Fiat Doblo Problem Starting

[Eliecer Brathwaite]

Im having a long start problem with my car. It doesen't mater if it's a cold star or not, the car starts after a longer cranking time than other cars. Bought the car with the problem existing on purchase.

I've seen that the coolant temperature sensor is showing the temperature but did not check if it changes as engine warms up. I"ll check glow plugs as well but don't see how these might be a problem since the hard starting is persistent even as the engine is warmed up.

I'll get back as soon as I do these checkups

Next, I will check fuel presure. The obd scanner shows be 30000 kpa at idle and a constant of 800, 30 minutes after engine shutdown. I think i have to connect a a pressure gauge the check to be shure..

Coolant temperature is ok. Fuel pressure is 300bar at idle and up to 1100 at full throtle. I don't know the exact specs for thsi fuel pump.

I've heard these engines have a common problem with these hard stats. A tip I got was to check to see if the fuel regulator works properly.

Forget the crd parts for the moment.Have you done any basic mechanical checks, like cylinder compression and valve timing.It is very common for the timing chains to wear on these.Also,have you had the injectors performance tested for flow and spray pattern?

A VX Astra I had before the rado would have problems starting on even slight slopes if the fuel was below the 1/4 tank marker... seems the intake pipe for the fuel pump was sited too near the front of the tank and on a slope the fuel ran to the back of the tank and out of its reach.

I found out over the weekend that the secondary fuel pump in the tank itself is dead, hence the system isn't priming itself and is relying on the main fuel pump to suck the fuel from the tank. If yours is struggling when the front is higher than the back, it *could* be the same problem, as I imagine it's harder to suck the fuel up a hill so-to-speak?

However, given the age of the vehicle, I'd still get the fuel pumps checked. It could be that the car isn't that badly designed (I'd like to think VW have better designers than Vauxhall :smile:) and it's just struggling because one or both pumps aren't working very efficiently.

Next time you start her and she struggles, when you finally get her started turn her of straight away and try to restart. If she then starts with no problem you can bet your money it's the secondary fuel pump.

I have also tried to check the gearbox earth strap but I am having difficulty locating it. Searching back through threads it seems it should be found on the right hand side looking into the engine compartment.

Hi alibi, i have had this fault intermittently on my 2.8, advised to remove lower steering column plastic cover, you will see immobiliser square box size of a fag packet, and beside the ign switch a sensor and cable going to the box, you can remove the plug, spray with electrical contact cleaner and partially refit, sliding up and down a few times to clean up contacts before replacing completely, this has worked for me?

(This is the sort of problem that Nick Fisher (euroserv) would be well placed to advise on. I don't how much time Nick is able to give to this forum but, for anyone with a Fiat-related problem, it would be as well to make this plain in a thread's title. For example, "Fiat Ducato Starting Problem" is more likely to attract Nick's attention than "Engine Immobiliser Locked Out".)

There techie guys said there is not an official procedure to emergency start a 2008 X250. It should be done through the diagnostic port. However, they gave me the procedure to emergency start an Iveco which is the same as your listing. Confusing, to say the list.

I tried again this morning with no success. About 2 seconds after turning on the ignition the immobiliser light comes on and stays on. I have pressed the accelerator pedal and held for a good long time but the light does not change from constant to flashing. Hence, it is not possible to enter the code.

What you also need to do is check the battery voltage with the ignition turned on. Actually a simpe way to test this is if you know battery is good with ignition off, is to turn on cab light , then ignition and see if the light dims. When the glow plugs turn on it can be a massive drain on battery and cause the voltage to drop too much on an old battery.

Beginning too look like you need to get vehicle hooked up to diagnostics, but at moment your 12.5 volts on battery reading is a bit low considering you have a solar panel to keep it topped up so I would be checking the battery voltage next under load.

I have not seen an answer regarding whether the starter motor is turning when you try to start? If it is; you will probably need to get the vehicle towed to a Fiat dealer to resolve what is obviously an ECU programming problem.

