TheFrenchConnection

Thanks Max, very useful. Agreed, one of the things I find about driving the camper is 'because you can't hurry it, you don't try to' so more relaxing despite the size! M

Thanks for that. Interestingly I had contacted Truma's UK help line after I had posted here and their prompt reply today was: White smoke for up to 2 minutes means the angle of the fuel pump is wrong, any longer and it means there is air in the system. So that issue seems to have fixed itself. It could possibly be that the fuel pump is getting ready to fail, you'd need to get booked in at a dealer though to have this checked as we can't say anything for sure without inspection- One of their suggestions was also the pump angle. The system has worked normally since we bought the van in 2017 (2015 registration) and we were on a level Aire at the time so maybe not that. It was pretty windy on the Aire, wind from behind and probably funneling between two vans so that's a distinct possibility. The inlet and exhaust are clear, I removed a very slight kink We no longer hear the pump ticking, so unfortunately they could be right and the pump might be on its last legs... booking in to the local agent tomorrow, probably have to arrange a mortgage later! Mike Out of interest we had white smoke just once before, and once only. Back in 2019 we were descending into Peso da Regua in Portugal down a very, very steep narrow road (thanks Satnav) needing second gear on the over-run for quite a while for control. Quite a cloud of white smoke on arrival which baffled me at the time - now I realise the pump would have been working uphill at a lot more than 25°!

Thanks Keith - great idea Mike

Our Truma D6E heating/hot water produced a cloud of white exhaust smoke at start up recently, soon diminishing and then dissapearing. Since then there is a very occasional and very small whisp of smoke at start up. Subjectively the exhaust is slightly smellier and, and also subjectively, it seems to be using slightly more fuel. Before I spend a fortune having our local agents have a look has anyone else experienced this and have any comments? Thanks Mike

Thanks Derek, It has been suggested in the past to drop the pressures a touch but I'm very wary as we run very close to out 3.5 tonnes and usually use a fair bit of autoroute running with possible heat build-up. I'm thinking of thr Crossclimates for a change if nothing else! Mike

Thanks Keith, Something to think about. I'd heard that the CP tyre sidewalls were better adapted to standing for long periods? Mike

Thanks Max, I was coming round to the Crossclimates particularly as they have the 'three mountains' mark - not that I intend to do any snowy routes but it just avoids the hassle of carrying chains or socks for some of our routes into Spain. How do you find the ride and wet weather grip, my main concerns with the Continentals? Mike

We're looking at new front tyres for our Ducato-based A-Class, and possibly rears as well as I have scuffed the wall of our nearside rear and French regs will insist on a pair. So far we've always had Continental Vanco Campers (215 70 15) but I feel they are very hard-riding, epecially on the kind of ripples and 'repairs' that the Spanish seem to specialise in. Just me, or do others feel the same? I'd be interested in anyone's opinion on suitable replacements. Thanks

E Leclerc supermarket, cars and vans. Very pleased with van hire from our local branch In Charente Maritime. Daily rates are low but watch out for mileage charges. Suited us as we needed time not distance!

Thanks again that's a great help. The diagnostics were carried out by a FIAT Professional after all the filter/dpf hassle but before the first 'low power, no EML' situation. They found nothing amiss, so the soot is probably not excessively high? (As an aside they didn't charge as they found nothing. Remarkable - particularly in France!) How complicated is a manual clean and is it a task for a (different) local guy who I trust or the FIAT Professional who is 65km away? (rural France is very rural!) I'd prefer to get this sorted properly, so a clean followed by an oil/filter change seems like good insurance. Is there any great risk to a 300km round trip away to see whether the cleaner is working or we get anther low-rev problem? Sorry, one more question, how do you know if there's been a re-gen, do you lose power during it? Sorry for all these question and for your help. Modern diesels are new ground for me - I can sort problems on my MGB without diagnostics!

Thanks. How do you establish the soot levels, would that have been something the diagnostics would have picked up? The outside temperature has been relatively low, between 21° and 25°, and the display seems to be fairly accurate. Coolant temperature is reliably half-a-needle's width below the mid-way mark.

Thanks for the advice - unfortunately the FIAT diagnostics didn't show up anything although the camper seemed to run better afterwards (and bizarrely the slightly glowing warning lights seem to have gone out - don't ask me!) possibly as the current misbehaviour isn't triggering the EML. Oil and filter (and fuel filter) are new, about 2km before the first EML! I've tried running a good distance at higher revs to try to trigger a re-gen but haven't been out since so don't know whether that's helped. How do you go about a DPF clean other than a re-gen? I have a tin of Bardahl's Décrassant which, among other things, claims to clean the particle filter so we'll try that

I suspect this will end up on a FIAT technical site but perhaps someone here will be able to help and throw some light on this long saga so please bear with me. It's a Challenger A Class on 2.3 Multijet Ducato base, registered April 2015 so could be a 2014 chassis, problems started at about 55,000km (around 35,000 miles). A local independant garage did an oil change, air cleaner and fuel filter change. The tank was lowest I have ever allowed it to go and I had to fill at a truck pump for the first time. Almost immediately the EML illuminated with no apparent loss of power. Returned to the garage whuch found no codes and turned the EML, out. Vehicle running normally. About 100km later - EML on, vehicle in limp mode, 'Check Fuel Filter' message. No codes recorded but this was with my simple code reader. Erased the non-existant codes to return to garage, which diagnosed faulty sensor on the filter, which they replaced. Long story short the EML, limp mode and 'Check Fuel Filter' message continued to return several more times, even after the garage replaced the filter itself - but the intervals were increasing. Same lack of codes, but 'clearing' them restored performance. Garage washes its hands of the problem and says go to a FIAT professional for diagnosis. But next... twice, EML, limp mode 'Check Engine' message but this time codes P00402 (EGR flow excessive) as a Current fault and P0401 (EGR Flow Insufficient) as a Pending fault. OK, so now it's the EGR. So while waiting to get to the Fiat Professional I added Bardahl's EGR cleaner and we did over 150km with no problem before loss of power at low revs, but no EML, no limp mode. Low-end power returned after about 10km and everything back to normal. No codes recorded. No trouble for over 300km (including the FIAT 'nothing found' diagnosis) before the same loss of power at low revs which cleared after an hour's stop with no codes recorded and the vehicle running well afterwards. I'm thinking that this could all link back to the almost empty tank and/or dirty fuel from the commercial pump, with the problem moving back along the line. Is this temporary loss of low-end power after about 300km something to do with the DPF and regeneration? Any ideas, theories or even wild guesses would be most welcome - it's getting on my nerves!