Sorry if this has already been said, ive done a search and thought a new thread would be ok...

GGGrrrr... ive got an 03 1600 5dr stilo ive owned from new, ive had many of the faults ppl are saying on here (airbag, aircon filling the car up with water, failed suspension springs the list goes on). Any ways my baby hit 50k just intime for the mot which she flew though. Fastforward 1 week excatly and 175miles im sitting at the side of the road in romford with all the life of the gearbox draining away. After it was low loaded home i have investigated the problem and found a hole in the side of the driveshaft housing, something has punched though from the inside. I contated fait and they dont stock that part... its sold as a part of the bell housing, so a part that prob would have cost £100 is inflated to £300 mark, and thats before ive found out what has caused the problem. The car was still selecting gears fine when i pulled over and no noises were coming from the box. Does anyone know what the cause is.
Ive read though quiet a few probs on here with the boxes, and salvage yards seems to comferm the fault. On average they are seem to be failing around 45-50k mark so mines right on que. Ive managed to source another box thats running from a car thats done only 22k but i really want to know what the cause of the problem is so i can maybe remedy the fault before it occurs on the new box any ideas?

Just how many of you guys and gals have had this fault?, there seem to be a few on here, maybe its time to contact watchdog over the fault as fait dont want to supply the parts without going the more expensive anvenue first. But a so call "cheif technician" at a dealer (i will omit the dealers name) said the crown wheel has probally gone, when i pointed out that the car would have had no drive atall he said what did i know !!! bloody cheek. well i think i maybe moving to another car now, as this is not acceptable, christ its not even had its first clutch yet, ive always worked rule of thumb 2-3 clutches to 1 gearbox, not 2 gearboxes to 1 clutch.
roy

I notice you've owned the car since new. This puts you in a very strong position to claim under standard trading laws as clearly a gearbox shouldn't fail at such low mileage (and to be a relatively common fault). The fact the car is out of warranty would have little bearing in this instance.

I'm sure Fiat UK would resolve this before it got to the Small Claims Court (max £5,000)

Also talking as I do to many of the other members of foreign sites they have found that the stilo gearbox isn't one of the strongest and some of the Greek lads have actually fitted the punto gt box as this is much stronger box all together [this is not direct replacement mind you so not the every day diy job ]

Sorry to read about your failed driveshaft housing which side is it n/s or o/s?Is it allways the same side that faills from what other owners have experienced?

the housing has been "punched through" right in between the driveshafts linkage at the back of the box (there is scraping next to the drive gearing in that housing, so it looks like a bolt etc has originally caught on the gearing and then travelled up into the driveshaft housing where there is no clearance then popped though). Im going to start to dismantle the box tomorrow and try to diagnose what had cause the original problem, then i may goto fiat and see what they are going to offer. If they are not helpful i may log a complaint with the trading standards and file a claim, but your right there is no way that a box should fail at such a young age, there seems to be a lot of problems with this box as ive found out, i made over 50 phone calls before locating a box in working order, im in essex and the box is being shipped down from edinbrough.
Thanks for the replies, i will let you know what my findings are inside the box, i wouldnt mind so much if i was a boy racer, but im a old man that drives to save money, i dont think the car has ever been over 85mph (unless the wife has taken it over).
roy

Heres the damage, im really mythed to what has happened inside this box, everything is in place, diff is ok and the box is clean. There dosent seem to be any foregn bodies remnants. On contrary to my original thoughts there is not one but two wacking holes in the thing 1 being the bell housing as well. I was hoping to find out what caused this problem so i could approach fiat but now it looks like i will have to put it down to experiace and get myself a ford, at least the parts are easier to get hold of......
does this look like the damage that other members have suffered?
roy

and here is the drive shaft housing (sorry forgot to add it to previous post)
roy

I never took mine apart, but this does sound like my problem- a big bang, some smoke and vital fluids all over the road.

My stilo was at about 30k when the first gearbox problem happened, about 35k when it exploded and the second box lasted all of 3 months before the 3rd went in. Touch wood I have done 2k on this box and the symptoms havent returned.

I got told the gearbox failure on mine was due to the diff failing and depositing itself through the gearbox

It certainly goes out with style. There's been a few of these and I've no idea what gets loose and breaks through the box.

Have you thought about aluminium welding as they don't look to be structural parts. There are lots of compnies offering specialist and one off services and it's a very quick job. Or, if you're into welding then you could even do it yourself

Have a look here. Warning not dial up friendly
http://www.easyweld.com/videos/Durafix_Basic_Application_Instructions.wmv

Well ive found out whats wrong!!!!
The diff has a pin that holds the bearings and mech. in place



Sorry bit blurry but you can see the pin yep.



this is whats held in



Theres the missing pin thats caused all the problems. This is a fault that SHOULD NEVER happen.
Ive had one replacement gearbox sent (and still sitting in my dinning room) but he sent an 05 model which has a different sized bell housing and the starter motor housing is towards the top of the box not hanging off the bottom.

