Hi guys, im a first year vehicle mechanic student and we have been given a problem to dignose on a fiat Brava. The milage is around the 58500 mark.

The symptoms include exsessive noise around the clutch and gearbox, a grinding noise when selecting first and reverse gears, a large rattle when the clutch pedel is released. Also the noise leaves the car when the clutch pedel is pressed.

As you can see im pretty stuck!

Any help will be greatfully taken.

Thanx alot,

Goggie

Goggie said:

Hi guys, im a first year vehicle mechanic student and we have been given a problem to dignose on a fiat Brava. The milage is around the 58500 mark.

" a large rattle when the clutch pedel is released. Also the noise leaves the car when the clutch pedel is pressed"

As you can see im pretty stuck!

Any help will be greatfully taken.

Thanx alot,

Goggie

Click to expand...

Problem with the clutch bearing.

yep it sounds like a worn release bearing, sometimes called a thrust bearing.

I was thinking of that but if the release bearing was worn wouldnt it drind when the clutch pedel was pressed?

Thanx,

Goggie!

whoops, i assumed it was happening the other way round.

you're right, the thrust bearing shouldn't make a noise when the clutch pedal is not pressed because the thrust bearing wont be making contact with any moving parts. (unless the clutch is badly adjusted, but thats highly unlikely on a hydraulic clutch)

if the noise goes away when you press the clutch pedal it is more likely to be worn bearings in the gearbox, excessive play between the splines on the clutch disc hub and input shaft (or damaged splines), a damaged center damper in the clutch disc hub or misalignment between the engine and transaxle. also suspect the input shaft bearing. cant think of anything else? without hearing the noise its hard to say.

just thought, a grinding when selecting 1st and reverse could indicate that the clutch is not releasing completely. this could be caused by a stretched release cable, a leaky slave or master cylinder, air in the system, or damaged input shaft splines.

i think the 1st and reverse grinding is the clue you need to use to figure it out.

the more i think about it the more i get the feeling its damaged input shaft splines.

if it was me i'd loosen the box off enough to have a look at the input shaft splines (use a torch, you only need a 1" gap to see), can you do that or do you have to play guessy games?

Thanx alot ive got alot of options to choose from The problem with it is theres 16 of us dignosing the problem on the Brava so we cant really take the gear box out and have a look in a hour