Technical Grande Punto stiff gear linkage

[Old-Boy racer]

Hi all. My GP 1.9 6 speed has suddenly taken to having a stiff gear linkage, in particular making it difficult to get in to 1st and 2nd. Any ideas as to what this might be would be much appreciated. Cables/gearbox? It has done about 110k miles but is otherwise still going very well.

 

[Nickr512]

I had a very similar issue with my 06 1.9mjet. My gearlinkages got so bad it was eventually difficult getting it in 5th and impossible to get into 6th. It started around 90k getting tighter until I had to change them at around 100k.

I replaced both linkages with ones from autodoc, I rang fiat to find the part numbers and was told 55230837 and 55230837 (1 up and down 1 left to right) they wanted £185 plus vat for each cable! I changed both with a friend in a couple of hours for less than the price of one. The ones I removed had very little movement in them and would hardly move, you could see the rust and build up on both ends. Iv got some pictures somewhere, I suspect water was getting in the linkages and over time rusting the internal cable.

I wouldnt be surprised if yours need replacing too, but its always worth checking they are connected to the selectors on the gear box and held tightly in the mounts. If you look just under your battery tray you should be able to see them. Might also be worth watching them move while someone else sits in the car and changes gear and see how much they are actually moving.

 

[Old-Boy racer]

I had a very similar issue with my 06 1.9mjet. My gearlinkages got so bad it was eventually difficult getting it in 5th and impossible to get into 6th. It started around 90k getting tighter until I had to change them at around 100k.

I replaced both linkages with ones from autodoc, I rang fiat to find the part numbers and was told 55230837 and 55230837 (1 up and down 1 left to right) they wanted £185 plus vat for each cable! I changed both with a friend in a couple of hours for less than the price of one. The ones I removed had very little movement in them and would hardly move, you could see the rust and build up on both ends. Iv got some pictures somewhere, I suspect water was getting in the linkages and over time rusting the internal cable.

I wouldnt be surprised if yours need replacing too, but its always worth checking they are connected to the selectors on the gear box and held tightly in the mounts. If you look just under your battery tray you should be able to see them. Might also be worth watching them move while someone else sits in the car and changes gear and see how much they are actually moving.

Thanks for the reply. I'm actually away at the moment now and, as luck would have it, my wife who wanted to use the car said she couldn't actually get any gears at all. A friend looked at it for her and concluded much the same as you but has managed to sort it with the judicious application of WD40 for now. It may be time for a new cable when I get back. I'm staggered at the variation in price though. It's not as if the OEM parts are even ptfe lined stainless steel ! I did finally find another thread on thie same problem. Odd it never turned up in my search before. Thanks again.