I have had my 2009 Panda 1.1 manual for 6 months now and he has given me many thousands of trouble free miles already (if you ignore the broken exhaust hanger and worn drop links) but today I noticed an oil leak which appears to be coming from the gear selector shaft. Research, mainly on here, suggests it is only an 'o' ring on the shaft that has failed. Does anyone have any experience of this and how easy is it to replace? Looks like a lot of dismantling will be required before I can get to the offender and having never touched a gearbox before I don't want to break anything, especially as it is my daily drive.

Thanks

I changed the seal, will post a picture guide here once I have made 5 posts so I can add the pictures

I couldn't find any help online with this issue so decided to bash ahead. How hard can it be?



This is what first told me there was a problem, I thought the boot was split but it was fine, the oil was coming from above, also the smell of gear oil gave it away - it stinks.



Bought this little guy from the fiat dealer - about £5



The lair of the 1.1 eco beast



The oil was getting past the seal on the shaft and coming out of the breather on the top



This is with the selector off, 5 bolts one of which is also an earthing point



Inside the selector, to withdraw the shaft you need to knock out the roll pin form the centre section and there is an E clip hiding under the smaller plastic cover to the right. The spring holding this is very strong so is a real fiddle to get off. The old roll pin was in two halves and after putting the shaft on upside down and knocking it out a second time it was fooked so I replaced it with a single piece pin as there is enough room to get it out again. Didn't want a roll pin in my gearbox.



New seal installed



There was evidence of red RTV when I took it off so used red before putting it back together. It was in neutral before I took it off and went back on fine. The clutch slave was tricky to get back on but it still works so must have done it right.



All shiny again and 2,000 miles later no leaks

Correction:

It's the smaller plastic cover on the LEFT :bang:

The oil leak looks quite minor and in all honesty I believe most of use would have left it to dribble for a lot longer.

BUT on a closer look, that inner CV joint is quite wet with oil so this job was actually done at the right time and it's really not such a big deal.

Well done and thanks for the information.

Dave

PS. I prefer Loctite 518 anaerobic sealant. It's more money than Silicone RTV but I think does a better job.

DaveMcT said:

The oil leak looks quite minor and in all honesty I believe most of use would have left it to dribble for a lot longer.

BUT on a closer look, that inner CV joint is quite wet with oil so this job was actually done at the right time and it's really not such a big deal.

Well done and thanks for the information.

Dave

PS. I prefer Loctite 518 anaerobic sealant. It's more money than Silicone RTV but I think does a better job.

Click to expand...

Thanks, I couldn't get a picture of it but the leak was a lot worse where the balance weight is on the shaft. Dirty, smelly gear oil leaks need fixed. When I topped up the box it took 250ml of oil from a capacity of 1.65 litres, so not a huge leak but needed doing.

Calum

I had meant to mean doing the job was not a big deal but my original post implies the leak wasn't a big deal. Judging by the oily CV joint the leak clearly needed to be fixed.

So much for trying to be concise.

Hello everyone.I have a Panda 1.2 version of 2009 with the same problem. I tried to change the seal but I couldn't extract the cover of the selector gear, I suppose that there aren't any other anchorage aside of the five screws which the image shows. Could be the sealant of both parts? Cooler King can you tell me what could be happening? Thanks

Remove the grease cable first.

Remove the five cover bolts.

The cover is doweled around two of the cover screws. You will need some sort of lever/crowbar to CAREFULLY lift the cover after all five screws have been removed.

DO NOT bash a screwdriver between the joint faces.

Cooler King said:

I changed the seal, will post a picture guide here once I have made 5 posts so I can add the pictures

Click to expand...

Hi, I recognised that 'gearbox oil smell!) Its only damp and no obvious drips on the drive But I guess at some point this will need addressing! In the mean time...where do you fill up the gearbox?
A lot easier in the old days when I had Morris marinas!

The fill is a hole in the side of the gearbox facing the engine from memory. I used a syringe and a length of tube to get the oil in. Fill until it starts to leak out.

Cheers

Calum

I have a 1.2 Panda with the same problem so i am attempting this myself. How did you remove the bottom rear gear cable joint, did you have to pop it off with a flat spanner?

The control cables use ball joints. They simply pop off with careful use of a pry-bar. When done, pop them back on.

Thanks Dave, it was just that it seemed very tight on when i tried and i didn't want to break them.

My pry bar look like this (though it was cheap as chips when I bought it) https://www.ebay.com/itm/Wilde-Tool...348324?hash=item25aa52e164:g:znoAAOSwgQ9VsCPI


It gives a wide based surface at the business end and the fulcrum and enough leverage to have full control without too much muscle. A rag between ball joint and pry bar might help.

I also changed the seal gasket on my 2004 Punto, based on Cooler King`s great step by step guide.

Let me add some details to the original post, which might help others to change the selector shaft`s seal gasket.

I ordered the seal gasket from here. SEAL GASKET, part number: 55 250 937. Item 6 on the page:
https://www.fiatdalys.lt/en/catalog/parts/212/7/0/2/2U/188.140.4.0/ZFA18800000711928/0/0/0/transmission-and-differential-unit-casing-and-covers

I had trouble finding the E clip under the plastic cover so here is an image of the hidden E clip.



And here is the disassembled gear selector housing:



The gear selector rod with the ball joint at the end comes off easily, just pull it by hand.

I did this job last night and found I needed loctite/glue for the roll pin which is a loose fit in the selector and holds fast to the shaft which is also operating the reverse switch. I had no glue. It seems that roll pin is not taking any significant loads but it would be better off being glued again.


Incidently just inside the oil seal is a very fancy looking roller bearing so it is worth getting the seal changed to protect that bearing. (The seal is not a good solution when the dirty shaft keeps entering the seal and then the seal scrapes all the abrasive dirt off)

There is also an O ring to seal the smaller selector shaft.


The plastic vent can be levered out with care. There is nothing to it other than the attached loose cover.

If the seal is not sealing you need to replace it. You should then be able to look at the hole which carries the roll pin. It sounds worn by your description.

It might be possible to ream the hole to take a larger roll pin. But leaving it loose (even wired in place) will only cause more damage as it continues to fret and wear.

DaveMcT said:

If the seal is not sealing you need to replace it. You should then be able to look at the hole which carries the roll pin. It sounds worn by your description.

It might be possible to ream the hole to take a larger roll pin. But leaving it loose (even wired in place) will only cause more damage as it continues to fret and wear.

Click to expand...

I bought a kit with seal, E clip and roll pin but since the other parts were in good condition I only replaced the seal.

The hole for the roll pin on the selector had a hard brittle residue flowing from it. I assumed it was glue after I noticed I could position the roll pin in the selector without driving it in - the roll pin just falls out if not driven into the shaft.

Annoyingly now it is all back together something really does not seem right.