R reg fiat punto slave cylinder?

I think my slave cylinder may have gone on my R reg 1.2 punto.
I was driving and when trying to engage 3rd gear there was a grinding noise but it still went into the gear. After that the clutch felt as if it was really stiff and fighting my foot to go down however it would still change gear for a few minutes untill i stopped. When i stopped and put it into neutral it wuld the not work it wouldnt let me engage any gear so i simply had to push it into the petrol station. There was also a trail of oil of somesort from under my car and where it was stopped there was quite a large amount of oil.
When the car is turned off i am able to put it in any gear using the clutch but when its turned on i cant select any gear.
Does this sound like the slave cylinder or is it a much bigger problem?
Also how hard is the slave cylinder to fix?
Any help will be much appreciated thanks in advance.

Hey - Yes it does sound like its the clutch Slave sylinder that is at fault, it's not overly difficult to replace, but it may be worth phoning round any local scrap yards etc first and see if they have one.. should only set you back £15/20 if they do !

What colour was the oil?

if you suspect its the slave cylinder, be very careful as the top up reservior also serves the brake fluid as well,, so if youve lost a lot of fluid you may be in danger of having no brakes

its easy to locate and check ,, remove battery and tray ,,it sits on top of gearbox

The fluid is black from what i can tell? But it also feels like i still have full use of my brakes. And also the clutch to me feels normal when pressing it in when the cars is on and off. wierd lol

No. This is a gearbox problem.

If the slave failed, you would not be fighting a stiff clutch - instead the pedal would drop to the floor and feel soft. Gear changes would be difficult as effectively the clutch is not being released.

I'm worried about the oil on the floor. A slave failure just wouldn't do that (the failure would be in an internal O-ring).

As the box "works" when the engine isn't running it's likely to be one of the output shafts.


Ralf S.

That was why i asked the colour of the oil, cos by that you can determine whether it was coincidentally engine oil or possibly a driveshaft that may have pulled out?

well this sounds expensive then lol cheers for your help guys!. I was gettin a new car after christmas anyway but it would be nice to get it working and pass on to another 1st time driver because it has served me well and i think there is life in the old dog for another 1st time driver too

it sounds perfectly slave cylinder'ish to me

the oil in the clutch side of things is never changed so turns black over time with particles of rubber seal

a slave can fail in such a way that it will throw oil out over the top of the box and on the floor

with practice you can drive a car without a clutch atall so this explains the half kind of crunchy gear changes they were getting

i believe due to the spring setup on a punt'o you may end up with what feels like a pedal but is not when all the fluid has come out

the seals may have partially failed meaning it's not pressing the clutch fully but is stil giving the illusion of a pedal as it's a pressurised system air will never get in fluid will just keep slowly falling out

just have a look under the battery tray you'll see a cylinder with a pipe going out of it and a bleed screw it has a ruber boot on the end sealing the arm that is connected to the clutch release fork if you see oil all over this there's your problem

if not just give the rubber boot a squeez and see if any fluid pissesout

i am having a simalier prob!!!
ive just fitted a second hand box the car started and run up the road ok but then started getting stiff to put into gear and crunched like f**k in reverse???
now it wont go into gear at all now but if you pump the clutch 15/20 times it will go in ???? can anyone help???
and when i fitted the box i took the drain plug out and no oil came out?? so i was told to put 2.4litres in but it would only take 1.5litres???
can someone help me please.
cheers stu