Guest Tracker Posted January 5, 2012 Share Posted January 5, 2012 As Mrs Curry has not been on here since 7.50 on 31st December she will have missed all the bitching - lucky her! What conclusions can we draw from that? Well none actually! Either she found the answer within the first few postings as Brian suggested or she thought that the replies were a waste of time and no help at all - or something completely different? What is slightly worrying is that we never see Mrs Curry or Brian on here at the same time? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colin Leake Posted January 5, 2012 Share Posted January 5, 2012 Bearing mind that we had read reports of Merc based motorhomes tending to roll about a bit we were interested in one but given that my wife has a tendency to motion sickness we took a test drive in it first. Unfortunately before we got back to the dealer she indeed did have to exit the van rather quickly to be sick. That for us put pay to that. The Fait with it's firm suspension is no problem for her. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trevor166uk Posted January 5, 2012 Share Posted January 5, 2012 euroserv - 2012-01-03 12:22 PM Hello, and Happy New Year. Did you miss me? You seemed to be having some fun anyway! Anyway; to the point.... There are some very frustrating electrical issues with the X250 van. We have had many instances where, completely without any warning a van has refused to start. This is normally due to degradation of the earth cable that runs from the gearbox to the chassis. For some insane reason the ECU gets it's power through this route and if there is insufficient current it just will not play ball. While driving you can sometimes see the battery warning light on and this suggests a lack of charge being returned to the battery. It never actually is though; it is the ECU flagging a problem in the only way that it knows how. Jump starting; even following the correct procedure, will also sometimes blow the CAL5 fuse that is attached to the battery terminals, or weaken it and cause similar symptoms. Although the usage of our vehicles is quite different to yours, I think it is worth repeating that we have not yet had to change any of the batteries on these vehicles, some of which are approaching 5 years old and 300,000 miles! The first thing to do is to clean the joint between the earth strap and the chassis. This may help, but if you see any oxidisation on the cable it will almost certainly need replacing. Get an new one made up by an electrician and make it 6" longer. Attach it securely to the chassis point and then remove one of the screws on the gearbox end cover. Put the other crimp terminal in place and screw it down tightly using a shakeproof washer. This is the best you can do and appears to be the 'fix' recommended by Fiat to the dealers. We have had no further problems with vehicles so modified, but more than half of the vehicles we have over 2 years old have had to be repaired. It may well be that the original poster has fled (or just did not feel like thanking or updating you) but this really is what you need to do and it should be comitted to memory! Don't be discouraged by the fact that sometimes a question is more than adequately answered in the first couple of replies. Sometimes a generic answer is not enough though and specific knowledge of the vehicle is necessary. Even if it's from Rupert123 who has a perfect van and will never have any problems. Sorry, could not resist! Nick This oxidising of the earth strap and mounting points intruiges me. Are you saying it simply gets rusty, in which case a preventative treatment with waxoyl or simiar would perhaps avoid the problem happening. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Tracker Posted January 5, 2012 Share Posted January 5, 2012 trevor166uk - 2012-01-05 6:59 PM This oxidising of the earth strap and mounting points intruiges me. Are you saying it simply gets rusty, in which case a preventative treatment with waxoyl or simiar would perhaps avoid the problem happening. I don't have one of these vans and I have never seen the offending earth strap so I can only surmise. Iron and steel rust, which is a form of oxidisation, but in this case I took it to mean that oxidisation in the form of aluminium corrosion affects either the earth strap or it's fastening point to the engine or gearbox. This could be electrolytic corrosion which often happens when two dis-similar metals are in contact in a moist or wet environment - and an engine bay gets plenty of wet and condensation. No ammount of waxoyl or cleaning will stop that form of corrosion. Maybe the earth strap is no longer made of high grade copper to save costs - I don't know? A longer and better quality cable rerouted to a better earthing point sounds like a pretty good and low cost solution to me - especially if done before it fails on a cold wet night in France with a ferry to catch! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Kirby Posted January 5, 2012 Share Posted January 5, 2012 trevor166uk - 2012-01-05 6:59 PM....................................This oxidising of the earth strap and mounting points intruiges me. Are you saying it simply gets rusty, in which case a preventative treatment with waxoyl or simiar would perhaps avoid the problem happening. I seem to remember the earth strap on our Fiat was copper cable, rather like the main battery cables. Many vehicle bodies today are galvanised. To get conductivity the metals have to be in close proximity, albeit the copper may be terminated with a crimp-on connector. The area where the clamps are mounted is fairly hostile, and prone to salt spray. So, galvanising = zinc. Zinc + copper + salt water = battery, so if I'm right about that copper cable, possibly galvanic corrosion. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trevor166uk Posted January 5, 2012 Share Posted January 5, 2012 Brian Kirby - 2012-01-05 7:20 PM trevor166uk - 2012-01-05 6:59 PM....................................This oxidising of the earth strap and mounting points intruiges me. Are you saying it simply gets rusty, in which case a preventative treatment with waxoyl or simiar would perhaps avoid the problem happening. I seem to remember the earth strap on our Fiat was copper cable, rather like the main battery cables. Many vehicle bodies today are galvanised. To get conductivity the metals have to be in close proximity, albeit the copper may be terminated with a crimp-on connector. The area where the clamps are mounted is fairly hostile, and prone to salt spray. So, galvanising = zinc. Zinc + copper + salt water = battery, so if I'm right about that copper cable, possibly galvanic corrosion. So if it can be effectively insulated from moisture then it could be protected against this happening. I've wayoyled mine liberally and taken the further precaution of putting a spare strap in the toolkit in case of emergency. I'll let you know if ever mine fails. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Tracker Posted January 5, 2012 Share Posted January 5, 2012 trevor166uk - 2012-01-05 7:32 PM So if it can be effectively insulated from moisture then it could be protected against this happening. I've wayoyled mine liberally and taken the further precaution of putting a spare strap in the toolkit in case of emergency. I'll let you know if ever mine fails. Possibly, although electrolytic corrosion needs very little moisture to start. Smart move carrying a spare strap - as long as you will be able to diagnose the fault if/when it occurs! Not criticising you in any way Trevor but personally I prefer Nick's solution of a rerouted better quality cable especially as battery cables are hardly expensive and probably cost less than a 'genuine' Fiat part? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trevor166uk Posted January 5, 2012 Share Posted January 5, 2012 Tracker - 2012-01-05 7:40 PM trevor166uk - 2012-01-05 7:32 PM So if it can be effectively insulated from moisture then it could be protected against this happening. I've wayoyled mine liberally and taken the further precaution of putting a spare strap in the toolkit in case of emergency. I'll let you know if ever mine fails. Possibly, although electrolytic corrosion needs very little moisture to start. Smart move carrying a spare strap - as long as you will be able to diagnose the fault if/when it occurs! Not criticising you in any way Trevor but personally I prefer Nick's solution of a rerouted better quality cable especially as battery cables are hardly expensive and probably cost less than a 'genuine' Fiat part? No critisizm taken and its possible I may well rethink in time. My spare cable is in fact a battery cable I bought from Halfords. Having had a look I'm not sure of the best way to reroute, I may see if I can find somewhere to put an additional cable. Belt and braces. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thebishbus Posted January 5, 2012 Share Posted January 5, 2012 I had this same poor eathing fault on my 2.8 id TD. The high resistance connection was not between the crimp on connection and the chassis, but between the cable and the crimp on connector itself. Brian B. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rodney Pattisson Posted January 26, 2020 Share Posted January 26, 2020 Colin Leake - 2011-12-31 5:06 PM We had a similar problem with the previous Fiat Ducato. All the evidence pointed to an earthing problem but in theend after much searching we found a duff connect ion on one of the positive leads. Can you tell me which positive lead caused the problem so I can check my vehicle? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Kirby Posted January 26, 2020 Share Posted January 26, 2020 Rodney, welcome to the Forum. As you are responding to a eight year old string, may I suggest you start a suitably titled new string, setting out the nature of the problem you are (I assume) trying to resolve. It will help if you quote the make, model and age of your van, and the make and designation of its base vehicle, while doing so. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derek Uzzell Posted January 27, 2020 Share Posted January 27, 2020 I think Rodney already provided that information here https://forums.outandaboutlive.co.uk/forums/Motorhomes/Motorhome-Matters/2003-Peugeot-Boxer-Thatcham-2-immobiliser-problem/54265/ (Colin Leake’s most recent forum logon was on 19 April 2018 - so the chances of him responding to Rodney’s question are small.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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