Reliability - Ducato Gearboxes

[Guest Mike C]

I have been following the threads on this and other forums about Fiat Ducato gearboxes and 5th gear problems for some while. I have no direct experience of the Ducato but am concerned because I have just taken delivery of a 2.3 JTD Ducato based Swift Sundance. Am I correct in thinking the 5th gear problem relates to the 2.8 and previously the 2.5 diesel and to vehicles prior to 2001? Does this relate to all model Ducatos, some of the postings do not make this clear. Because of my concern and because I do not believe that all the anti-Fiat/Sevel comment is without some foundation I have spent the last two weeks talking to many contacts who have considerable experience of running and maintaining Ducatos. Their answers posted here give a clearer picture which be of interest. From three separate gearbox specialists the following:- Have had few incidents of 5th gear failure on 2.8 diesel 5 speed but at relatively high mileages (50,000+). Most cases are generally worn gearboxes and synchromesh and in almost all cases the gear oil was in a poor contaminated condition. Most of these were pre 2001 vans out of warranty and few motorhomes. General consensus was that the Sevel based vans are no more unreliable than other makes but do seem to have more gearbox problems. The problem with the water drain hose from the windscreen pouring water on to the gearbox casing was mentioned by two and also condensation in the gearbox was also mentioned by one of these. From four large hire fleet operators:- All ran Ducatos mostly the 2.0 JTD and replaced the vans at 50,000 miles. One was a subsidiary of a Fiat retailer the other three national hire fleets. The three nationals also ran other makes. The Fiat based hirer said that they had known only one of 20 vans with gearbox failure a 2.0 JTD. The other three said they had no knowledge or any regular gearbox failures and one said that the Ducato was as reliable as any other vehicles from his experience. From two Fiat retailer service departments:- One of these said that he could remember a "few" incidents with 5th gear on motorhomes but not recently. He mentioned the problem with the windscreen drain hose and that Fiat had issued a change notice to extend or replace the hose so that it did not vent water on to the gearbox casing. Fiat were aware of this as a problem. (more about this later). Both said that the Ducato gearbox was "now" reliable but refused to be drawn any further when pushed to expand on "now". From Fiat customer care:- A waste of time speaking to them. I was referred to the dealer and they claimed no knowledge of gearbox problems even the windscreen drain problem. "We cannot answer technical questions speak to your servicing dealer". Pretty much a standard answer from vehicle manufacturers customer care departments. Unable to get past the operator to speak directly to the technical department so have to put this down as "failed miserably" but have one trick left up the sleeve to get to technical from an ex-fleet manager who has a contact in Fiat. Will post an answer when achieved. My general feeling from this exercise is that if there is a on-going problem it seems to be with older vehicles and no one is admitting to 5th gear problems with newer Ducatos/Sevel based vans. It therefore seems up to us the owners to push MMM to do a reliabilty survey of the readership to find out the true depth of the problem. Just one comment to Russel, I understand your comment about the forum and ambulances but of all the non motorhome Ducatos the coachbuilt Ambulances and DPV's are probably a closer cousin to the motorhome than a fleet van because of the regular carrying of permanently installed heavy equipment. This is one user I will try to get information from. Regards, Mike C.

[Guest Derek Uzzell]

If you search the forum on "Fiat Ducato Gearbox" (omitting the quotes), you'll come across my own comments on this subject that might interest you.

[Guest Mike C]

Hello Derek, Thanks for the reference. I had read this previously and also asked questions about the 2.3JTD box. It seems that we are broadly in agreement. I did not raise the issue of driver care as the contacts would not have had knowledge of how vehicles had been driven. My aim is to try and establish in my own mind whether there is a serious problem with the Ducato gearbox generally or whether this is a small number of failures mainly in the motorhome community. I do not feel that I have found an answer especially regarding the newer gearboxes and will continue to talk to the experts and feed back their comments. Regards, Mike C