Hi all,


We have been having a few problems with our Barchetta over the last week. When changing up through gears, the pick-up was really poor on releasing the clutch, and it was over-revving before settling into gear. We were supposed to be going away for the weekend, but I was nervous about driving into the middle of nowhere (we are in Southern France) when it wasn't performing well. Initially my husband thought it was something to do with the throttle position sensor, anyhow we dropped into a Fiat dealership who took the car for a test spin with my husband and said the clutch needed to be replaced. Needless to say we didn't make the trip, and have barely used the car over the weekend. Today, however I have made a 20km trip, and the car now feels absolutely fine, pick-up after changing gear seems "back to normal" and it all seems fine, so now I'm really confused and wondering whether the clutch really does need to be replaced, or whether it was something else which has somehow sorted itself out.....does anyone have any ideas? We are going to take it for another spin this afternoon and see if we can get a second opinion from another garage. Unfortunately we don't have a "local, reliable" garage here in France that we use regularly.


Any ideas/advice would be very welcome.....


Thanks,


Vicky

Hi Vicky, that does sound very much like a clutch slipping - but was there a burning smell? That's usually a dead give-away for a clutch that's on the way out. The easiest way to test the clutch is this: with the car stationary, put it in 3rd and attempt to move off. If the clutch is OK, the car should stall. (Don't try this too often, as it will wear out the clutch if it's OK!). Best of luck!

More info please! How many Kms has it done and how old is it? I think a clutch should last 100,000 to 150,000Kms unless its been abused!