Technical hard to get into 5th

[bargepower]

Last Thursday evening my 02 Sei SX went from being a beautiful smooth gearchange to no gears at all and the clutch pedal near the floor in the space of 2 upshifts - release bearing had totally collapsed with no warning at all. Not the best place to happen - Central London in heavy traffic! :bang:
Changed complete clutch and bearing for new parts, plus the release fork for a second hand one (original one took a bit of a battering when bearing failed), also the two bearings for the release fork and drained and refilled gearbox with fresh oil.
On the plus side, my 1108 SX has got the dry type driveshafts
It's just like having a new Sei, I thought the gearchange was smooth before, but now it's like a knife in melted butter.
Not actually much of an extra job if the gearbox is out to change or lubricate the bushes, and well worth the effort.

 

[fingers99]

The trick to long life for the clutch thrust bearings (and on Maser GTs, for the crank thrust bushes ) is to pop it into neutral whenever at a standstill.

 

[bargepower]

Living in Central London, I always stick it in neutral and handbrake on at lights and in traffic queues, or a clutch would last about a month! Helps keep the handbrake working too.
Looks like the previous owner thought the clutch pedal was a footrest, though.
I've only owned the car for 2 months, wear on the clutch linings would have meant it would have failed soon anyway.....

 

[super sprint sei]

Last Thursday evening my 02 Sei SX went from being a beautiful smooth gearchange to no gears at all and the clutch pedal near the floor in the space of 2 upshifts - release bearing had totally collapsed with no warning at all. Not the best place to happen - Central London in heavy traffic! :bang:
Changed complete clutch and bearing for new parts, plus the release fork for a second hand one (original one took a bit of a battering when bearing failed), also the two bearings for the release fork and drained and refilled gearbox with fresh oil.
On the plus side, my 1108 SX has got the dry type driveshafts
It's just like having a new Sei, I thought the gearchange was smooth before, but now it's like a knife in melted butter.
Not actually much of an extra job if the gearbox is out to change or lubricate the bushes, and well worth the effort.

Hmm i might just go for new fork/shaft and bushes it will cure my squeaking problame but since gbox is off should i get new clutch and release bearing? Fingers i think it could be squeaking from the top bush on fork/shaft

 

[fingers99]

I would. They're cheap and you should be set for 60k miles or so then.

 

[NUGGY]

my sei abarth was hard to get into 5th and squeaked too but i was giving it some welly and hit 3rd instead of 5th which tore off the flywheel and the timing gear on the crank , this ruined the engine and the flywheel cut a hole in the bell housing, i now have a 1.4 8 valve with p75 head (took some fiddling and parts from several different engine to make it work) i also fitted another gearbox and fifth gear is spot on now (new box,clutch kit & clutch arm) i think the lesson here is don't let the problem linger you think your used to it and it catches you out at the most inconvenient time

 

[super sprint sei]

I would. They're cheap and you should be set for 60k miles or so then.

Or 30k miles of clutch abuse! Ps it aredy has 82.5k on clock

 

[super sprint sei]

Hmm i might just go for new fork/shaft and bushes it will cure my squeaking problame but since gbox is off should i get new clutch and release bearing? Fingers i think it could be squeaking from the top bush on fork/shaft

Mine os a 52 sx do i have dry or wetshaft gbox?

 

[Ouby]

Sportings (+ Abarths + Schumachers) should have a C514 gearbox - dry driveshaft.
S & SX should have a C526 gearbox - wet driveshaft.
Easy enough to check it's stamped into the end of the gearbox. Jack up the n/s wheel & have a look.

Not sure why bargepower has dry type, there's probably a story in there somewhere.

 

[bargepower]

Sportings (+ Abarths + Schumachers) should have a C514 gearbox - dry driveshaft.
S & SX should have a C526 gearbox - wet driveshaft.
Easy enough to check it's stamped into the end of the gearbox. Jack up the n/s wheel & have a look.

Not sure why bargepower has dry type, there's probably a story in there somewhere.

There's been mention in another thread of a few other 02 & 52 plate SX's having the dry type shafts.
My gearbox still had unbroken sealing paint on a couple of the bell housing bolts, so looks like it was a factory fit for some reason.
Perhaps they had a glut of C514's at the factory and decided to use 'em up?

 

[blu73]

Its not unheard of for fiat to fit things from other models if they have surplus. Alot of punto60's ended up with the 866 cam from the 75 engine towards the end of production.

And quite a few sei's ended up without PAS at the beginning of there production. Conversely alot of later cinqs ended up with the sei steering wheel and stalks - i'm pretty sure this is only cause they ran out of cinq stalks and it would have been cheaper to just use the new sei stuff lol.

 

[Frosty1961]

Problem is that there are two bushes, one at top, one at bottom of the shaft. You can't get to the bottom one without dropping the gearbox, so it's best done (new bushes are available, too) when the clutch is renewed.

That's certainly true..and I would certinly have a good look at both bushes if the box is off...however I found taking off the clutch arm and lubricating the top bush with good motor oil transformed my creaky clutch pedal. Squirting spray oil onto it fixed it for a day whereas on application of oil has lasted 60K kms..will do it again using gearbox oil. I changed a clutch cable within the first year since new..then another about 5 years later.. Clutch is still original..over 250K kms now and still as new..then again I'm easy on them and never worn one out on any of my cars!

 

[Ouby]

It's not just Fiat, many Rover Mini Coopers ended up being sold from new with three mainstream Cooper alloys & one RSP alloy wheel.
Only 1,650 RSP Coopers were built by the Rover Special Products Department so any leftover wheels found their way into the mainstream production line.

 

[fingers99]

It's not just Fiat.............. any leftover wheels found their way into the mainstream production line.

FIAT use JIT (Just In Time), Rover used NQIT (Not Quite In Time).

 

[Ouby]

For some reason MD's always objected to me referring to JIT as TFL (too F*ing late).
But this isn't a thread about stock control/production management so we had better get back to the plot.

 

[super sprint sei]

Hmm im gona check if mines dry or wet shaft is their any diffrence change gear?

 

[super sprint sei]

That's certainly true..and I would certinly have a good look at both bushes if the box is off...however I found taking off the clutch arm and lubricating the top bush with good motor oil transformed my creaky clutch pedal. Squirting spray oil onto it fixed it for a day whereas on application of oil has lasted 60K kms..will do it again using gearbox oil. I changed a clutch cable within the first year since new..then another about 5 years later.. Clutch is still original..over 250K kms now and still as new..then again I'm easy on them and never worn one out on any of my cars!

What motor.oil would you recomend?

 

[Frosty1961]

What motor.oil would you recomend?

Guess you could use whatever you use in your engine? I used Castrol Edge as its what I have always used in my engine..

 

[fingers99]

Hmm im gona check if mines dry or wet shaft is their any diffrence change gear?

As fitted, wet shaft boxes have no reverse detente (no need to pull gearnob up/press down to get reverse).

I've yet to come across an S or SX 1108 (and certainly an 899!) which didn't have a wet shaft box.

 

[fingers99]

What motor.oil would you recomend?

Hang on -- motor oil for the engine (10-40 semi synthetic), gearbox oil for the gearbox 80/90 gear oil.