The Smallest Things

I had a very similar scenario with a Mondeo years ago. In that instance though, the technician had managed to move the mat in the drivers footwell so that its upper edge was stuck under the accelerator pedal.

....and.

The standard service as prescribed includes the replacement of the pollen filter.

Before I took the 'van in, I realised that it might be sensible to check where that goes, because........

The more recent Ducato/Boxer/Relay always used to come with a full-width central laptop/glove box in the dash (constituting a very large part of the central dash), but on face-lift Fiat have replaced this with a large panel with cup-holders and other bits, with the glove box being an option (which mine hasn't got).

Removal of the cup-holder panel makes installation of an aftermarket radio/satnav rather easier, and provides somewhere behind which one can hide wires, boxes, etc.

I self-installed my radio, and this panel and the void behind now contains wiring, switches for the radio (which is wired to the "caravan" battery) and reversing camera, the manufacturer-dedicated DAB add-on box, etc. All in all a fairly complicated mess installation.

I could only find instructions for changing the filter on a previous version with the glove-box, but by implication, it was mounted somewhere behind there.

Accordingly, I checked with the receptionist as to whether the pollen filter was on the schedule, and on ascertaining that it was, suggested that the mechanic should just leave the part on the seat, and I would change it later.

When I returned to pick the 'van up, I asked whether this had happened, and was told,"Yes, the filter is on the passenger seat........and the mechanic did a little jig around the room when I told him he didn't have to fit it!"

Yesterday, I found out why!

First, the large cup-holder panel had to come off (not too bad, done that before; the screws are hidden and it has 'lugs', but these are robust enough to withstand repeated abuse). Behind that, as I envisaged, was a void with no sign of access to anything. Ultimately, I determined that the rear of the void was actually another large, shaped panel, secured by six largely hidden screws, and several lugs. 

No way to get this off without removing some of the wiring, and it was pretty intransigent, but ultimately, off it came. Behind, at floor level you could just see the mounting flap for the filter, secured by two hex-headed screws of indeterminate size (somewhere between 5 and 6mm and ultimately removed by pliers) and lugs. Once the flap was removed, the filter could (just) be removed by withdrawing it, bending it in the process as there is no clearance to withdraw it in a straight line. Then the replacement was wheedled in by reversing the process.

Other than the fact that this had dislodged the phono camera connection from the back of the radio, putting it back together was slightly easier.

What you have to realise is that the Ducato cab is almost impossible to work on (especially for someone of my sylph-like build) with restricted space in the footwells, and between the drivers and passengers seat. Most of this work needs to be achieved lying horizontally across one of the seats, and often working blind.

I have to say, given the issues I had, I'm rather glad I said I'd do it myself (the wiring would never have survived), but that's a couple of hours of my life I'll not get back, and I reckon they could have discounted the book allowance of 1.8 hours work by that couple of hours to reflect the mechanic's time saved!

Maybe it will have to go before the next change is due!
 

You would find replacing the pollen filter on your LEC to be the simplest task you have ever carried out, WDB.

Well it did detect the low air flow.  So why wouldn't they look at where the air goes in and follow it through to make sure there were no blockages, collapsed pipes, etc.?

This is a classic example of the difference between code reading and diagnosis. 

The chap who looked after my cars has moved away unfortunately, but he quite often was asked by dealers to help with diagnosis.  He has the Bosch kit, about £12,000 worth I think, but the fact is that the dealers have the dedicated and even more expensive machine and can read all the codes anyway.  The art or science is to know or to work out what caused the fault code and a lot of them can't, or use the parts darts approach at the customer's expense.

...there has been a slightly less impressive side.

If/when I have vehicles serviced at a dealer, I invariably check various things before I leave. These include the service book stamp (not, but done on the spot), and any electronic service interval reset. Given the minor issue on driving away, I omitted to check the reset.

The Ducato has two intervals - service interval (30000, 2 years) and oil service (which is "condition based" with a mileage counter driven by "quality" and a max 2 years).

If you are lucky (and if you are low-mileage enough to only require biennial servicing, rather than mileage based) the two will coincide through the life of the vehicle. It is patently obvious, however, that they could "drift", with an oil change being required before a full service interval, and once this has happened, the two will not coincide.

Accordingly, there are two electronic service indicators on the Ducato, one for each category, and each should be reset as the required action has been taken (in my case, both at the same time). Interpreting them isn't made easier by the fact that all the underlying programming seems to be done in km, and the final displayed figure converted to miles (with random rounding) if the units are set as such.

The "Service" indicator will show a dashboard message as it approaches the mileage/deadline, but, if ignored, having nagged you for a thousand or so miles, will disappear - so hardly critical.

The "Oil" indicator, however, will warn you shortly in advance of the oil being reckoned as "expired" (and remember, being condition-based, the mileage will vary with time and driving), and, if you don't have an oil-change and interval reset in fairly short order, the vehicle will go into "limp mode". Fairly critical to get this right.

Neither value can be reset by a (relatively cheap) code reader, so the latter isn't something one wants happening in the wilds North of the Arctic Circle.

So, I checked the values on Monday (a mildly-hidden trip meter setting). The service interval was patently wrong (in fact, it was very close to the remaining mileage to the 30K mark). The oil value looks like it could have been reset (and fallen foul of the random rounding) or could be an actual mileage at which an oil change was required.

I was pretty sure that the oil value had been reset, and service one not, but given the questionable state of the former, and the criticality of the latter, I arranged to take it back in this morning, since it should only be a 5 minute job.

I got the same lead technician with the laptop (he didn't do the service). He couldn't get the values up on the trip, so once I'd shown him how he agreed it didn't look quite right.

On with the OBD interface and laptop, and straight into the ECU, and it was obvious that the oil setting had been reset (since the computer also shows a %quality value, which was as close to 100% as doesn't matter).

He couldn't find any way to reset the service mileage, however (which rather explains why it looked like it hadn't been done!). He suggested resetting the oil interval again (to see if it would have a knock-on effect). I agreed (since it would double-reassure me it had been done). It made no difference.

So, having done my homework, I told him I suspected it might be a setting in one of the other ECUs, of which there are a few. I could see he was sceptical, but he searched around the others, and, would you believe it, a Service Interval reset option appeared (annotated with the fact that this should be run every time a scheduled service was completed!). Away we went, and the service interval setting is now 30K miles (minus a bit for rounding from 48K km).

I'm now happy, and he was a little sheepish!

Incidentally, there is a very capable unofficial laptop software package that will allow (almost) dealer-level querying and reset (including these values) across the whole CAN network of a Ducato, and which can be bought complete with the customised USB OBD connectors required for around £90. Given now it is out of warranty I am planning to do my own servicing, (including an annual oil change, 'cos I consider two years too long) that is now on the purchase list. The cost will be easily recovered, as Ducato dealer servicing is expensive - a lot more than my previous Transit!).

 

...indeed. and at dealer prices for labour and oil, things can get pretty expensive if you let them do the full job.

I'm looking at this:


www.gendan.co.uk/product_FESCAN.html

....which (with the aid of a laptop) will do just about all dealer-level intervention on a Ducato.

The software is well-regarded, has been around for some time, and will deal to a greater or lesser extent with most "Fiat Group" vehicles, albeit some need different interfaces.

The one linked to is for recent vehicles where everything is on the "CAN", and is also relevant for the 500 series.

I'd get my money back in one Service Cycle.