Jump to content

fiat dashboard lighting?


fesspark

Recommended Posts

  • Replies 81
  • Created
  • Last Reply

I suggest you approach your nearest Fiat Professional agent first, as it’s likely that they will know all about the software revision that causes the instrument-cluster to be backlit when the vehicle’s ignition is switched on and can tell you whether you must go through Fiat Camper before they (the Fiat Professional agent) can carry out the revision free of charge.

 

This isn’t an under-warranty task, and is only carried out if an owner of a Ducato X290 requests it. I’m not certain if the revision is only authorised for motorhomes, though the instrument-visibility problem applies to all X290s (especially those with the dinky chrome ‘eyebrows’ over the speedometer and tachometer).

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Me again Derek,thanks for that, used another phone and got through, and the news wasn,t good, Fiat said that after I gave them my Chassis nu; and reg that My vehicle although 2014 model is of an earlier chassis cab and there is no upgrade for it.Not too pleased any suggestions?
Link to comment
Share on other sites

This 3-page thread

 

http://forums.outandaboutlive.co.uk/forums/Motorhomes/Motorhome-Matters/Reading-speedo-in-dull-conditions-/38945/

 

beginning in July 2015 discusses the instrument visibility issue and I notice that I said then that Fiat’s software ‘fix’ would only be applied to Ducato X290 models.

 

As long as the motorhome has the standard cab It’s easy enough to tell an X290 from the earlier X250 as the frontal appearance is significantly altered (particularly the headlamps). The attached photo of a red Citroen X290 and a white X250 makes this apparent.

 

The service manager at a nearby Fiat Professional agency told me that a ‘standard’ X290’s instruments were no worse visibilty-wise than an X250’s (which are generally considered to be hard to see). But when the speedometer and tachometer have the blingy chrome ‘eyebrows’ above them (not offered on X250s but optional on X290s) these put the instruments in shadow and really difficult to see. Evidently Fiat had felt it necessary to address the poor visibilty of ‘eyebrowed’ X290s and had extended the software revision to any X290 motorhome owner who asked for it whether the vehicle had ‘eyebrows' or not. (I don’t know if it’s actually possible to apply the X290 backlighting software revision to an X250, but Fiat Professional agents certainly won’t attempt it.)

 

Various ploys have been suggested to improve matters, ranging from using silver foil to reflect more light up on to the instruments to using LEDs of one sort or another. I’ve used a strip of ‘side lit’ LED flexible strip bought from Aten Lighting

 

https://www.atenlighting.co.uk/led-flexible-335-s-60pm.html

 

The strip is stuck to the underside of the plastic cowl above the instrument cluster and the LEDs shine sideways and strongly illuminate all of the instruments. The LED strip is powered via an ignition-controlled fuse and switched so that it can be turned off at night. In fact, I don’t use the LED lighting that often, as I prefer to use a sat-nav’s speed-readout to tell me how fast I’m going. When I do turn the LED lightng on it’s likely to be when I want to see the tachometer clearly.

X290-X250.jpg.8eab770db17c82ffb48c7723842962b2.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Derek Uzzell - 2016-11-25 6:29 PM

 

I don’t know if it’s actually possible to apply the X290 backlighting software revision to an X250, but Fiat Professional agents certainly won’t attempt it

 

Biggest problem is the onboard computers. If anything is wrong they start flashing the speedo mileage and you need a PC and software to understand the problem. I have read on other forums about sticking some little LED's on so they shine on the instrument cluster. The other option which is the one I used was one of these Head Up Displays. Had it mounted down the front near the windscreen and wired so when you put the ignition on it came on. Dims at night.

 

http://tinyurl.com/j7tyrb9

 

Ideal for KPH as well. Just flip a switch.

 

..

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The O&AL 2015 link I provided above includes references to motorhome owners fitting stand-alone GPS speedometers of one sort or another. This approach does provide the benefits of a good-size digital readout of the vehicle’s speed, the ability to switch between mph and km/h and being easy to install, but it does not address the fact that an X250/X290’s instrument-cluster as a whole is difficult to see in certain daylight conditions. GPS speedometers are not cheap though and (of course) a GPS speedometer will only work when the device can acquire GPS signals.

 

I’ve yet to see what effect the X290 software revision has, but I’ve assumed that it merely causes the instrument-cluster’s backlighting to illuminate just as it will if the vehicle’s headlamps are turned on. When I experimented by turning on the headlamps in daylight I wasn’t impressed by the result, hence I went for front-lighting using LED strip. I tried ‘ordinary’ LED strip and ‘side lit’, and the latter was the more effective. It’s not a difficult DIY task, nor particularly expensive as long as one’s time doing it is ignored.

