Fiat Ducato Autotrail

My first thought would be the starter motor itself or failing that it could be iffy wiring or connections to the starter .... my 24v Senator used to do similar and that was a known fault in that the loom was only just about up to spec even when new ....

Before I looked further I would clean beneath earth connections to vehicle body and engine including starter motor. Poor earths can throw up some strange happenings.

Thanks for the quick replies. Can easily check earths here but starter may be crossed fingers until I get home. Have cover if the inevitable happens so we’ll see.

Let's hope you don't need to use your brake down cover.🤞

You could always park on hills & bump start it ..... 😉

you could post your query on Outandaboutlive (the MMM forum) and they have a resident Fiat expert called Nick Fisher who posts as Euroserve (I think that's his commercial transport business).

Sometimes you get a delay while the Auto mechanism puts the vehicle in neutral before it tries to start the engine. You can follow whats happening on the small screen as it shows the gears being changed. If there is a fault then it should be logged in the software and be easy to find. 

Done it again. After filling up failed to start. Pushed into space and tried for 30 mins before calling breakdown cover. As I was talking through the call and fault I was asked to check mileage, turned ignition on and carried on to see if it would start and start it did !!!! Does seem to be heat related however when I stopped at destination 2 hours later it restarted no problem.

breakdown company now have details on record should I call back but it  will be a difficult one to reproduce if it starts when they arrive !

I had a Vauxhall Carlton that did the same!!! It was fine when it was running but if you stopped after a long run, especially towing, it would not start. I remember arriving, at I think, Clumber Park when site use to close for lunch. A chap saw me struggling and offered to help. He produced a large screwdriver from his boot and obviously created a connection with the screwdriver and it started. Didn't stop me needing a new starter motor!

David

My feeling echos others comments, one of the field windings on the starter motor is starting to fail.  Either too hot (short circuit) or stopping or failing to energise when current is applied.

Rgds