What im doing with the new box before it goes back is to remove the diff and arc weld the pin in place with dissemiller welding rods. I cant mig weld it as the main body is cast.
Hopefully just a simple tack weld on either side if the pins will stop this fault from happening ever again (i wil post pics when done), i know its not for the fient hearted doing this sort of job but im not in the position to spend thousands to repair fiats faulty parts over and again, and as far as im concerned prevention is better than cure.
My experiance with tracking down a gearbox for this car has been awful, ive never made so many phone calls in my life. The orignal bell housing could be welded by a pro but the driveshaft housing is scrap as its cracked, i would never like to put that back on a car with all the stresses it has to take. This is the corker, fiat dont supply that part its only suppled with the bell housing, so its all scrap (unless you can get one from the breakers, but you might as well get the lot and save the money on a welder).

If your capable and can - My advice is if you own an pre 04 (mines 03) 1.6 stilo, remove the drive shafts and then take out the diff, do this little fix and put it back, it could save you thousands and loads of time with the car off the road.
roy

Sounds very interesting. Look forward to seeing the next photos. What's normally holding the pin in place?

Thanks for that Roy that's brilliant that pin in no way should have come out and as fabricator and welder I think I could just about cope with doing a few tacks here and there an old saying come to mine here as well Quote- A stitch in time saves nine and in this case a very costly repair for the sake of a few

Deckchair5 said:

What's normally holding the pin in place?

Click to expand...

Well mine must have been luck, they are oversized pins that are "pressed" into the casting, this way they should never come out until they are pressed out (or drilled for the DIY mechanic). What i think has occured is the pins were not of the correct diameter during manufacture (probo only a few micros too small), and over the years and mileage it has been working its self loose until the failure occurs.
roy

Looking at the assembly instructions, it looks like there's a retaining pin which goes through the big pin to stop it coming out rather than it being an interference fit



It shouldn't ever come out if the pin is fitted into place

To remove the gear it's meant to be necessary to break through the gear casing to get access to the retaining pin to knock it out as shown here

The pin is 1b (unlike it says in the splurge) and the chisel is 1a duh!

Nice find deckchair!!, ive just checked my shaft and there is NO retaining pin there, there isnt even a hole for one, so i think that is a mod that fiat has done knowing the fault that occurs. either way i think my case against fiat is getting stronger.
roy

I think the retaining pin is put in originally from underneath ie where the gear is now, before the gear is attached to the housing which is why you need to chisel out access to get to it normally. If you've never had a retaining pin then it certainly has been just luck holding yours together.

To fit a new pin you'll need to drill open a hole in the housing to get in from the top, fit the pin and then stake the hole over afterwards

YES ive found it, its inside the gear itself. but its only on 1 pin, this really defeats the object as ive found out to my expense. Why the hell didnt they put the retaining pin on both ends?, i think this means that i will only need to weld up the one pin, im going to cut a groove in the head to make a good key on the new shaft when it bloody arrives!.

roy

Sounds good, so i guess someone didn't stake the retaining pin in properly to the gear at assembly

SUCCESS!!!!!!!!!!!

Ive FINALLY got the car back on the road, after two wrong gearboxes from breakers i gave up and completly overhauled mine (mainly to clean out any debris).
All i changed in the end was the trumpet, seals and rebuilt the diff. Oh yeah i also replaced the sync. mesh as a matter of course. The box itself was in EXCELLENT condition and the only damage was to the bellhousing as shown in the pics.
What ive done with the failed pin is to drill a hole in the opposite end, then i grinded of an 10mm lip in the new pin. I then tapped the hole and ran TWO grub screws in. The screws are to stop it falling out thus the lip in the new pin but they dont hold it in place rigid, i thought that if it was held in place then it could cause problems with expansion and contraction so this was the next best thing. The grub screw is held in using locktight thread locker and left to set, once set i threadlocked the next grub and ran it into the other one thus making doubly sure it wouldnt cause any more problems in the future.

I also put on a new clutch, it seemed sad as the old one has plently of wear left but as the box was off and i was unsure oil had penetrated the clutch plates i thought i would bear on the side of caution. Im glad i did change it mind you as its now so light it feels like a completly different car.

I was plesently surprised how easy the car was to reassemble, ive pratted around for hours trying to line up gearboxes and clutches in the past but the stilo went back a treat, even re installing everything else was easy especially the bleeding of the clutch, i had to keep re checking it as i was sure i had done it wrong.

Over the last 3 weeks ive been borrowing many cars (8 in total) from old bangers to brand new corsas (yuck) and i have to admit there is something special about driving the stilo, it just feels much better than any other car (baring my 2.8 granny RIP). But i still think that we may have to part ways, i cant trust her anymore, if Fiat cant get a pin right i have to keep asking myself what else could happen, and getting parts AGGGGHHHHH:bang:

The job is not for the feint hearted but i think i saved myself around 800 doing it myself, gained a grumpy wife and cut to shread hands, but at least some garage hasnt got my hard earned money for a change.

Im sorry i couldnt put any more pics up, i cant seem to find the camera anywhere, i will take a snap of the broken pin when i find it, but i wont be dropping my diff to show ya, you will have to take my word.

So anyone around basildon down to hainault giss us a wave at some point, my stickers are on the way, mines a not so poorly 1.6 5dr active in gringo steel (met silver). Nothing special just a tool to do a job.

roy

Good to hear that your back on the road could you at some stage post up how you took the gearbox and clutch out and put it back any problems and did you need any special tools?