had a slipping clutch on myy 8 or so year old 500 recently so dropped it off at a garage today.
they asked me to pop by and a big piece of interal car (the non technical term!) demonstrating that a bit of the gearbox was not rotating and a sludge of oil containing pieces of clutch, explaining my recent issues. as it's a bank holiday they can't quote a price until tomorrow. i fear it will be beyond economical repair as the classic phrase goes.

does anyone have experience of needing a new gearbox and the cost? - they say most of the labour is already taken care of due to the car already being taken apart. thanks in advance for any knowledge!

What engine is this and is it auto or manual?

it's a 1.2 , manual transmission.
thanks

If it's "just the gearbox" and there's no damage to the seal of the engine, IE the oil is from the gearbox then a second hand box(should be easy to find one) and new clutch and you're all good, depends on how much you deem too expensive

Hi

A sound used gearbox wont be super expensive.. probably @£200
£100 For a new clutch

And an hour or so in extra labour

@£400/500 is worth it.. as the car is essentially worthless without

Gearbox example £250 delivered https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/FIAT-500...192760?hash=item2d2b7dcbb8:g:MrQAAOSw2sNgYls0

Clutch £67 https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/3-PIECE-...621128&hash=item238f80215c:g:XCkAAOSwUuRZ1s7X

Certainly worth repairing on a 8 year old car, may also need a new slave cylinder £25

thanks.
it was in for the clutch anyway.
as they showed it to me,, on the photo of the gearbox you quoted, the peg in the centre was rotating, they said it shouldn't and that's what's damaged the clutch.
guess we will find out tomorrow.... it's worth it to me in so much as i keep my mx5 for weekends and my fiat for daily driving to work and back, if i scrap the car then it's another 7 thousand or so for another cheap and hopefully reliable replacement for the fiat. i've always kept this one serviced so at least i know it's history.

Hi, I've just replaced my clutch this week as it was slipping on my 2004 1.2 Panda (same gearbox).

My clutch was slipping because of oil contamination - both the crankshaft main rear seal and gearbox input shaft seal were leaking.

I replaced the main rear seal, input shaft bearing and seal (thread here).

I know @koalar has recently fitted a replacement gearbox to his car. There a plenty available, and I agree it's worth doing @£250 for a new gearbox.

If you do go ahead and get a new gearbox, get the garage to check the input shaft for play.

It's quite common for the input shaft bearing to fail. It could then cause a leak which could wreck your new clutch.

I would also advise you ask the garage to check the main rear seal for leaks.

Also have a 1.2 manual 500 and have recently had a reconditioned gearbox fitted and new clutch fitted due to loss of drive. Total including labour was around £800 from local garage.

Hope this helps.

as an example of prices

I took a flyer on a "working" 500 70K miles gearbox with a damp (oil) bellhousing

excited on offer of £60 and only 3 miles from my house. Yes there was several millimeters of lateral movement of the input shaft. Plenty of these are being sold for stupid money at the moment. Over £300 buyer be aware

The original gearbox had destroyed itself after the input shaft ball bearings entered the diff housing and exited by smashing a hole in the bellhousing

clutch was £44 including VAT delivered to the house

Bought the correct bearing. Quite expensive when you include postage from Germany. Were still on ebay last week. New old stock. Cant remember the exact price but it was over £10 and below £20

the two diff seals and input shaft seal were next to nothing

Two 1 litre bottles of gearbox oil.

Nothing hard. But probably need a bit of guidance if you haven't any experience of this type of work before


Catch the oil leak early enough before all the oil is lost and you will only need a few seals, clutch kit, oil and input bearing and have change from £100

garage should be able to fit a new bearing to the gearbox ?

There's always a risk with a second hand gearbox. The one fitted to these are prone to input shaft bearing wear and failure, which by the sounds of it you've already suffered.

I would be more than tempted to pay a little more for a reconditioned unit, in fact we did when my sisters old 169 Panda's gearbox gave up.

