Help please

[michele]

Can anyone help re the heating in the cab Bessacarr Fiat duccato ?

Stone cold only found out half way down the M25 any ideas' greatly appreciated ? could it be totally gone . had to keep pulling over putting on the gas to warm up the kids Chamonix is beautiful no snow only what's already landed . wifi is free . Will pop back on tomorrow to see if anyone can help...

 

Hope you have all had a lovely peaceful christmas

 

take care Michele

[colin]

Not sure about Fiat heater problems, but with other vehicles I've had airlock in heater due to letting water level get to low.

[Wend]

Dear Michele, the fiat ducato heater is very inefficient especially to the footwell. Our ducato has the additional heater matrix providing hot air to the saloon whilst underway. Without this unit heating the motorhome to a reasonable temperature at this time of year is a no go! There is no solution to your problem without the additional heating arrangement as is in our 7mtre van. Unfortunately most fiat owners only find the need for an additional heating unit after taking delivery and I am surprised that more motorhome owners have not taken up this matter either with fiat or their motorhome supplier. The sad fact is that this ducato was long overdue a complete upgrade or a new model to replace same, As we all know the later has now come to fruition. I wish I could bring you glad tidings at Christmas but the only other solution would be to fit an Eberspacher diesel heater. Wend

[David Dwight]

Hi,

 

This has been on before about Fiat heaters, are we the only ones with a satisfactory heater, our last Fiat which was an H reg was fine the new one is fine, if the controls are set ok there seems to be no problem.

 

David.

[spartan3956]

Check the coolant level the first thing to go is the heater if its low

 

Pete

[docted]

Michelle

If everything else mentioned above is ok; turn on gas heating; turn off all engine heater blowers start up engine leave to run for a while until the temperature rises to normal. Then turn on cab heater to its hottest position, recirculating air position with a slow fan speed (1or 2) no higher. Close down the blinds in the back don't forget the roof vents, turn of van heating.

This should give you a little more time before it gets too cold.

In the meantime enjoy your break. When you come home buy an diesel powered eberspacher heater to heat the rear of the van when on the move.

Good luck and have a good new year

Docted

 

[Basil]

docted - 2006-12-27 1:40 PM

 

When you come home buy an diesel powered eberspacher heater to heat the rear of the van when on the move.

Good luck and have a good new year

Docted

 

And be hated by every other van user that has to put up with the noise they make overnight when they are parked next to you!!! :-( :-( :-(

 

Bas

[Vixters other half]

Hi Michele,

Sorry you have problems with the heating. I dont know anything about Fiats, but it seems to me you need a temporary fix. If you can block off part of the radiator you might get hotter water through the heater. As I said, dont know how difficult it would be but, a piece of cardboard, gaffer taped across the bottom half of the rad might give you more heat. Check your temperature gauge though -you might be over heating the engine, but at this time of year it could well be undercooling it anyway.

 

Keeping all the unnecessary blinds down to contain the heat will help as well. Try playing Eskimos with kids and tell them they must wear as many clothes as they can.

 

Ive got no heating as well so I know how it feels, but that my fault for assuming you can get continental spares over the Christmas Month!!

 

Best of luck

VoH

[tp002c784tp002c784tp]

Hi Michele

I dont know how old your Bessi is but I had a Talbot Highwayman and when I first bought in October 12 years ago and it had heating problems I

discovered that under the bonnet next to the scuttle against the windscreen bulckhead was a plastic tube with a small tap on it and with the engine running you could open this tap and bleed the heater prehaps the Fiat has one of these taps ?

 

Terry :-D

[Guest peter]

And if engine is running cold, thermostat could have failed open. But first thing I would check is for an airlock in system and low coolant level.

[docted]

Basil

Read the reply it said use it while on the move. I am sure that doing that you will keep thousands of people awake never mind those just parked next to you.

Docted.

 

 

Michelle hope you get home safe and warm with the liitle uns.

Docted

[Guest peter]

Can't see too many replies to Michelle's problem. She must be well pleased to be told to fit a diesel heater when she gets home. :D

[Wend]

Peter,

can you enlighten us as to your mode of transport and your perfect 'van'?

as I said before cab built motorhomes have many complaints levelled at the draught from said cab, so would be interested to know your answer to this problem (by the way we have circulation problems which makes the problem more prominent) Happy New Year

[michele]

Doc Wend peter EVERYONE.

