Fiat Ducato losing power when accelerating

[Grappelli2]

My 2009 Adria Twin Fiat Ducato 100 Multijet/2.2 HDi (Ford Puma engine) developed a problem on the last trip.

I first noticed it a couple of days ago. When accelerating in any gear the engine would sometimes lose power and stop accelerating. Sometimes it would clear and the acceleration would pick up. Other times I would change gear and the acceleration would be ok. There was never a problem when cruising at any speed.

Coming home today on the A303 single-carriageway section traffic was slow (there was broken down vehicle further along) suddenly I could not do more than 10 mph in 2nd gear. The signs said there was a duel-carriageway section ahead and parking 2 miles ahead. I continued, slowly, just before the parking area the acceleration started to pick up and I got into 3rd, although the acceleration was lumpy. Stopped in the layby turned the engine off, when started the engine revved freely to high revs. Continued on our journey and got home ok, with only the occasional slight loss in acceleration.

No dashboard lights at any time.

Filled with fuel and added Redex Diesel System Cleaner at the start of the journey and filled again when tank was half full, at which time the problem was already present.

Any ideas before I hand it over to the mechanic? It seems that the engine is being starved of something – fuel or water, but why only occasionally?

thank you

Does it have a fly by wire throttle?
It could be a throttle pedal potentiometer failing, had the same sort of problem when I had a Transit Connect

 

[UFO]

Does it have a fly by wire throttle?
It could be a throttle pedal potentiometer failing, had the same sort of problem when I had a Transit Connect

I don't know but was first registered in June 2009. The original tyres were 2007! So who knows when Fiat made the van.

 

[UFO]

Sticking egr valve, have you been driving it steady to save fuel ? As this is a big problem with modern diesels,
They need to work, not potter along otherwise you end up with blocked egr valves or dpf, or sticking throttle body

It had a new EGR valve in September 2022 so I hope it's not that.

 

[UFO]

have you been driving it steady to save fuel ? As this is a big problem with modern diesels,
They need to work, not potter along

it doesn't do any harm, once in a while, to give the vehicle a blast up the motorway in a lower gear and give it a few minutes of high revs.
As my mechanic says "blast the crap out of it and it'll be lighter on its feet".

I wouln't say I drive frugally and there was plenty of motorway driving at 60-70 on the last trip, plus getting up the North Devon hills. Also it has the smaller engine so sometimes it does have to work hard. Then again it did not have any hard driving for 6 months after we got back from France in early November 2024.

 

[UFO]

Thanks for all the ideas

1. Mice / debris in the air filter or pipework. The filter was changed in early April and I would hope that if there was a mouse hole in it the garage would have told me. But as they left the cap seal in the bottom of the filter housing my confidence in them is not what ii was - have been using them since 2012.
2. Split turbo hose
3. Fuel filter seal / leak
4. Fuel injector electrical connection
5. Sticking EGR valve (replaced in September 2022)
6. Diesel particulate filter
7. Sticking throttle body / fly-by-wire- throttle fault
It is booked into a garage 11 May (not the one I have been using since 2012) so hopefully a quick fix as the ferry is booked for 20 May.

I will let you know what they find.

 

[colinm]

The photo of the filter housing has the seal part covering the drain hole, so I can't see if the hole has any gnaw marks, mice tend to do that after they get inside. The throttle body on that year is another weak point, fairly easy to check, pull the pipe off and using finger open valve and allow to shut itself, this should be nice and smooth, any roughness it's kapput. Iirc the potentiometer for throttle has three tracks, they sometimes play up. Then there's the other problems mentioned by other posters, it can be a real minefield.
P.s. did anyone mention 'rusty junction', another common problem, but I don't think it gives the symptoms you have.

 

[chrishunter]

Just a suggestion ,but a few years ago our diesel boxer wouldn`t pull and spluttered up hill . I took it to a diesel tuner and straight away he said "you`ve been filling up at supermarket pumps ".I had always used supermarkets .Well 2 injectors were blocked 1 partly blocked and 1 was ok. He renewed all 4 ,i fill up now at shell using v power and it goes like a bomb,more mpg and money off every 10 fill ups.

 

[yeoblade]

We had similar symptoms on a vivaro, traced to an air leak on the diesel filter.

