# Ducato Driver's Seat Storage (2007)



## Moledrain (Sep 20, 2006)

Hi Folks,

As supplied by the dealer, under the driver's seat of my 07 Ducato is a plastic tray, lurking behind a 'ventilated' hinged cover. As mentioned in another post this makes a good hidey hole - but I can't get the tray out.
It moves around all over the place under the seat but just won't pull forward into view. Has anyone discovered the knack or is there a catch somewhere I've not seen?

Thanks

Moley


----------



## some-where-in-oxford (Apr 18, 2006)

Mine is a dealers for repairs so I don't have it here. I seem to remember that there is a clip on the top edge.

You have to push the centre of the top edge down to free the clip, I think it just raises up behind a small tab on the metalwork. Pressing it down will let the plastic fall forward from the top.


----------



## Spacerunner (Mar 18, 2006)

mine houses the habitation heating-while-driving system. I thought this was pretty standard on all '07 Ducato's.


----------



## Grizzly (May 9, 2005)

We're looking with interest at this post.

Our dealer managed to open the drawer under the passengers seat when we collected the van and showed us the handy took kit within. We did not watch how he did it as we assumed it would be straight -forward.

Two weeks later we got a puncture in France and the garagiste who came out wanted to get at the tyre lever etc...neatly stashed in the drawer.

Eventually he got it open by brute force but we never managed to repeat this. We took it into a Fiat dealer while away but they could not do it either.

Thanks for reminding me to ask the dealer how he did it when next we visit !

Spacerunner - the drawer is cunningly hidden in the trim under the front of the passenger seat.

G


----------



## Spacerunner (Mar 18, 2006)

there is a knob which you turn to release the toolkit ( jack etc ). I found this out after getting bogged down on a CL and had to jack up the front wheel to extract the'van. The toolkit should be housed in a polystyrene crate thingy.


----------



## some-where-in-oxford (Apr 18, 2006)

Spacerunner said:


> there is a knob which you turn to release the toolkit ( jack etc ). I found this out after getting bogged down on a CL and had to jack up the front wheel to extract the'van. The toolkit should be housed in a polystyrene crate thingy.


Yes the passenger seat is different.

There is a knob at the front, I think it has a bayonet twist action.

The toolkit is in a polystyrene liner that pulls out as a tight fit under the seat.

It might even be under edge of the floor mat, I forget exactly but sure its on the nearside of the seat front.


----------



## Moledrain (Sep 20, 2006)

Thank you all for answers so far, but I'm ok with releasing the toolkit under the passenger seat as the instructions are in the Fiat handbook, it's under the *driver's * seat where I can't get the tray out. I can drop the hinged 'ventilated' cover down but can't then pull the tray forward into the footwell area. 
I suppose there's always the possibility it's not meant to?

Although smallish objects will pop into the tray in situ and can be removed by passing your hand and arm into the area, I want to put a larger object in there and would finish up like the monkey grasping a sweet in a jar and not being able to remove it while holding it.

Regards,

Moley


----------



## Grizzly (May 9, 2005)

Moledrain said:


> Thank you all for answers so far, but I'm ok with releasing the toolkit under the passenger seat as the instructions are in the Fiat handbook, it's under the *driver's * seat where I can't get the tray out.


Sorry Moley..I've been guilty of not reading your earlier post properly 

We've not looked for a storage tray under the driver's seat. The back of the seat has the radiator used to heat the rear of the van when in motion and we'd rather assumed that took up all the space.

The tool tray under the passenger seat is very difficult to get out. It's made, we think, ( we've not had it out since our puncture in France) of polystyrene and is a very tight fit. If the tray under the driver's seat is the same then I suggest brute force is your only solution. I don't know if something like a squirt of furniture polish might help ? That loosens tight wooden drawers.

G

PS Do the contents of the drawer get hot when the radiator is working ? It would make a useful drawer to leave the TomTom in when we park but I don't want it to get hot if we don't take it out again when we move.


----------



## Moledrain (Sep 20, 2006)

Grizzly,

I'm afraid I only have a Besse E410 and don't run to the luxury of a radiator to heat the van  

This is purely a standard swivel seat with a tray under it. At some stage I'll go into a Fiat dealer but there's none local to me so it will have to be if I'm driving by one.

Regards

Moley


----------



## Grizzly (May 9, 2005)

Moledrain said:


> Grizzly,
> I'm afraid I only have a Besse E410 and don't run to the luxury of a radiator to heat the van


That does surprise me. I thought all the 2007 Bessacar range had this as standard. We have an E530. The "radiator" doesn't look much - all you can see is a black louvred area at the back of the seat plinth, but there is a switch low on the dashboard to the right of the steering wheel that enables you to divert some of the engine heat to the rear of the van while you are moving. It is very effective. There are different fans speeds you can select.

G


----------



## Moledrain (Sep 20, 2006)

To any E410 owner who may be interested, the tray is removed by pressing two lugs away from the floor of the tray and then at the same time using brute force pulling the tray forward into the footwell. I had been doing this but apparently wasn't man enough to overcome the resistance of a determined bit of plastic!

Thanks to Chelston's for the demo of how to do it. 

Moley


----------

