Hi everyone,

I have just got hold of my dad's old Panda MultiJet as he has bought a new car.

He hadn't noticed, but the clutch will slip a little on boost - the car has done 62k, but this doesn't seem too unusual for one of these cars.

Has anybody any experience of changing a clutch on one of these? I would just like some idea of the difficulty - lots of modern cars need subframes off, that sort of thing, and I cant see any info on here about doing the job itself. I've got all the gear needed apart from a ramp - I've done plenty of clutches before without one though!

A Fiat dealer seems to only quote £500 ish for the job, which makes me think it can't be that tricky, and I've seen them elsewhere for considerably less.

Might be a blessing in disguise, as I could fit an uprated clutch, as I was considering getting it re-mapped/tuning boxed anyway, and from what I have read the clutch isn't likely to take to that too kindly.

Anybody got any practical info on this job?

Cheers

Antony

The clutch went on my MJ (2005 model)at 119k last month. Mine just failed (thrust beraring went, and broke the pressure plate tongues). It never slipped, and in fact had quite a bit of wear left on it. It took the place I went to 5 hrs (so they said) and they change clutches for a living. Not a job to do yourself unless you're ambitious in my opinion. It's very tight in there apparently.

I got charged half what you were quoted. The parts alone, the 3 piece clutch, vary in price from about £60 + VAT for a pattern part to £150 ish at Fiat.

My MJ clutch was repalced at 77K cost about 290 quid including the Fiat parts and labour. I used a local Fiat specialist - NSB Autos, whilst it is being done get the turbo pressure control linkage checked out for freedom of movement as well.

Thanks for the replies - if I can get it replaced by somebody competent for £150 then I'd probably supply the uprated fast road clutch myself, and pay to have it done - unless I put the £150 towards a remap!

My MJ is on 63K at the moment and it also slips from around 2000 revs in 3rd if you give it full throttle; but then it has done for the last 40,000 miles. It seems to be a Panda MJ character (fault?) which I think is a result of fitting a 150nm rated gearbox (and presumably clutch) in a car with an engine that produces 145nm.

I thought some years ago about having an increase in output and the conventional wisdom at the time was not to increase the torque output because it was already very close to the rated input of the 'box.

However, if you look at FIAT's specs for different versions of the MJ motor, I'm pretty certain that even the 95 hp version only has the same 145nm of torque.

The reason for all this rambling is that if you have a beefed up clutch, be careful because a slipping clutch is the car's way of reducing damage further on down the line in gearbox, diff or half shafts. If the fast road clutch you mention offers more resistance to slippage then it's possible that wear and tear will occur in those more expensive components.

If on the other hand it all works well, I'll have the same thing done to mine when the clutch needs replacing.

It's nice to have a guinea pig!

Mine has a high pedal as well, so it is worn as well as slipping.

I know the MJ box is rated at just over the torque figure of the engine, but I'd frankly be astonished if the slipping was designed in to protect the box, and hence an uprated clutch shouldn't present a problem on a standard engine.

While I have seen plenty of tales of MJ clutch woes, there don't seem to be as many problems with the box itself, and keeping the regularly changed won't do any harm.

Perhaps the next step would be investigating uprated bearings, as I would think these would be the first items to show problems!

Got hold of an eLearn disc for the Panda, and having had a look through the gearbox removal section it doesn't seem that bad a job to do - no need to drain the gear oil (though a change probably wouldn't do any harm anyway), no need to get the hub nuts off, no subframes in the way, etc. Just strip off the battery, air intakes, etc, disconnect all the linkages, wiring and driveshafts and drop it out!

I know it won't be quite that easy in practice, but it does seem like a job I'd be happy to tackle on my own.

When I get round to it, I'll make sure I post up a how to with pictures - don't hold your breath though, as it is on the "must get round to" list , rather than the "HAVE to do" list!
I'm sure the car will be fine for a while yet - in fact I reckon it would be fine for a long while if I drove round the problem completely, but that's not really the point!