Hi - my wife's Fiat 500 1.2 Lounge has developed a fault. When driving it started sounding louder. At first I though the exhaust was blowing, but the noise got worse and now sounds mechanical.

If I sit in the car with the engine running, putting the car in neutral and my foot off the clutch results in a rattling/rumbling noise. Putting my foot down on the clutch and it goes away. With my foot down on the clutch revving, the engine sounds fine.

When driving there is a noise in gear which goes up in speed/tone with the revs and is most noticeable in lower gears, but pretty sure it is there on the other gears, just harder to hear. On pushing the clutch, the noise goes away.

Any thoughts? Thanks in advance.

Have you checked the gearbox oil level?

D

No - Is there a thread describing how to do this? What type of oil should be used on these?

MJW75 said:

No - Is there a thread describing how to do this? What type of oil should be used on these?

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Just pop the filler plug out and check the oil is up to level.

D

If it rattles in neutral and whilst driving but goes in either case when the clutch is pressed I would tend to suspect the thrust bearing (clutch release bearing ) on the end of the clutch arm that presses on the fingers on the clutch , if it is this a new clutch kit should fix it, but at a cost.

Cheers John, that was my suspicion too, many thanks for confirming.

It may well run for some time with it rattling but it's not good practice to leave it as your wife may end up stranded.

John202020 said:

If it rattles in neutral and whilst driving but goes in either case when the clutch is pressed I would tend to suspect the thrust bearing (clutch release bearing ) on the end of the clutch arm that presses on the fingers on the clutch , if it is this a new clutch kit should fix it, but at a cost.

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Usually the bearing would not be in use in normal driving, when pressing the clutch the pressure is put on the bearing and if worn this is when you hear the noise.

In this case it appears there is no noise when the clutch is pressed and the noise is there in normal driving.

How many miles has the car done?

AndyRKett said:

Usually the bearing would not be in use in normal driving, when pressing the clutch the pressure is put on the bearing and if worn this is when you hear the noise.

In this case it appears there is no noise when the clutch is pressed and the noise is there in normal driving.

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My thoughts exactly. When clutch is depressed gearbox is not turning. Hence the oil question.

D

rallycinq said:

My thoughts exactly. When clutch is depressed gearbox is not turning. Hence the oil question.

D

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If whilst driving you pressed the clutch but with the car still moving and in gear and the noise went I would still suspect the "clutch" as the gearbox would still be driven via the movement of the car ? However given how easy it is to check the oil level its a very good place to start.
Any signs of oil leaking especially where the drive shafts go in?

I wonder if this is the input shaft bearing problem that crops up often on the mk2 punto forum, not seen it before on a 500 but I assume they use similar components for these things.

When putting drive through the clutch the bearing is underload and as such rattles and grinds with the rotation of the engine, with the clutch down however the input shaft can move more freely and less load is on the bearing