General Fiat 500 Sport 2015, 1.2 fuel.

[Mod369]

Hi there, I have a problem with my car as it stopped moving for a month now. The problem started with an oil drop from the car and then the gear was difficult to change to a different level, and then stopped moving at all. I added a fluid oil but nothing has changed.

I tried to check it myself and I suspect the cylinder slave clutch needs to be changed. Also, I noted oil leaking from the passenger side area. Any advice on how to find the replacement from online suppliers? As it seems short in supply and for this reason became double the price. Also, I tried to purchase it from online websites after a delay they apologised for not having it. Also, I ordered another one last week and till now they haven't put it in dispatch.

 

[burt20vt]

Hello
It will be more than likely be the clutch damper that sits clipped in on the chassis leg on passengers side. You will need clutch master and slave cylinder together and come pre bled so just fit. I know they are hard to.get hold of at the mo. You could do a temp repair buy going to a pnuematic shop and getting a push fit and chop damper out till it come to get you moving.

 

[Mod369]

Hello
It will be more than likely be the clutch damper that sits clipped in on the chassis leg on passengers side. You will need clutch master and slave cylinder together and come pre bled so just fit. I know they are hard to.get hold of at the mo. You could do a temp repair buy going to a pnuematic shop and getting a push fit and chop damper out till it come to get you moving.

How to do this, can you provide more explanation, or if there is any video demonstrating that, please share it with me.

 

[John202020]

Look under the passenger wing area. The connector fails, and a £10 repair kit is available on Ebay

 

[Mod369]

Thanks, I changed the cylinder slave clutch, but, the gear still doesn't move or change at all levels. Do you think the gearbox oil, can cause this issue? as I think the oil dropped from the car on the floor could be from it.

 

[Mod369]

Do you know if I can check it and how?

 

[The Panda Nut]

Simply follow the pipe from the Reservoir and you will find out if it has a leak. As stated above, it has a joining piece which is fixed to the left side chassis leg. These rust and can fail. The damper is a circular thing about 6cm across that is attached as part of the pipe. It is located in the wheel arch. If you have oil on the floor check first its not running out of the bleed valve on the slave cylinder. The bleed valve is opened and closed with an allen key.

 

[John202020]

Can you select the gears engine OFF?
Check the connector as above under wing

 

[Mod369]

Can you select the gears engine OFF?
Check the connector as above under wing

Yes I can change the gear easily when the engine is off, but the gear hand doesn’t move at all while the engine is on.

 

[John202020]

Not the gearbox either the clutch or its operation or both then

 

[steveras57]

Would help us to understand whats happening if you could give us a description of how the clutch pedal "FEELS"?
Is it heavy or light? is there full travel ?does the feel change within the travel range ? are there any strange noises during the operation of the pedal? such as creaking or groaning! get someone to watch the operating arm on top of the gearbox for full movement as you operate the pedal!
the more info the better!.
check and recheck for fluid leaks!- perhaps put some cardboard under the engine and front left wheel-arch overnight and check in the morning! you can keep the system under pressure but putting a piece of wood between the clutch pedal and the drivers seat to hold the pedal "down" thus pressurising the system!.
If the pedal feels normal , there are no external leaks of fluid!, full movement of the operating arm, and no unusual noises then its starting to to look like a release bearing! or pressure plate issue!.

 

[Mod369]

Thanks for your response. The the clutch pedal was light, then after changing the cylinder slave it became slightly heavy. The car does not move at all as I cannot change the gear to any level. Also, trying to change the gear to R makes noise.

There are not any strange noises during the operation of the pedal apart from trying to move the gear arm to R.

I put previously before changing the slave a cardboard under the engine and front left wheel-arch overnight and found some oil morning!

I will try the pressure and see what will happen.

 

[steveras57]

It does sound like you have a leak somewhere! also have you done the check to see if the operating arm on top of the gearbox is moving normally?
do the check WITHOUT the engine running!

 

[Mod369]

It does sound like you have a leak somewhere! also have you done the check to see if the operating arm on top of the gearbox is moving normally?
do the check WITHOUT the engine running!

Yes I did and it moves normally when the engine is off.

 

[steveras57]

If the arm is moving normally then the clutch hydraulics even if not perfect are working!- therefore by a process of elimination the problem Must be in the release arm/bearing or plates and/or shaft! which is both unfortunate and expensive!.

Can i just re-ask when you say the clutch arm is moving is there FULL travel? by which i mean is the plunger coming fully!! out of the slave cylinder and pushing the arm to full travel? thats about 3 inchs or so- also does it return properly?. the reason i ask is that if the arm is moving!!! but NOT fully to the end of its travel then the clutch plates will NOT be being pushed FULLY APART so the gears wont engage with the engine running as the first motion shaft will still be spinning!.

Going back to your initial post you said there was a fluid leak then the car did not move for a month! when you first noticed the fluid were the gears still engaging then? then after being parked up for the month when you next tried they had stopped engaging at this point! is this correct?.

I am wondering if you might have an oil leak from the engine to gearbox seal! with oil sitting on the plates they may have stuck together whilst the car was standing? might be worth getting some one to help you do the following!
Pop the car in second gear! then whilst you "pump" the clutch pedal get the other person( bigger the better) to rock the car backwards and forwards repeatedly to see if the clutch frees off! probably unlikely but might be worth ago!.