 

Thanks some made me laugh in the nicest way ?

How much is this Espacher thingy ?

 

maybe we do have to need to bleed it like the person with the long name said ?

 

Please tell anyone ,This is not going to be our last camper thing is we just dont know what to out it for. By that I mean we like the openess of the Bessacarr because I have to change nappies and little one likes a little toddle about . However other than that its not really suitable we like the fixed bed also The little one is a head bangger and it wont be much longer and she will put out the window as she is getting bigger and stronger . I have spoke to someone on here before about the Bessacarr with a garage at the back but alas I cannot find it anywhere to go see and I do not even know the model number > I have looked on the website and hey presto nothing.

 

If it was just me & him then prob a Rapido Merc but alas it's not and wont be for a hell of along time .

At the moment they both fit on a seat bench each for sleeping .

Tried to put the bigger one up top she went mad that's Autisim for you paniced dont like change . The little one I leave on her seat belt so she cannot get up and wonder around for the whole week she has had us awake 1oclock & 3 oclock every morning withot fail never again . Feel like we have not had a break but been dragged through a hedge backwards.

 

So we really need a forward facing seat but yes they are disabled or labled special needs' in this day and age . reality is little legs can only take about 3/4 steps then go's down when she feels like it so she can get about I need a special strap that can keep her in bed safely at night as she has now taking to deciding she is getting up 1/3 in the morning waking everyone up and in the meantime proceeding to hang herself with the seat belt where she is so determined to get up and play in the middle of the night .

I cannot fit her safespace in the M/H as this is massive and even if I could take with us it wouldn't fit in the garage its so big and if so where in the hell would we put it when we eventually arrive anywhere ? So lots of different problems for each of the two children two very special children with two very different needs ?

 

Boy oh Boy it's getting harder this is the only way we can actually holiday with them and their need's .

 

If anyone knows of something they think wouldn't be so hemmed in please suggest we will gladly look and see and if anyone knows of the model bessacarr with the number please let us know again .

Lost alot of Data when the computor crashed....

 

Thanks alot guy's for all the reply's once again and no the heaters not mended yet but as we feel like we have just been dragged throught the hedge we wont be going to any garages for a while so it will have to wait

 

 

 

[Brian Kirby]

Michele

Have a look at the "newbies 6 buying 6 berth" post.  You may find some useful suggestions there.  Isn't your 'van under 3 years old, and so still under the Fiat UK warranty?  I had thought it was quite new.

[michele]

Brian ,

 

Yes 1 year old in Jan the rate were going through them they dont get MOT's yes it's due for its first service now .. so worn out I really feel like I don't care . Wrong attitude I know so will get it done perhaps in afew weeks when I recover fro this trip.

 

Newbies 6 birth ? what do you mean ? Do you mean search for that ?

Or is it a website . sorry so ignorant

 

cheers ;-) Brian found it thanks again

[Brian Kirby]

michele - 2006-12-31 10:43 PM Brian , Yes 1 year old in Jan the rate were going through them they dont get MOT's yes it's due for its first service now .. so worn out I really feel like I don't care . Wrong attitude I know so will get it done perhaps in afew weeks when I recover fro this trip. Newbies 6 birth ? what do you mean ? Do you mean search for that ? Or is it a website . sorry so ignorant cheers ;-) Brian found it thanks again

Michele

OK.  So take to van to the Fiat service centre, and tell them (nicely of course) to fix the heating under warranty.  You should have been able to do that in France as the warranty is European and not UK.  It's only the third year element that is unique to UK, but it also provides reduced cover.

Re the accommodation, you may just be suffering from being cooped up in a 'van in winter.  Perhaps it is the choice of location and time of year that caused the problem.  When it is warm you can live outside more, so the problems you mention may become far more manageable.  Lets hope so! 

Not sure if it was brave or foolhardy taking your lot to the Alps in winter, but you'll all have something to look back on when you've recovered!  What's a couple of weeks out of a lifetime?

[docted]

Michelle

Happy New Year

Eberspacher heater starts around £750 plus fitting (OUCH!).

