veletron

Just to follow this up.... Bought me a second hand bosch alternator off ebay for £72 (identical unit). Looked at DIYing it - nightmare job. Was then away for a couple weeks, but got garage to fit it today. Cost me £270 just to have the thing fitted - they did comment that it 'was a right pig of a job' ! Suspect their hourly rate is £150... Kept the old alternator, prob get it sorted as a spare esp if I determine that its the brush pack/regulator thats failed.

I made it home anyway without messing up my holiday too much. Hooked up leisure batteries to engine batteries via B2B reversal. Drew about 150AH from leisure batteries for the 250 mile journey home over a few days with various bike rides and walks done on the way south. Tested it out on driveway with a wee 12V light rigged up between battery +ve and alternator. Still cant say alternator or regulator fault, but no output from the alternator. Even changing the combined brush pack and regulator needs alternator removal due to its location so I just bought a 'nearly new' alternator off ebay and have booked it into garage for fitting. Thanks to folks who responded here. Ma 'new' van is getting old! In case its of-use, the alternator fitted to my van is a Bosch 504 385 134 rated at 150A Yes, I have always used it with a B2B, so its had a pretty hard life I suspect.

Agreed, and if it was not such an utter ^£%#& to get at the alternator, I would be able to test it myself. What eejit decided to stuff it down the back of the bulkhead?!?

Reverse charging van battery from hab battery. Will leave that on until the current drops off maybe the solar I get on the way down the road Tomorrow/Thursday is enough to get me home. Not sure what the ECU, pumps and essential electrical gubbins use wattage wise!

Hi thanks. I'll check tomorrow, for obvious reasons I dont want to keep starting the engine! When i measured the D+ that does stuff like signal step in, start the B2B, switch fridge to 12V, tell nordelettronica pannel engine running etc it was 11.7V with engine running 0V engine off. Voltage at van battery did not rise with engine running (on either side of fuse). Ive pulled the DRL's just now, and will prob reverse my B2B and drop it to half power mode. That should get be home so long as headlights not needed. Weather is to go a bit rubbish after tomorrow anyway.

@Labby Light goes out initially for a 2-5 mins and then comes back on again. All fuses/connections on the main plate on top of battery positive seem good. I will get it up on some ramps later so I can get to starter motor and check those connections. I dont believe that the cable is shared directly, but prob goes back to a junction box somewhere. There is also a fuse box under bonet that ill take a look at. I have a 460AH leisure battery so intending to tie this in after engine start as a 'get me home' measure. I have spare cable hanging about in the van. Cheers for tips, all! Pain in the neck!!

Clamp meter is at home, but will try the jump lead trick - that said, if there was an issue with the engine earth strap, I suspect it would not even turn over!

2015 Fiat Ducato When I start the engine, there is only 11.8V on alternator D+. Step comes in and fridge switches to 12V. B2B is on D+ Sense mode (not voltage sense mode) so that will simply be pulling current from the battery regardless. Engine note is noticably higher due to no load from alternator I guess. 2-5 mins later, habitation panel beeps low engine battery voltage, battery light comes on on dash, no current through b2b. Switch off and restart and cycle repeats. I have disconnected B2B, set fridge to run on gas rather than AES and hooked solar up to only charge engine battery - all as a kind of get me home measure (im 250 miles away in the highlands). Anyway, guesses re the fault please! The alternator belt is good. Kind Regards Karen

Having gotten home from my recent break, I thought I would add to this. - I measured the oil quantity that came out: 2.7L - I drained the (incorrect) new oil, and measured that, also 2.7L despite my having added 2.9L. Only real explanation for this is the presense of a 'Dam' when filling via the breather hole. - Given the above, I refilled with 2.7L of Experya as per MLGU gearbox requirement. Note that my using the wrong oil (Geartech) seemed to have resulted in a more notchy gear change, which is why I was keen to change it for what I not know to be the right oil Experya. Note that my drain plug did not have a copper washer, I note that other folks' did have a copper washer fitted. As such I added a copper washer to mine 16mm/22mm/1mm As expected, no metalic muck attached to the magnet on second change and the gearbox has essentially had a flush!! Thanks to all for their help here. I Re-applied some lanoguard too after washing off all the damned road salt.