 

I researched HUD displays when I owned a 2005 LHD Ford Transit-based motorhome, but I wanted a HUD that used a signal from the vehicle’s ECU for the speed readout rather than the GPS type. My Transit’s instrument-cluster was sealed, so an overlay coud not be fitted to its km/h speedometer and to ‘legalise’ the vehicle would normally have required a replacement cluster. Although ECU-signalled HUDs were being marketed in 2005, I could not source one for my Transit model and I eventually chose to stay with the km/h speedo.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I have had the computer upgrade carried out on my x295 to illuminate the dashboard when the ignition is turned on. Yes it is now possible to see the speedo but I have become so used to reading the speed off my Tom Tom GPS that I found I was not watching the speedo. When I did and compared the indicated speed on both units the Fiat speedo was reading lower that the GPS. Allowing for the slight lag of indicated speed on the GPS I still believe the the Fiat reading is lower than actual. Either way I am happy to continue using the GPS for both speed and guidance. Cheers,
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Gary

 

That’s odd, as received wisdom (at least in the UK) is that a speed-readout from a sat-nav or GPS speedometer will be sufficiently accurate for lag, corners, inclines, etc. to be ignored and, when the readout from a vehicle’s original-equipment speedometer differs from the GPS figure, the speedometer figure will be the higher. Basically, the GPS speed figure will be (near enough) correct, whereas the vehicle speedometer will usually overread. This is to be expected as regulations demand that a vehicle speedometer must not underread.

 

A forum member (Steve928) has said earlier that it’s possible with the right equipment to adjust a Peugeot Boxer X290’s software to match the speedometer to the wheel/tyre-size fitted to the vehicle, and I assume that would also be the case for a Ducato X290. I’m wondering if your Auto-Trail’s speedometer-related software has been set for the wrong wheel/tyre combination.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

fesspark - 2016-11-26 9:28 AM

 

If the law is being broken on this display unit, surely the manufacturer is responsible for the problem Fiat 250 ?

 

You’d need to know the criteria involved in defining ‘legally acceptable’ speedometer visibility.

 

A Ducato’s speedometer (X250 or X290) is not easy to read in certain daylight conditions, but it’s certainly no worse than the speedometer of many other vehicles in similar circumstances.

 

My 1996 and 2005 Ford Transits both had a speedometer that was very difficult to see in daylight as it was so deeply inset into the dashboard, and my Skoda car’s speedometer is not much better. It was universally-recognised that a Ford Transit’s instruments were hard to see in daylight and was often moaned about by Transit owners, but Ford never did anything about this.

 

That Fiat has offered a software ‘fix’ for X290 Ducatos is not an admission that the speedometer display does not comply with whatever regulations (assuming there are some!) apply to speedometer visibility - it’s just a reaction to owners’ complaints.

 

It would appear that enough X290 owners have complained about speedometer visibility to encourage Fiat to do something about this, whereas (despite Ducato X250s being marketed since 2006) it’s fair to assume that not enough X250 owners considered poor speedometer visibility sufficiently irritating to make them complain about it.

 

If you can prove that your Ducato X250 speedometer fails to meet regulations covering speedometer visibility, you could demand that Fiat address that issue. Best of luck...

 

(Never mind difficult-to see speedometers - what about the infuriating headlamp dip-switch that habitually triggers the lane-change function?)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Derek it seems I posted lower when I mean't to write higher when comparing the Fiat speedo to the GPS indicated speed. Thank you for questioning my post. Possibly a case of "tongue in eye tooth and could not see what I was saying " or writing!! Today I have covered around 200 klm on mainly flat highway and the Fiat speedo looks to be reading around 5kph higher than the GPS pretty much as you suggested. Cheers,
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Tea Cup - 2016-11-27 1:50 PM
fesspark - 2016-11-27 10:42 AMBeen there done it, My wife blames me when the indicators start flashing when I dip my lights its blxxxxdy annoying to say the least.
It is so so annoying. Plus the aforesaid poor visibility speedo problem.

The indicator-flashing thing was complained about in these 2010/2016 and 2015 forum threadshttp://forums.outandaboutlive.co.uk/forums/Motorhomes/Motorhome-Matters/FIAT-DUCATO-2009-DIP-SWITCH/18186/http://forums.outandaboutlive.co.uk/forums/Motorhomes/Motorhome-Matters/Bl-dy-Indicators/37047/There’s no obvious easy DIY fix to modify this X250/X290 characteristic. I tried temporarily gluing a rubber ‘gate’ to the outside of the plastic shrouding that encloses the steering-column where the direction-indicator/dip-switch lever pokes through, but that didn’t work. The idea was that the ‘gate’ would inhibit the sideways movement of the lever when it was pulled back to dip the headlamps (thus preventing the lane-change function operating spontaneously) but I couldn’t stop the sideways movement and still retain the lever’s upwards/downwards action needed to operate the direction indicators.I’ve found that abruptly ‘knocking’ the lever backwards when dipping the headlamps is less likely to result in the lane-change function being triggered, rather than deliberately pulling the lever backwards and hoping that the ‘pull’ is in a straight line. But even using the knocking-backwards technique does not guarantee that the lane-change function won’t cut in.What is needed, of course, is slightly stronger springs within the lever/switch assembly (as is the case with similar-function parts fitted by other vehicle manufacturers) but as the same lever/switch has apparently been used in Ducatos since 2006, the likelihood of Fiat arranging for that to happen is minimal.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

fesspark - 2016-11-25 11:22 AM

 

Old problem discussed over several months from last March, Now the dust is settled, who do I approach to have the work done on warranty, Fiat or my local Fiat garage? Urgent warranty runs out shortly

 

I identified the same problem with my 2015 Ducato soon after I bought it in May before I'd read any of the forum posts. I just couldn't read the speedo.

