General My Gearlever mounting has fallen to pieces! Seicento 899cc.

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General My Gearlever mounting has fallen to pieces! Seicento 899cc.

GrumpyOldMan

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Hello all,
This morning when I moved the gearstick of my 899 Seicento into neutral it just went all sloppy on me. I removed the gaiter and have discovered that the white plastic mounting has fallen to pieces :eek:. There was absolutely no warning and the gears were changing fine yesterday. The problem is that I can't work out how to get the cables off the gearstick so I can lift it out. One of them has a threaded adjuster but the other is attached to the lever with a ball joint.
Anyone experienced this? Any help appreciated.
The broken part is number 5 in this diagram.
Seicentogearstickassembly.jpg


Cheers,
Ian.
 
PM YCMing, he should have a complete gear llinkage as hes just done an engine swap.

Cheers

SPD
Thanks, might do that but need to sort this as quickly as possible as car is used every day and will have problems without it. I work about 200 yards from a Fiat dealer so I hope to get a part tomorrow if I can get this one off.
Here's a pic of the offending item.
Seicento-Gear-mounting-web.gif


Cheers
Ian.
 
Okay, I managed to get the thing out of the car but it looks like I need to take the knob off the lever before I can get the lever out through the plastic assembly. Is that the case? From what I can find the knob has to be cut off, is there any was around that?

Cheers,
Ian.
 
The large white piece looks the same as on my old Lancia Prisma 1.6 twin cam. I once changed into 3rd and it failed so badly that the bottom of the lever actually hit the road!
 
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No. Wait till you get the new bit and all should become clear. In effect, you can't buy a new lever without the knob as it's cast on.
Thanks. I'll call for one tomorrow.
I suppose next I should be trying to find out why it broke. There was no warning whatsoever. The car was fine yesterday.

Cheers,

Ian.
 
The large white piece looks the same as on my old Lancia Prisma 1.6 twin cam. I once changed into 3rd and it failed so badly that the bottom of the lever actually hit the road!
Crikey! Thankfully I hadn't even moved off the drive. I had thought what a pain it would have been had my son been out in it on one of his jaunts.

Ian.
 
My local scrappy has a '96 Cinquecento in. The mounting assembly looks to be the same. Does anyone know if that is the case and if it will fit? If not the Fiat dealer will have to order one in for me.
Cheers,
Ian.
 
My local scrappy has a '96 Cinquecento in. The mounting assembly looks to be the same. Does anyone know if that is the case and if it will fit? If not the Fiat dealer will have to order one in for me.
Cheers,
Ian.

As long as its an OHV (899) car, then yes. A Sporting (OHC, 1108) one is three cables rather than two.

Cheers

SPD
 
Blimey, very quick responses!
Yes it has the two cables like my own. If it had had three I wouldn't have expected it to fit. I was more worried that the spacings or measurements or something else might have been different. Got to be worth a try though. It's amazing how inconvenient it is already not having this car available. Only thing that worries me is that the Cinq is on top of another car with no space to get in underneath to put a spanner on the bolts that hold it on, I expect that when I turn the nuts on the inside the whole things are just going to spin. If I have no luck I will indeed PM you Mr Ming.
Cheers,
Ian.
 
Hi All,
just a quick update. I didn't get the lever off the Cinq as I realised that the cable fittings were different and I would have had to do the cables as well.
A trip to the dealer got me the plastic block for £16.74 inc VAT. I expected the gear lever to be a problem as it wouldn't go through the block because of the knob and I have read a lot of posts on this forum which say the only way to get the knob off is to cut it off. I tried to order a new knob but the stores guy said they are now listed as no longer available. Well, I asked at the service department about getting the knob off and they reckoned that they pull off and push back on again (although they wouldn't do it for me). I tried tonight and they're right!! Actually I held it upside down in a workmate had to tap it off with a hammer and a spanner placed over the bottom of the knob to protect it, came of in about 5 sharp taps.
So hopefully everything will go back together easily and I'll be mobile again in no time.
Thanks for all the help and offers of parts. Sorry I didn't take up any of the offers but I was really on a deadline with this: 19 year old student son home from uni nagging me to get it going again so he can visit his girlfriend!! Who am I to stand in the way of true love?

Cheers,
Ian.
 
Hi All,
just a quick update. I didn't get the lever off the Cinq as I realised that the cable fittings were different and I would have had to do the cables as well.
A trip to the dealer got me the plastic block for £16.74 inc VAT. I expected the gear lever to be a problem as it wouldn't go through the block because of the knob and I have read a lot of posts on this forum which say the only way to get the knob off is to cut it off. I tried to order a new knob but the stores guy said they are now listed as no longer available. Well, I asked at the service department about getting the knob off and they reckoned that they pull off and push back on again (although they wouldn't do it for me). I tried tonight and they're right!! Actually I held it upside down in a workmate had to tap it off with a hammer and a spanner placed over the bottom of the knob to protect it, came of in about 5 sharp taps.
So hopefully everything will go back together easily and I'll be mobile again in no time.
Thanks for all the help and offers of parts. Sorry I didn't take up any of the offers but I was really on a deadline with this: 19 year old student son home from uni nagging me to get it going again so he can visit his girlfriend!! Who am I to stand in the way of true love?

Cheers,
Ian.


you learn somthing new everyday i sawn mine off didnt know it comes off without sawing lol
 
you learn somthing new everyday i sawn mine off didnt know it comes off without sawing lol
From what I've read on this forum nobody else realises it either! I was fully expecting to have to saw it off. To be fair though I think it would only come off by tapping or pulling if the gearstick was removed from the car. I suspect that if it was done in the car the mounting would break just like mine did.
Now I'm wondering what caused my mounting to break in the first place as there was absolutely no warning of it happening.

Cheers,
Ian.
 
The exact same thing has just happened
this evening to the wifes sei 899,thanks for the pics
shall take them to my nearest dealer tomorrow.
(haven't got a clue what the part is called,much easier with pics
take it in the dealer and say "i'll have one of them please m8"):)
hope its the same cost,less than £17 is quite reasonable
compared to the cost of some parts.
will let u know how I get on ;)
 
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Hi All,

This is my first post on the forum and I apologise that not had the time to introduce myself and for resurrecting an old thread.

I also have an 899 Sei with the same problem. Have ordered the part from Fiat and intend to fit it this weekend.
Would greatly appreciate if anyone knows the answers to few questions.

As GrumpyOldMan originally posted, I cannot see how to detach the gearchange cable from the gearstick. How can I detach them?

It looks like the whole gearstick unit needs to be removed from the underside of the car. Is this correct?

Any other advice from anyone whose done this job?

BTW the cost of the part from Fiat is now £18 inc vat. I will also post up any tips when I get this done.
Thanks.
 
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