Yes, I had exactly the same issue with my Sterling Lithiums, but I never used the app anyway as I had a more reliable AH counter. I work from the van fairly often and drained the sterlings dry a couple times, the 460AH fogstar allows more time stationary or without hookup. I do like the Sterling 70A B2B thus far. Incidentally, I found a cable on ebay that allows you to charge LB's from mode 2 EV chargers. Might get me one of those! https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/325614445216

Back in October, I upgraded my 2xSterling 100AH lithiums to a 460AH lithium from Fogstar. I thought I would provide an update. Basically the battery is a game changer! I run it with a sterling Power 70A B2B which puts 60A into the battery when driving (the 70A is its max current draw), I also bought a lithium compatible 1.8KW/50A Inverter/charger from AliExpress for £135 (mainly because it fits under the passenger seat and neither the Victron nor Renogy chargers would (the £135 cost was nice too!). Off the inverter I run a kettle, toaster and hairdrier. On the roof is a lowly 200W of solar because I have no space for more. I fitted all this back in October. Back to the battery, I am an electronics/firmware/software engineer (medical electronics), and I quite often work from the van. This factoid was the main driver for the upgrade as it needs to run a workstation grade laptop that will draw about 8A @12V under load. Currently 5 days in to the latest WfV sesh with 161AH drawn. Expensive, yes, but dropping in price fast. This time next year, such a capacity will be £500 rather than the £1200 that I paid - there is obviously also the additonal expense of lithium compatible on the move, solar and mains chargers to consider. I rarely use sites and if I do I never get a hookup for me motorhoming is about freedom and going on holiday to a 'council estate' of many other vans is just not my bag! My next van is likely to be a self build and aside from heating the domestic side will be 100% electric utilising 4 off 610AH batteries for 31KW/H of capacity on a 48V system. Anyway unlike my lead acids which always disapointed with their performance, lithium and in particular the fogstar has impressed. Karen

@onecal I don't have a 'such a worry' about this. If I did then I would not have set off for three weeks in the van! I would say that I have a 'query' about the gearbox oil, that has garnered both facts and opinions that I shall consider. Your opinion is just one of those presented, and presenting the same opinion over and over does not add to its validity in any way! Your opinion is no more valid or invalid than any others expressed here. Anyway, I got my answers so thanks again to all!

I never received a paper manual with my vehicle unfortunately, but I have read elsewhere that since 2015, fiat started stating 2.9L for my gearbox also. Later versions having been stamped 2.9L on the casing. The gearbox never changed spec, just the oil amount changed. Looking back in time, there was a similar occurrence on the older x244 due to inadequate lubrication of 5th gear when the previous stated amount of oil was used. When I get home I will measure what came out and stick the same in using Experya. The fact that the motor parts retailers list geartech for my engine shows the confusion. I will treat the previous change as a gearbox flush!! If I had gotten it done at my usual garage (note that I don't use fiat garages, too expensive), I would have no clue what they had put in there! Thanks to all who responded with useful info! I should prob have had this discussion before changing out the oil lol! Karen

Thanks all. Having tried to contact fiat technical and get a sensible answer to questions in the past, its simply not worth the time or effort. I guess what I have put in is fine, but I did also see the comments re Matryx. Maybe i'll replace with Matryx when I return from latest trip. I'll also measure how much came out as I put 2.9L back in. As for the engine I have been using Fuchs TITAN GT1 PRO C-2 5W30 for sometime now without issues.

Hi There is alot of conflicting information re the correct gearbox oil for the ducato so wondered what others had put in. I bought Tutela Geartech SAE 75-85W GL4 as it was the recommended oil on two separate sites: https://www.fiatworkshop.co.uk/parts/Ducato_2014_-_2018_Gearbox_Oil.shtml and shop4parts After draining, I added 2.9L via the gearbox breather (long pipe and funnel required) Now wondering whether I have used the correct oil as seen Tutela Matryx and Experya also mentioned! I read various comments about not using a GL4+ or GL5 oil as it messes with the synchros. Any advice from others?