 

Phoned the dealer and of course they professed to never having heard of the problem before but whilst I was there getting some other things fixed, I mentioned it to one of their techs and he said Fiat do a fix for it. So called my local Fiat Professional dealer (Northampton) and they booked it in and fixed it free. Watched the tech doing it, he took the dash panels off from the right had side where the switches are and plugged his laptop in. After quite a lot of cussing and tutting, the job was done though he did ask me not to let anyone else know 'cos it's a bit of a pfaff to do :-)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

ColinM50 - 2016-11-29 10:20 AM

Phoned the dealer and of course they professed to never having heard of the problem before but whilst I was there getting some other things fixed, I mentioned it to one of their techs and he said Fiat do a fix for it. So called my local Fiat Professional dealer (Northampton) and they booked it in and fixed it free. Watched the tech doing it, he took the dash panels off from the right had side where the switches are and plugged his laptop in. After quite a lot of cussing and tutting, the job was done though he did ask me not to let anyone else know 'cos it's a bit of a pfaff to do :-)

 

Pretty much the same story here.

 

I contacted the local Fiat professional dealer who said they were unaware of any problem with reading the dashboard speedo and they’d never heard of the software update but would investigate. I chased them up a week later and was told Fiat hadn’t got back to them and that no one at that dealership had heard of it either. I told them that it was being done all over the country and they should look at the motorhome forums. The receptionist still claimed that she was unaware of any problem or fix. Being pushy I insisted on the van being booked in for the following week (despite the receptionist saying that even if it existed they may not have it by then). On the day I simply handed the keys over, helped myself to coffee, got comfy and waited. Forty minutes later it was done and the guy who did it said that was the 1st one he’d done that had gone smoothly because some of them had been a right pig. So much for no one knowing about the problem or the software update at this dealership I thought.

 

As you may know the software update simply puts the speedo and rev counter lights on all the time which does help on a dull day but on a sunny day it doesn’t help at all.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Fiat Professional agents should have little difficulty confirming that there is an officially-approved-by-Fiat ‘fix’ for the speedometer visibility issue. All that needs doing is to GOOGLE-search using "fiat ducato speedometer lighting” as the search-term and all will be revealed...

 

https://www.google.co.uk/?gws_rd=ssl#q=fiat+ducato+speedometer+lighting

 

I’ve attached a photo of an X250/X290 Ducato instrument-cluster. The level of in-daylight visibility achieved by my own LED-strip approach (mentioned above) is significantly better than that in the photo, but I’m not sure how well it would work when the vehicle has the chrome-finish ‘hoods’ over the speedometer and tachometer.

instruments.jpg.18eb3d8a93f11f198f0b6229ea147d09.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Wouldn't one have thought by now they would have fixed the problem on new vehicles ? Something as simple as changing the background to white and the pointers and numerals to black may help. Effective back lighting would be even better. Hardly much of a problem I would have thought.

 

Just for the record Peugeot won't even acknowledge there is a problem never mind following Faits example and at least trying to fix it!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

It would be interesting to know how many owners of Ducato X290 motorhomes demand to have the instrument-lighting software revision carried out. For instance - although I knew there was a Fiat ‘fix’ - I chose to go my own way as I felt that what was being offered would not be particularly effective and (as some reports now suggest) might result in knock-on problems.

 

Speedometer daylight visibility will be poorer on RHD Ducatos and poorer still when the speedometer has the optional chrome hood above the dial. For LHD X290s without the instrument hoods (like my Rapido) owners may not be too fussed and I don’t recall reading criticisms in French motorhome magazines. I’ve never rated Fiat instrument displays where appearance and clarity are concerned and the Ducato X250/X290 display reminds me of cheap Italian cars in the 1970’. It’s a Fiat thing - they won’t change...

 

Safety-related recalls can be checked here

 

http://www.dft.gov.uk/vosa/apps/recalls/default.asp

 

Spurious warning-lights showing on Boxer/Ducato/Relay instruments are apparently not considered ‘unsafe’, but Fiat and Peugeot will replace the instrument cluster (on X250s and X290s) if the fault occurs.

 

As I suggested earlier, if Peugeot does not offer Fiat’s software-tweak solution to speedometer-visibilty complaints, it may be that they cannot rather than will not. It’s been reported that a Boxer X290’s gear-shift indicator functions differently from an X290 Ducato’s, so the Fiat software revision may not work on Boxers.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Just keep reporting on the dash lights and are concerned about safety.The same as the problem whit the diesel filter against the fire wall.They can blow out your diesel tank. Fiat declines due to bad re-torque of the seal when replacing the filter and not a running check under pressure which is 3 barg/psig. A lot in the uk by RV owners very strange. If more than 200 complaints fiat must take measures. Has any one had a recall on the takata airbags where shrapnel can come out?
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.


×
×
  • Create New...