The 5 speed in these isn't overly complicated, so your garage should be able to source one for less than £400 with a warranty, if not point them to Fiat Gearbox Specialists Oldham, they should have a reconditioned unit on the shelf ready to go.

Club500Italia on eBay will supply and fit a secondhand gearbox of you’re anywhere near them.

Garage I use charges about £1100 for a hew gearbox and clutch but as mentioned a good secondhand gearbox with low miles from a reputable seller such as Club500Italia will set you back around £250.

typecastboy said:

Club500Italia on eBay will supply and fit a secondhand gearbox of you’re anywhere near them.

Garage I use charges about £1100 for a hew gearbox and clutch but as mentioned a good secondhand gearbox with low miles from a reputable seller such as Club500Italia will set you back around £250.

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Can you recommend a good garage near Bromley for my Fiat 500. The gearbox needs an overhaul and Ancaster wants to charge me an extortionate amount.

I usually recommend Mr Clutch in Waldo Road. I use them all the time however on a couple of occasions I have heard that they have replaced gearboxes which may have been unnecssary. Unfortunatley, most garages will replace rather than repair.

I do have a mobile mechanic that has experience in Fiat 500 gearbox replacements. I'm not sure what he charges but he does quite a lot of work for me and is always good with prices. I can put you in touch with him, but it would be better for you to source your own gearbox. You can pick a good one up, as previously mentioned Club500Italia are the most trusted around for a good low mileage box and will set you back around £250. A new clutch is a false econony not to fit at the same time.

Hi, below is a quote I got in Bristol for my 2011 Fiat 500 1.2 Manual 5-speed transmission. The car has done 86k miles, the clutch was at its end of life and the gearbox bearings had propagated the damage to gears 1, 2 and 3. A local garage here in Bristol said that is best to fit a reconditioned gearbox and replace the clutch.
The total quote is £1460 (incl. VAT) and it includes:

• Fitting of a reconditioned gearbox
• Clutch replacement
• Flywheel Resurfacing
• Gearbox fluids
• Labour
• Warranty for 6000 miles

I have already agreed to it as I intent to keep using it, but just wanted to leave this here for everyone’s information.

If you are going to the expense of doing this with a new/replacement gearbox and clutch i would consider also getting the crankshaft output oil seal and gearbox seal replaced at the same time as if they fail in the future the same issues could happen again, best to do it all whilst its apart! for peace of mind and future reliability!
Due to the fragile nature and poor rep of these boxes i have made it a habit to change the gearbox oil every year when i service the car- £10 and an extra half hours work is worth it to know i have done everything possible to keep it in good shape( along withy a driving style that encourages changing up early(without lugging the motor!) to keep revs down) and not reving the conkers of her through the gears!

steveras57 said:

If you are going to the expense of doing this with a new/replacement gearbox and clutch i would consider also getting the crankshaft output oil seal and gearbox seal replaced at the same time as if they fail in the future the same issues could happen again, best to do it all whilst its apart! for peace of mind and future reliability!
Due to the fragile nature and poor rep of these boxes i have made it a habit to change the gearbox oil every year when i service the car- £10 and an extra half hours work is worth it to know i have done everything possible to keep it in good shape( along withy a driving style that encourages changing up early(without lugging the motor!) to keep revs down) and not reving the conkers of her through the gears!

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I forgot to say, but the seals are included in the price.
Thanks for the advice. I will keep that in mind. She’s quite old so it makes sense to replace the gearbox oil yearly and change gears conservatively.

Ak0987 said:

I forgot to say, but the seals are included in the price.
Thanks for the advice. I will keep that in mind. She’s quite old so it makes sense to replace the gearbox oil yearly and change gears conservatively.

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all good !

Ak0987 said:

The total quote is £1460 (incl. VAT) and it includes:

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This shows how much motoring costs have increased since 2021!

jrkitching said:

This shows how much motoring costs have increased since 2021!

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Quite agree i am taxed so much me bums stinging! + rent increase 8% pension increase 4.7%p- cant wait to find out the council tax this year!
id apply for benefit but they have spent it all on aid to India so they can put a man on the moon!