(T) Gear Crunching

All,

Just bought a fiat punto, X reg ELX, and I am getting horrible crunching noise when changing into 2nd From both first and third.

My local fiat dealer says that they can't find any problems, but it sounds nasty. They will probably find the problem when the warranty runs out!

Has anyone else experianced a similar problem?

LeeG

Crunching gears is usually a sign of a clutch that needs adjusted or worn syncromesh in the gearbox.

Clutch adjustment - cheap
Synchromesh - not cheap

if it were a worn synchro I would imagine that it should crunch going into 1,3,5 or 2,4 (reverse will usually crunch due to lack of synchro), see if there is any noticable crunch going into 4th from 3rd or 5th.

Clutch drag will normally cause crunching in all gears, and make selecting gears more difficult, also you may be able to smell the burning clutch when you leave the car after a longer journey. (you'll know if you've smelt it, its how you'd imagin burning asbestos to smell although thats not what is used anymore)

Other causes may be warn gearbox mounts, common problem on a cinq I beleive

HTH

Great thanks for the info,

Had the car into the local fiat dealer ship to which they say it looks like the Synchromesh. Which as you suggest is not cheap!

But the car is under warranty! we did not buy the car from the local fiat dealer. So I am now in the middle of an arguement between the dealer from whom I bought the car and the dealer who has identified the problems.

Not a nice place to be... Its just crazy.. The original dealer (purchasing) is saying that the work that has been identified (by the fiat dealer) does not need to be done.. Its just mad....

If anyone has any advice about dealing with dealerships with such matters please I'm all ears

"if it were a worn synchro I would imagine that it should crunch going into 1,3,5 or 2,4 (reverse will usually crunch due to lack of synchro), see if there is any noticable crunch going into 4th from 3rd or 5th. "

Not so, synchromesh serve only 2 gears at a time, the gearbox described has three, for first and second, another for third and fourth, and one for fifth gear. Reverse does not have a synchro. The synchromesh has two sides on the first two and only one for fifth, so its possible that only one side is worn or damaged which would give only one gear crunching.

Ah ha. My bad. Every day is a school day