1997/8 ford transit -- defunct potentiometer

We have a LWB ford transit Duetto dated 1999. After of exaustive seach of suppliers etc of the specific Potentiometer for this model we have been told that it is 'discontinued' and not repareble. Heartbroken and off the road !!!

Any advice out there please. Pat

A potentiometer is a variable resistor and could be used in all sorts of electric circuits.  What is the problem with your van?

Peter

Think this is what you are looking for -  available from this site good luck!

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Thanks Modman. I have opened an account with Transit Centre and sent an email. Although they haven't one in stock, I am keeping my fingers crossed. Regards, Pat

Thank you for answering Peter,

the 'van' constantly in limp mode. Evidently the potentiometer on the throttle pedal is 'gone' !!!!!. It is a Lucas made part for the 1997/8 Ford transit whiich is dicontinued.  Regards Pat.

Pat Hunt wrote:Thank you for answering Peter,

the 'van' constantly in limp mode. Evidently the potentiometer on the throttle pedal is 'gone' !!!!!. It is a Lucas made part for the 1997/8 Ford transit whiich is dicontinued.  Regards Pat.

Thanks for letting me know.  I had the same problem several years ago when I had my 1999 Duetto but the garage called it a electrical accelerator pedal.  It took the main Ford dealer a week to work out what was wrong.

They may be repairable and I would guess available from breakers as well.

Peter

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Its a long shot but you might get one through the link above.

Peter

Hope the Transit Centre can help . My ford garage guy wasnt in today unfortunately but I would say that there must be a way to repair your unit if nothing else available. Anything can be reconditioned - There are loads of these mk5 vans on the road but dont know how common the problem is. What mileage has the van covered out of interest? Would assume pretty high? commercial breakers yard would be the other option. I would search ebay listings too.
best wishes

Hi again, I have been looking into the problem and contacted a ford commercial specialist who says that nine times out of ten it isnt the pedal thats at fault but the fuel pump. The diagnostics often point to the pedal. He also says that if it IS the pedal then the fix would be the same if pedal not available in as much as he would put on a manual pump,cable and pedal to get over the problem.  It is fixable which is the main thing!  I would love to know the mileage on your van though as it makes me think about what could go wrong on my van which I have only had for just under a year!

It happened to my 1999 Duetto in 2004 or 2005.  I think it was about 50,000 miles as the previous owner had used it daily.

Peter

Hi Peter, was your problem with the pedal or the pump? - I spoke to a couple of specialists this morning as I wanted to find out for myself  in particular as I have the same van and year. My mileage is only 41k so I would hope not to have any issues but it seems that mileage is no indicator. One guy said the pedals electronic board gets grubby and can be cleaned or even repaired, but another said its nearly always a problem with the epic pump. Two specialists have said you can fit a bosch pump (from older banana engine) and pedal, tweak the pressure and you are up and running. The epic pump is not well regarded it seems. Older (pre 97) Duetto owners will be relieved to hear that their banana engines are so much more reliable.

Hi Pat - check out this link
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My problem was the pedal but they changed various sensors and other bits and pieces before they got to it.  Fortunately it was under a warranty so cost me nothing but losing the van for about 10 days till they found the fault.

Mine was nasty as it was intermittent.  You would drive normally, pull up at a T junction and it would stay at idle till you restarted the engine a few times.  When I eventually called the RAC to it he took one look and said 'I'm not touching that'.  He followed me 15 miles to the Ford dealers and it drove perfectly but fortunately not for them next day.

Peter

Peter

Thanks for the info Peter,
You could not have had very high mileage on the vehicle at that time either?

It seems that the transit forum guys just pull off the hated epic fuel pump, and fit the older Bosch pump with manual pedal and cable. It seems that it works quite well except that sometimes different injectors are required due to power issues. Why on earth did ford go for a system that they give little support for? The old 2.5d banana engine is much loved and is fitted to the older Duettos. I may never have any problems but this has got me unsettled I have to say - especially after having the outrigger welded at a cost of £250 (that I would not have been forced to do at another garage if they had MOT`d it).

Having said that, I know that earlier Peugeots have hard to repair gearbox issues (as few places will do them due to lack of parts) and the new Euro engines get clogged particulate filters costing £1000 to replace plus turbo units failing etc etc so you are stuffed whichever way you turn save for getting a tent!