Hi everyone, I have noticed a small leak coming from the gearbox seal where the gear change linkage passes through. I see you can buy these seperately, or the complete end housing of the gearbox where the seal fits. Question is, can these seals be fitted direct or does the end housing unit have to come off, or the gear box out? The linkage looks ok it's the ram through the seal that I hope is not scored causing the seal to leak. Any pointers are welcome. it's not a big leak just noticed the drips on my trolley that lives under the car.

Cheers
Hugh Jarce

Hi Hugh,
This is quite a common area for 500 transmissions to leak. You will need to pull the housing off to fix it to remove the shaft and replace the O rings.
The success of this depends on how worn the housing and shaft are- you can usually tell by removing the flexible coupling with the gearbox in neutral, if there is more than about 1mm of sideways movement in the shaft then the housing probably needs replacing.
If you want a quick way to reduce the drips you could fit a 126 style dust boot on the end housing - you just need to drill a small hole in the supporting web of the end housing to secure it: http://webshop.fiat500126.com/katalog/artikelinfo/1499/rubber_packings_for_shifter_shaft_tunnel_exit
If you do decide to replace the housing jack the car up as high as you can at the front and then you can usually avoid having to drain and refill the transmission.
Hope this helps!

Many thanks,I'll probably change the housing if it's coming off. The gearbox is a 126 syncro so I'll get the rubber cover too, might as well go the whle hog, churlish not to really?