We sold my sons 1.2 Stilo last week and the buyer has just come back and told us that the gearbox has failed. I was under the impression that this was unlikely to happen on a 1.2. We only had the car for 3 months as a runaround and it was ok all the time we had it.

The buyer is here so just looking to try and help him out if possible, would appreciate any advice, also does anyone know if a Punto gearbox is a match?

6 speed from the new bravo, last bravo and the stilo will fit, they can and do fail, but usually on individual gears from what i hear, best bet is to either get a refurb or one off a low millage car, not sure if the punto box would fit, might be different between the punto mk2b and the grande, to be fair though if it was fine the three months you had it i can't see it just failing, its something you would notice

In what way does it fail?

gr J

Thank you for the responses. I havent seen it but the buyer told me that he drove it and it got stuck in second gear, the AA came and towed it to a place who said it was the gearbox and it would need to be replaced.

The gearbox went on my 1.6 a few months after I bought it and it sounded like I was dragging a few tin cans behind it whenever I drove it, but the thing is it DID still drive and the gears didnt stick. But I know nothing about cars or what to look for when I buy one.

Given my very limited experience it sounds more like a clutch issue to me as it was driving fine for the three months we had it, I drove it, my son drove it and it was driving ok the day the buyer came and test drove it, paid for it and drove it away. It was 'sold as seen'.

Its an 03 car and has 90,000 miles on it but we got the stabiliser links changed on it while we had it and the mechanic (who is a friend and looks after all our cars), said it was in remarkably good condition so am shocked that a gearbox could go just like that.

did aa man check linkage hasnt snapped?

doing wheel spins on ice can brake a gearbox


either way its buyers bad luck, not your fault you sold it in good faith

you said the best words, "sold as seen" tell him to go whistle!!

:yeahthat:

But you could point him/her in the direction of the forum for help instead of telling him to go whistle.

I have told him about the forum, in fact we told him about it the day he bought the car. I feel bad, because its his first car and he is obviously disappointed but I didnt intentionally mislead him. It was driving fine the day I sold it, he brought his dad with him to look it over and also test drive it and if there were any issues they could have walked away.

The only reason we sold it was because my youngest son cant afford driving lessons right now and even if he had a full licence he cant afford to insure ANYTHING as he is a student and has another year of college to go. Plan A was to keep it for him but he may not drive it for another year and it was just going to sit on the drive, seize up and age, so we decided to sell it and look for something else when he is in a position to cover all the costs.

When I bought mine it was sold as seen and when the gearbox gave up a few months later I didnt even bother contacting the seller because sold as seen is just that and its a chance you take. I ended up with a £900 repair bill but from what I have seen on ebay you can pick up a 6 speed gearbox from a MK2 Punto for as little as £80.

Anyway if he looks at the forum I guess he will find this thread. Thanks everyone

You have a good conscience but I'd try and forget about it. Even buying from a dealer with those limited warranties, you have very little comeback if you happen to do relatively high mileage or if anything other than major parts break. Buying privately is well known to be a lot more risky and you get significantly cheaper deals as a result.

Since I bought my 06' Sporting 2 months ago (with a dealer warranty) the boot won't open, got two tyres changed, replaced a faulty horn, a few fuses and working on a few other things, none of which are covered and some I predicted when viewing.

Truth is, you take the chance of a repair bill into consideration when pricing up the car. Even running a car you've had for years you have to accept that possibility. You sold it in good faith and you have no idea how it was driven before it broke down, only that it was this persons first car. I don't know a huge amount about cars but I'd bet a mistreated gearbox has a pretty short lifespan.