Fiat finds fix for juddering Ducatos

Date: Thursday, February 19, 2009

Fiat believes it has finally come up with a way of stopping some Ducatos juddering while they are being reversed; especially if the driver is backing up an incline.

 

It’s changing the engine mountings on vehicles that are affected free-of-charge. All Ducato owners who have complained to Fiat about this problem are being contacted to tell them that a fix is now available. "We’ve swapped the engine mountings on over 30 Ducatos so far,” says a Fiat spokesman. “It’s usually the 120hp 2.3-litre diesel that’s involved.”


Ducato shares the same basic design as Peugeot’s Boxer and Citroën’s Relay, but the 2.3-litre diesel is unique to the Fiat. Reverse juddering has also affected Boxer, however, and Peugeot has come up with a different way of solving it.


“We were using a software download to deal with it, but things have now gone beyond that,” says a Peugeot spokesman. “If the vehicle is fitted with a six-speed gearbox then we’ll either change the reverse gear or replace the entire ’box depending on which final drive ratio has been specified. “We’ll have a similar fix available for the five-speed ’box in a few weeks time.”


Half-a-dozen or so six-speed ’boxes have been swapped so far and Boxer owners are being encouraged to contact their local Peugeot dealer if they believe they have a problem.


“So far as I’m aware this has not been an issue for Citroën,” says a spokesman. “It seems to affect motorhomes in particular and that’s not a market we’re in.” Fiat says that the phenomenon can affect vans too.



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