So to summarise if you are certain that the clutch slave pushrod is giving FULL travel and pressure ,and the arm is moving fully to the left when the pedal is pressed( might be worth observing the movement on a working car if you know someone how has one! just to be certain of what you are looking for!) and the rocking motion does NOT free the clutch operation off so that it works then its ALMOST! certain the issue is internal and the bell housing and clutch will need to come off to be inspected along with the release arm and bearing and finally the condition off the plates themselves!.
best off luck!

 

[Mod369]

If the arm is moving normally then the clutch hydraulics even if not perfect are working!- therefore by a process of elimination the problem Must be in the release arm/bearing or plates and/or shaft! which is both unfortunate and expensive!.

Can i just re-ask when you say the clutch arm is moving is there FULL travel? by which i mean is the plunger coming fully!! out of the slave cylinder and pushing the arm to full travel? thats about 3 inchs or so- also does it return properly?. the reason i ask is that if the arm is moving!!! but NOT fully to the end of its travel then the clutch plates will NOT be being pushed FULLY APART so the gears wont engage with the engine running as the first motion shaft will still be spinning!.

Going back to your initial post you said there was a fluid leak then the car did not move for a month! when you first noticed the fluid were the gears still engaging then? then after being parked up for the month when you next tried they had stopped engaging at this point! is this correct?.

I am wondering if you might have an oil leak from the engine to gearbox seal! with oil sitting on the plates they may have stuck together whilst the car was standing? might be worth getting some one to help you do the following!
Pop the car in second gear! then whilst you "pump" the clutch pedal get the other person( bigger the better) to rock the car backwards and forwards repeatedly to see if the clutch frees off! probably unlikely but might be worth ago!.

So to summarise if you are certain that the clutch slave pushrod is giving FULL travel and pressure ,and the arm is moving fully to the left when the pedal is pressed( might be worth observing the movement on a working car if you know someone how has one! just to be certain of what you are looking for!) and the rocking motion does NOT free the clutch operation off so that it works then its ALMOST! certain the issue is internal and the bell housing and clutch will need to come off to be inspected along with the release arm and bearing and finally the condition off the plates themselves!.
best off luck!

The problem was only the clutch connector which cost a spare £8, which I ordered online, but unfortunately it didn't arrive on time and I booked a mobile technician who repaired it temporarily without the spare for £100 cost. and asked for another £60 to replace the spare which only cost £8. What a costly repair for a connector. Now the car has leaking oil and took the car to the garage and asked for £400 to repair it and replace the sump. Another issue that added up. for a car that I only bought recently at a high price without telling me about all the issues that has.

 

[steveras57]

BIT unfortunate! as these are well known for sumps leaking from pin holes due to rust!
When paying for other peoples labour its £75/£100 per hour!!!
no such thing as a CHEAP car is there?.
hopefully sorted now!

 

[The Panda Nut]

This is the join in the n/s wheel arch area. I couldnt shift any part of it on our 2011 car and left the pipes where they are. OE pipes are very expensive and if I had to replace mine I would look for a length of small bore fuel pipe. I would take the ends off the existing plastic pipes and fit them to a single length of pipe from the master cylinder to the slave cylinder insert the metal ends, fitting these with new O rings and just throw the old pipe away. Its a low pressure system so a reinforced fuel pipe (probably 3mm) would do the job for just a few pounds. I shudder to think of the cost of proper pipes from Fiat. I bet its well north of £100. Cable tie the new pipe in place and route it anywhere that doesnt conflict with moving parts. You can get pipe joins on eBay that look as if they would do the job for about £5 if you want to repair the exisiting pipe. It might be worth trying if it is solely the pipe join that is casuing the problem.

This photo is of the area under the battery tray which in this shot is removed. You can see the main earth strap that causes so many issues on the Panda bolted to the body work as well just above and to the frontof the car.

 

[The Panda Nut]

The problem was only the clutch connector which cost a spare £8, which I ordered online, but unfortunately it didn't arrive on time and I booked a mobile technician who repaired it temporarily without the spare for £100 cost. and asked for another £60 to replace the spare which only cost £8. What a costly repair for a connector. Now the car has leaking oil and took the car to the garage and asked for £400 to repair it and replace the sump. Another issue that added up. for a car that I only bought recently at a high price without telling me about all the issues that has.

£400 to replace the sump on a Panda is outrageous. I would expect quite a bit less than half this amount!

 

[jrkitching]

The problem was only the clutch connector which cost a spare £8, which I ordered online, but unfortunately it didn't arrive on time and I booked a mobile technician who repaired it temporarily without the spare for £100 cost. and asked for another £60 to replace the spare which only cost £8. What a costly repair for a connector. Now the car has leaking oil and took the car to the garage and asked for £400 to repair it and replace the sump. Another issue that added up. for a car that I only bought recently at a high price without telling me about all the issues that has.

I've often said that the economics of running an older car depend hugely on how much you can do for yourself, and your post illustrates this point well. When buying an older car, the cost of ownership is determined more by what's wrong with it, than what's right about it. Paying over the odds for a good one usually works out better than buying a bad one cheaply. Problem is that these days, the forecourts are full of bad ones priced like an over the odds good one.

Sumps are cheap enough , and whilst changing one isn't the most pleasant of jobs, I can't see any justification for £300+ worth of labour charge.

Thing is that these days, garages have all the work they can handle, and can afford to pick and choose. £400 suggests to me that they don't really want to do it.

And if you are changing a cambelt on a 500 and think the sump may be marginal, don't use it to support the engine when removing the top engine mount (the official factory tool supports it from above). I'll bet this has proven to be the final straw for a lot of 500 sumps.