petetxchurch Posted December 19, 2014 Share Posted December 19, 2014 3.0 160 on an Autotrail motorhome. 12000 miles, clutch slipping when pushed hard at 2000 rpm plus in high gear. Clutch stripped out and no significant friction plate wear, dual mass flywheel with excessive rotational play, some evidence of blueing due to slippage. Only theory I can come up with is the pressure plate is weak or faulty and allowed slipping. All parts replaced now (at some cost) but has anyone else had similar experience? Drives beautifully with loads of torque (maybe too much?) so it's a bit of a disappointment to have suffered such an early failure. Pete T Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bounty hunter Posted December 19, 2014 Share Posted December 19, 2014 Can sympathise with you as went through the same back in 2010/11. Had a 2007 Euramobil 810 with a 2.8 engine and clutch started slipping at 12000 miles. Had it replaced at 15000 miles but garage couldn't find anything wrong. At 22000 miles it started slipping again and as nobody could give us any suggestions and there is no heavy duty replacement available we sold the van which was a shame as conversion was superb. John Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derek Uzzell Posted December 19, 2014 Share Posted December 19, 2014 Welcome to the Out&AboutLive forums, Peter. It’s difficult to know whether a slipping clutch at low miliage on Boxer/Ducato/Relay vehicles with the 3.0litre motor (and manual transmission) is a particular problem statistically, but there have certainly been other on-line complaints about it. GOOGLE-searching on “Fiat Ducato 3 litre clutch” (omitting the quotes) will retrieve earlier discussions. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrWoo Posted December 19, 2014 Share Posted December 19, 2014 We have a 2001 Bessacarr E725 2.8JTD and this summer at 29000 miles I experienced similar symptoms. We have a 5 speed gearbox with the high ratio 5th gear and the clutch has slipped a number of times, all whilst pulling up hills in 5th at 2000 plus rpm. I tried the usual tests for a worn clutch and it seemed OK. My local garage quoted £400 plus any parts needed so I decided to change my driving style. I normally cruise between 55-60 mph now on a hill before the revs drop below 2000 I change down to 4th and so far have had no more clutch slip. I have spoken to 2 other people with 2.8 5 speed motorhomes and suffer the same problem and we have come to the conclusion that the torque is just too much for the high ratio 5th gear. I am now getting slightly better fuel consumption changing down on hills. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Billggski Posted December 19, 2014 Share Posted December 19, 2014 Welcome, a slipping clutch at a low mileage is usually attributed to driving style by mechanics. Holding a car on a hill using the clutch is OK, but on a 3.5T or heavier motorhome would burn it out, similarly stop-start motoring in traffic jams can do the same thing. Coming up through the Massif Central this summer there was a huge jam caused by a land slip. You could smell clutches burning all the way up the mountain. Mainly cars with caravans, but quite a few motorhomes were stopped at the side of the road. Not saying it's what happened, just a caution. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike88 Posted December 19, 2014 Share Posted December 19, 2014 Possibly due to the judder issue on 3 litre manual transmission Ducato's.; Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
worzel Posted December 19, 2014 Share Posted December 19, 2014 Hello from Devon, I have a 2008 Burstner Elegance 821G 3 litre 160/180 and at 26000 miles i had to have a new clutch (I am the second owner) The problem was caused by a seised SLAVE cylinder and the total cost of £1400 Mike Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest pelmetman Posted December 19, 2014 Share Posted December 19, 2014 The previous owner probably had a steep drive :-| ................ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Southender Posted December 19, 2014 Share Posted December 19, 2014 Boxer 2.8hdi, 45,000 miles, chipped and the clutch is fine. Suggest you change your driving style. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StuartO Posted December 19, 2014 Share Posted December 19, 2014 I worry about my clutch (2006, X244 Fiat-based Hymer) after a couple of situations in which I had to reverse uphill around a corner with a heavy trailer on and the clutch started smelling/smoking a bit - well quite a lot the first time, even though I abandoned the manoeuvre fairly quickly. But the clutch didn't slip, other than me slipping it deliberately because reverse gear is so high, and hasn't done so in 20,000 miles plus since then. Don't worry, said my local (non-Fiat) mechanic when I asked himat the next service to the check. The clutch is fine, just use it. So I did. Apart from these two reversing incidents when I had little alternative, I don't think I'm rough on clutches. You might think that a heavy duty clutch would suit a MH, which runs at more or less full load compared with the average Fiat Ducato van, but apparently there was nothin available. Once upon a time it always seemed possible to getuprated brake and clutches if you wanted them. It's reassuring that when clutches fail they don't do so catastrophically, so you probably could limp home, as long as it wasn't to somewhere high in the Alps. As far as I know my model doesn't have a dual mass flywheel, which should make it easier and cheaper if (or should I say when) I do need a replacement clutch. On the way back from France this year I got one brief suspicion of clutch slip but it wasn't definite and has not reappeared. Is the clutch a weak feature of the X244 Ducato? I haven't had any real reason to think so and of course the foregoing posts probably related to the later X250 model. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
worzel Posted December 19, 2014 Share Posted December 19, 2014 Re Southender comment re driving and his clutch, Not the same clutch or fly wheel. Mike. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
petetxchurch Posted December 22, 2014 Author Share Posted December 22, 2014 Thank you for all your replies. I'm tempted to think it may be a failed slave cylinder, but can't be sure. I bought the van at 9000 miles, so I've only done 3500, and I have never had any clutch problems in my 100's of thousands of miles driving. Certainly don't rest foot on clutch or hold vehicle on it on hills! What's more interesting is the DMF failing so early. Even with the new clutch and DMF fitted there is a judder in reverse, and there could be a temptation to up the revs and slip the clutch more to overcome it. That could just be what the previous owner did. Notwithstanding all of that, judging by the number of reports of early clutch failure on this engine, it's worth taking great care in use. Pete Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
euroserv Posted December 22, 2014 Share Posted December 22, 2014 It's worth remembering that the well publicised judder problems were not restricted to the 2.3 engine. There were fixes for them and modified gearboxes came on stream in 2009 but there were fewer 3.0 vehicles with the problem and there were no mods ever made available for them. In the first instance; if you have a judder now that was not present before the clutch and flywheel were changed you should take it back to where it was done and get it looked at again. You may have a faulty flywheel or incorrectly centred clutch. If this yields no satisfaction it may be that you have one of the rogue vehicles and you would be wise to get rid of it. Next time it could take the gearbox with it! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rolandrat Posted December 22, 2014 Share Posted December 22, 2014 petetxchurch - 2014-12-22 2:33 PM Thank you for all your replies. I'm tempted to think it may be a failed slave cylinder, but can't be sure. I bought the van at 9000 miles, so I've only done 3500, and I have never had any clutch problems in my 100's of thousands of miles driving. Certainly don't rest foot on clutch or hold vehicle on it on hills! What's more interesting is the DMF failing so early. Even with the new clutch and DMF fitted there is a judder in reverse, and there could be a temptation to up the revs and slip the clutch more to overcome it. That could just be what the previous owner did. Notwithstanding all of that, judging by the number of reports of early clutch failure on this engine, it's worth taking great care in use. Pete What model of 3ltr Autotrail have you got? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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