometime just to verify that this isn't a problem.

 

[Campfos]

As I have said on previous postings.

Fiat 2.3 150hp 18 month old now.

The day I picked up my motorhome driving from the dealership in Stoke on Trent back to Scotland via Homfirth to collect new silver screens. It stopped changing gear was stuck going over a set of traffic lights got it going but there was a few rather irate drivers. So stopped called Fiat assist as it was new not on there system but had the V5 so gave them the vin no they found it on the database the RAC man appeared after a few hours found two fault codes on the van system for the gearbox he removed them.

Had a quick road test system all working drove it home but the RAC man said take it to local fiat dealers to be fully checked out which I did they said there was some wiring faults they fixed them and we are now done 7500 miles with no problems.

Now after reading your posting about the foot brake I wonder if because the motorhome was new to me I was hiring the brake pedal with the accelerator as I always drive it now with shoes not trainers as I was using when I picked it up.

Something else I wondered the dealer fitted a reversing camera and alarm I wonder if that caused a wiring fault.

So I am very happy overall with the comfortmatic to date.

 

[John Allen]

Debated buying Comfortmatic but glad I chose manual. Bit more hard work but one thing less to worry about in the middle of France on a Sunday. Wife's VW Up ASG with the same ponderous gear change is bad enough but with 3.5 ton of motorhome crossing a roundabout in Paris it is no joke.

[Tall_Mike]

To be honest, the comfortmatic scared me when it lost drive, it will have to go some to regain my confidence. When these things go wrong it's always likely to be fairly drastic and so it proved for us.

 

An inner voice is nagging at me to chop the van in for a manual version, however my wife is disabled and restricted to an auto so I cannot. I have the big feet issue as well, sometimes drive in my socks - The Accelerator and Brake pedals are too close together, I have to be really careful, in-between watching my feet and wondering if it's going to lose drive suddenly, not a receipt for happiness or comfort, - happier when I have arrived and parked up.

 

I came into this with an open mind, on balance the reviews and feedback was good, some swear by Comfortmatic but I am not now so sure. Respect though to those that do like it and have had no troubles.

 

I have a Saab auto which hasn't missed a beat in 2 years, and it's smooth. We spoke with an Italian Adria Owner earlier today and he laughed, he said that in Italy Fiat auto gearboxes are derided, along with Alpha Romeo, (only foreigners or enthusiasts buy them) - much better with a manual, as was his choice, one of the new compact Adria's, nice van.

 

I will give it a chance as we use our van pretty much weekly, love going out, This is what we have - but on balance, avoid Comfortmatic, it aint that good.

 

[ilreeves]

This is also my first MH with a comfortmatic. I bought it without a test drive of the gearbox and when I picked it up and drove the first 20 miles, I thought, What have I done. biggest mistake of my life. The gearbox is awful. But after w few hundred miles I got used to its characteristic and now love it. Yes it is a bit slow from 1st to 2nd. But never causes any problems.

 

I think you may have just been unlucky with this problem and hopefully this will never happen again.