Yes the diesel filter has failed on my x250 . But apart from dropping diesel everywhere, drove okay

 

[maingate]

Just a suggestion ,but a few years ago our diesel boxer wouldn`t pull and spluttered up hill . I took it to a diesel tuner and straight away he said "you`ve been filling up at supermarket pumps ".I had always used supermarkets .Well 2 injectors were blocked 1 partly blocked and 1 was ok. He renewed all 4 ,i fill up now at shell using v power and it goes like a bomb,more mpg and money off every 10 fill ups.

If there is a Costco near you with fuel pumps you should become a member. Their diesel is equal to the Shell V Power and generally a lot cheaper.

 

[Tezza33]

Does it have a fly by wire throttle?
It could be a throttle pedal potentiometer failing, had the same sort of problem when I had a Transit Connect

I had the same problem, I was having to remove the pedal and strip it down to clean the contacts, a new pedal was expensive (£160 -£250)but I found one from Germany, it was new/old stock and cost £35 including delivery, once fitted my problems disappeared.
I was aware that Ducatos had a problem with a tight wiring harness to the injectors which caused it to go into limp mode but I soon ruled that out.

 

[mike w]

Even with a diagnostic tool it's not always easy, my van threw several errors, Fiat (un)Professional started on the "replace this, replace that" approach, so I took it away from them, and took it to Nick Fisher of EuroTrucks, at the time a large Fiat rental company with their own workshops. Even he struggled to find the problem, in the end he sat in the passenger seat with a full diagnostic suite plugged in and the van was driven for many miles until an error occurred and he could see in real time what the sensors where showing, from that he decided something was upstream of the AMS, stripping the pipes and out dropped a dead mouse.
Mice getting in the filter of x250/290's motorhomes is now recognised as fairly common if they are laid up for a few weeks at a time.

Here are the remains of my critter!

 

[trevskoda]

Just a suggestion ,but a few years ago our diesel boxer wouldn`t pull and spluttered up hill . I took it to a diesel tuner and straight away he said "you`ve been filling up at supermarket pumps ".I had always used supermarkets .Well 2 injectors were blocked 1 partly blocked and 1 was ok. He renewed all 4 ,i fill up now at shell using v power and it goes like a bomb,more mpg and money off every 10 fill ups.

All the fuel in n ireland comes from shell or bp tanks at docks, that includes asda and others.

 

[seth108]

had a similar problem .. turned out to be a dodgy electrical wiring connector to one of the fuel injectors
start the engine a wiggle each electrical connector..
worth a try

This has happened to me twice on 2 different injectors. I bought spare injector lead ends from IVECO (quite cheap) and sliced them onto the ends of the faulty leads. Fiat made the looms too short and vibration and pulling over time opens up the connections on the shortest leads. Temporary fix is tie the dodgy lead to a fuel pipe with a cable tie in a position that let's the connection stay stable until you can change the end bit. This got me through 3 further weeks in France without having to go home or seek help abroad.

 

[seth108]

My 2009 Adria Twin Fiat Ducato 100 Multijet/2.2 HDi (Ford Puma engine) developed a problem on the last trip.

I first noticed it a couple of days ago. When accelerating in any gear the engine would sometimes lose power and stop accelerating. Sometimes it would clear and the acceleration would pick up. Other times I would change gear and the acceleration would be ok. There was never a problem when cruising at any speed.

Coming home today on the A303 single-carriageway section traffic was slow (there was broken down vehicle further along) suddenly I could not do more than 10 mph in 2nd gear. The signs said there was a duel-carriageway section ahead and parking 2 miles ahead. I continued, slowly, just before the parking area the acceleration started to pick up and I got into 3rd, although the acceleration was lumpy. Stopped in the layby turned the engine off, when started the engine revved freely to high revs. Continued on our journey and got home ok, with only the occasional slight loss in acceleration.

No dashboard lights at any time.

Filled with fuel and added Redex Diesel System Cleaner at the start of the journey and filled again when tank was half full, at which time the problem was already present.

Any ideas before I hand it over to the mechanic? It seems that the engine is being starved of something – fuel or water, but why only occasionally?

thank you

This has happened to me twice on 2 different injectors. I bought spare injector lead ends from IVECO (quite cheap) and spliced them onto the ends of the faulty leads. Fiat made the looms too short and vibration and pulling over time opens up the connections on the shortest leads. Temporary fix is tie the dodgy lead to a fuel pipe with a cable tie in a position that let's the connection stay stable until you can change the end bit. This got me through 3 further weeks in France without having to go home or seek help abroad.