If you are thinking of changing the van though I am sure that you can include it as part of the bargaining process. It is the only safe type of heating on the move unless you can get someone really gifted to create a bespoke system for you based on the vehicle heating system taken into the back of the van. In the good old days a loop was taken from the engine heating system and fed into a radiator, a heater from a car, in the van. Regretably I have not seen this type of heating advertised for many years now but I will dig into my back copies of MMM and see what I can find for you.

Good luck

Docted

[Brian Kirby]

docted - 2007-01-01 6:15 PM Michelle Happy New Year Eberspacher heater starts around £750 plus fitting (OUCH!). If you are thinking of changing the van though I am sure that you can include it as part of the bargaining process. It is the only safe type of heating on the move unless you can get someone really gifted to create a bespoke system for you based on the vehicle heating system taken into the back of the van. In the good old days a loop was taken from the engine heating system and fed into a radiator, a heater from a car, in the van. Regretably I have not seen this type of heating advertised for many years now but I will dig into my back copies of MMM and see what I can find for you. Good luck Docted

So far as I know, all Burstners are available with this supplementary heater as an option (not the Eberspacher, the "good old days" variety).  Ours had it, and it was very effective.  So much so that it was mostly turned off, because it is less controllable than the one in the front and once it had heated the back of van up, it just got hotter and hotter!  I think you will find something similar available on most German, and many French, made 'vans.  However, they mainly live in the options lists at around £300 or so I think.

[Basil]

Kenlowe, of the auxilery car cooling fan fame, do one of those type systems not cheap though at about £175 last time I enquired. It comes complete with tee pieces to 'plumb' into existing system and valves to turn off when not required and full fitting kit. Downside is that you need to site it under a seat/ bunk so you lose even more storage space.

I did consider it but decided that for our needs it was too expensive, we bought a travel blanket each for the children ( about £3 each if I remember rightly) in our case that works!

 

Bas

 

Edit

PS Didn't post this before as I thought it was a problem with the 'Cab' heater not the habitation area.

[michele]

Basil,

 

You are correct it was the cab heater still is but the only way to get warmth for all of us was to keep pulling over running out putting the gas on ... once the habitation was warm we were warm ,and off again .

Soon lost through the heki's though never mind.

 

Docted, cheers for that because as you say bargain bargain .actually we had never though of that but I know that soon we will be looking again and that will certainly be in the deal or no deal. ;-)

[carebear]

Hi Michele.

Dont know if this can be of any help, but we had the same experience as you, travelled to Chamonix also.

We have a 2003 Kontiki, not sure if our control panel is the same as your 2006 model.

What hubby has just told me he found out after we got home on another outing.

In the centre of the dash at the bottom of the 3 heating control knobs, there is a slider lever, which might be in the wrong position , if his memory serves him right, it might have a fan symbol and an arrow, one of these circulates the outside air in.

Just looking at our handbook its called, AIR RECIRCULATION SLIDER

TO CUT OFF OUTSIDE AIR.

Try moving this slider to opposite end it is at .

Our rear passengers just about froze, they travelled in a sleeping bag with hats and gloves there and back.

Never again, will our van travel to those far out places in the cold, we are off to Brazil in 2 weeks the temp there is 82* roll on to jet out.

 

[michele]

Thanks Carebear ,

 

oh we done all that alright right to left up down we tried the lot .

Thanks anyway it will go for it's service soon Fiat not very good A?

 

Enjoy your hols hope its nice & hot for you ..take care

;-)

[Guest peter]

Wend - 2006-12-31 1:17 PM

 

Peter,

can you enlighten us as to your mode of transport and your perfect 'van'?

as I said before cab built motorhomes have many complaints levelled at the draught from said cab, so would be interested to know your answer to this problem (by the way we have circulation problems which makes the problem more prominent) Happy New Year

Wend,

Rapido 710f with auxillary heater in the rear, taking hot water off engine. But it does have draughty cab from the door vents which I am going to seal off. Have not been out in freezing conditions so don't know how well the heating would cope. But it's quite a small van so might be o/k. I wasn't being critical of your suggestion re-Eberspacher but it wouldn't have solved Michelle's immediate problem. In fact I am considering getting one off E.Bay to fit in mine to save on the gas, as it can then use Red Diesel at half the price of white. Happy New year.

Peter