If the starter does not turn; you should check the big grey fuse on the battery positive terminal. If there has been a significant short this fuse known as 'CAL 5' may be blown or sufficiently weakened to be playing up.

If this is ok there may well be a short in the cables under the nearside headlamp. This sort of thing takes time and patience. The big blue connector that resides under the fuse box is a hot bed of corrosion and would be my first port of call before unwinding the insulation on the loom and checking every cable.

The most useful step that I took in determining the cause of my similar problem (see link above) was to connect up a OBD2 code reader and attempt to read any error codes. It was this that determined that it wasn't actually an immobiliser problem at all and that the ECU had no power: the reader was unable to connect to it at all. The body computer expects an 'OK' signal from the immobilser within the ECU and without this it will default to switching on the EDC light, so no communication with the ECU has the same effect as a genuine immobiliser fault. Can you get hold of a reader or do you a breakdown service that would come out with theirs?

A main dealer, if unable to get a clear diagnosis from their diagnostics, is likely to adopt the approach of starting to fit new parts until it works and this can be very expensive when dealing with ECUs, wiring looms etc. The cynic in me might think that they may be unlikely to tell you later that the 600 ECU they fitted wasn't actually the solution in the end and just present you with a fait-accompli.

If it does look like a wiring fault then an auto-electrical specialist would likely be your best bet. They will have facilities to load test wiring and hopefully home in on the fault before the bill mounts up.

Does the immobiliser have a time lock on it? I had an issue with the immobiliser on our Discovery (turned out to be the battery on the way out - new battery cured the issue) but what was happening was every time I tried the ignition the time extended logarithmically.

I am not sure of the exact timing but if the immobiliser is triggered it would work for 1 min - but try it again within the minute and it would act for 2min and if tried again 4 min, then 8, 16, 32 etc - my understanding was that when it reached 64 min - it locked on and needed to be re-programmed.

free version download should work well. It lets you do quite a lot of things. Do not even attempt to load the software which comes with ot as will probably contain malware. I have not tested the reader adapter linked but have used others which appear the same from other suppliers. Also not saying it is the cheapest or best supplier to use. You will need a laptop or netbook computer to use it. The software gives you faults in english as well as the code.

I don't know who Caravan Guard are allied to but I think that most breakdown insurers' first step will be to send out a patrol to try the basics first and assess the situation. It would probably be an AA or RAC man who would turn up.

Thanks Brambles. Just to confirm I did try to start the vehicle with jump leads from my car which has a heavy duty battery. Both with the jump leads and using its own battery the engine gives a healthy twirl. But as always the padlock light stays illuminated.

Before calling out the recovery service I may take the battery out and give it a long charge. The vehicle is currently in a storage compound. It is such a back breaking job to lift the battery out that I have left that option to last.

Have just been checking what you can do with stamdard cheap OBD2 modules and software. Teh options for reprogramming the immobiliser are not there. Thsi is not surpising as if it was then any Joe Dick or Harry could bypass it using a programmer.

For combustion to occur in your car, it is necessary to draw in the air (which is approximately 80% nitrogen and 20% oxygen) from outside of the vehicle. The air combines with fuel and ignites in the combustion chamber where temperatures reach over 1370C.

At this high temperature, inert nitrogen is naturally present in air burns creating oxides of nitrogen (NOx). NOx is one of the main pollutants from cars and is known to cause human health problems such as respiratory issues.

To reduce the amount of NOx pollutant emitted from your vehicle, exhaust gases need to be cooled before being emitted from your vehicle. In order to achieve this, they are introduced back into the combustion chamber via the exhaust gas recirculation (EGR) valve; this reduces the temperature and thereby inhibits the production of NOx emissions.

Operationally this means that when the engine is first started the valve stays in a closed position. As you speed up and the engine reaches its operating temperature the valve gradually opens, however, should you slow down or stop the valve will gradually close.

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