Hi all

Having a few little niggles with my box.

Just come up to 96000miles now and i feel it's starting to get a bit noisy! I have changed the oil every 20k in my ownership (since 48k)

I get quite a loud diff whine in 4th, 1st and 2nd are quite noisy on acceleration, 3rd is okay as is 5th.

The gear change is still perfect, never a problem and it seems to perform okay. I understand these things can be quite fragile! Am i looking at a rebuild?

Thanks

Chris

Forgot to mention, at idle it is very noisy and rattly, especially when warm! If i depress the clutch it stops.

The rattle is you're release bearing, they can go on like that for some time. But if you want to keep the car, I would budget for a clutch swap soon.

It won't be the diff if it whines in certain gears and not in others. Likely to be just a 96k gearbox, rebuild isn't really an option, as parts are quite difficult to come by. You can get recon boxes, but I am wary as to what they have done to recon the box.
I can't see it's a problem if you have changed oil every 20k, as long as it's swapping cogs ok. Either buy a second hand box, strip it and replace all the bearings yourself (gears and baulk rings will be like chickens teeth). Or try to find a reputable gearbox specialist and quiz them about a recon unit, asking them exactly what do they change.

Ahh didn't think about the release bearing! That would make sense.

Thats what i feared, i have tried to take extra care of the box as i knew they would be a rare piece. In all honesty the noises are not unbearable but wanted to tackle any issues before they get worse.

Just went to check oil level in the box (replaced 10k ago) The passenger side cv is spewing oil!!

There is oil in the box but can't get any on my pinky. What is my best bet? Fix the box, upgrade engine or scrap car?

Needing some inspiration

Chris

Replace driveshaft boot.
Replace oil.

See how it goes.

I have found a mot failure '02 seicento.

How easy is it to swap over all the bits from an mpi car?

If it doesn't require too much work i will follow this route

Chris

edit: I plan on keeping it totally stock for now

You have to make sure it is a C529 as the C514 is dry shaft type. Some MPI Seicento versions had the C529.
If yours has run low on oil for some time, chances are slim on saving it. They don't last long. Had one loose oil on me and when replenished, the thing kept locking in gear after a few miles. If you fit a new box, fit new CV boots with bearings.

cc1 said:

You have to make sure it is a C529 as the C514 is dry shaft type. Some MPI Seicento versions had the C529.
If yours has run low on oil for some time, chances are slim on saving it. They don't last long. Had one loose oil on me and when replenished, the thing kept locking in gear after a few miles. If you fit a new box, fit new CV boots with bearings.

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I was planning on taking engine and box from a doner car so i will get the loom and mounts etc.

I hope it does have a dry shaft box for that matter!

I don't think i will bother wasting the money on the wet shaft

Chris

If you swap engine and box, you may as well pop the 1242 in with the mpi head.

For the bother it is well worth it. The extra mid range torque is wicked.

It all depends how much you want to keep the car, I have spent probably 200+ hours on mine and I'm no where near where I want to be with the car.
Is it worth it, hell no. I could have kept my xj6 for the money I've spent on the little cinq, but these little cars have a way of getting under you're skin.

Huwbishop said:

If you swap engine and box, you may as well pop the 1242 in with the mpi head.

For the bother it is well worth it. The extra mid range torque is wicked.

It all depends how much you want to keep the car, I have spent probably 200+ hours on mine and I'm no where near where I want to be with the car.
Is it worth it, hell no. I could have kept my xj6 for the money I've spent on the little cinq, but these little cars have a way of getting under you're skin.

Click to expand...

I would love to put a 1.2 in. However i really need the car to be on the road soon and haven't got the time to start a project like that. 200+ hours isn't really an option, im looking at 2 or 3 days work

Wanted to get a 1.1 spi or mpi and swap all the good bits over, unless someone has a 1242 swap with all the bits so i can just plug and play

Chris

It's not a 200 hour job to convert an 899 to a 1242, maybe a weekend at most.

lazybones51 said:

It's not a 200 hour job to convert an 899 to a 1242, maybe a weekend at most.

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That sounds much more appealing

Worst case... i have a 34k 899 box sat in a green cinq on the drive... engine is gojng in the bin but the gearbox is fine..

lazybones51 said:

It's not a 200 hour job to convert an 899 to a 1242, maybe a weekend at most.

Click to expand...

Not on the engine swap silly, on the whole car.

This is a shame as i will probably sell the car now as i just don't have the time to maintain it like i used too!

Anyway, i drained to gearbox oil, it was definitely almost full and it came out super clean for 10k oil. Put fresh in as i have loads lying around.

The leak is small, maybe a drip per hour. Too risky to drive still.

Would anyone want this? If so i will set up a classified

Chris

Okay so took the plunge to repair the cinq, hope its worth it!

Had the box off, changed the clutch and new drive shaft boots. Lovely fresh oil etc

I noticed that when removing the box the front engine mount and a couple of bell housing bolts were loose allowing slight movement between the engine and box!

Anyway all back together, shifting fine and back to how it should be.

However in neutral i am getting a lot of chattering from the box. If i depress the clutch the noise stops. It sounds like there is some play in the gears itself? It is fairly loud, and gets warm after driving?

Any input appreciated

Chris

I know very little about gearboxes so excuse me if this is rubbish but sounds to me like layshaft bearings if its chattering when clutch engaged in neutral but goes away when clutch is dipped? My Panda does this (and has for a very long time) although its a FIRE engine so I don't know how different the g'box design is on a 899...

Release bearing. Nothing holds them in, so they can chatter.
I gather you replaced it with the clutch, if so it's fine, just a bit annoying.

Sorry to bring this up again!

As i said before i am getting a really annoying chatter from the gearbox in neutral idle. Starting to really get to me now as it never did this before, even a clutch change with new release bearing hasn't sorted it.

It seems slightly intermittent, if i let up the clutch really slowly (in neutral) it is silent for a while. Any revs to the engine and the sound comes back

I don't understand why a new release bearing would make the exact same sound as the old one.

Thanks in advance

Chris