Well, I thought everything was going too well...

2 Years of near enough troublefree Croma-ing.

And now, the clutch slips massively in and out of 4th.

145k on the clock. Is it actually worth changing it, or shall it go to Croma heaven?

1.9 multijet?

More than 402.000Km on mine (so about 250.000 miles)...engine never opened...
And mine has automatic transmission...so not clutch to change..but changed gear oil every 60.000-100.000km....

What do you think? The yours is new!

That is an impressive mileage / kmage

A full clutch, DMF and slave cylinder kit is about £250-275 on ebay, plus fitting or DIY. Add a gearbox oil change and a pair of driveshaft seals and you are good to go. Unless you know of other issues looming or want a change of car, I'd say it's worth doing.

Robert G8RPI.

serious figures them.

Serious figures indeed.

Not far off wiping out the value of the car

SkinnyandWirey said:

Serious figures indeed.

Not far off wiping out the value of the car

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Thats a little unfair, even on ebay runners have been selling for twice to five times that
Seriously though, given a few hundred pounds for a non-runner and a few hundred saved not fixing it, what are going to buy to replace it? And that could have an expensive failure just as any car can.

Robert G8RPI.

g8rpi said:

Thats a little unfair, even on ebay runners have been selling for twice to five times that

Seriously though, given a few hundred pounds for a non-runner and a few hundred saved not fixing it, what are going to buy to replace it? And that could have an expensive failure just as any car can.

Robert G8RPI.

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I agree with you.
As far as I'm concerned, I've got my Croma since 2006, obviously no intention to sell it (its value on the market is 0 more or less). But the intrinsic value is very high. I've still a car with an engine that is perfect, it runs with a wisp of gas, and if you want power, it gives you it. Only some light knoking noises from the front suspensions now that air is cold...but if I would get rid of them (I don't really know what could it be) the car could run really as new...
I've always mantenaced it very-very-very well...obviously!
Now every km is money saved.
Why change it?
When it will have a serious breakdown...I will do it.

I'm getting some quotes today. See what the damage will be.

I'm probably going to change it soon anyway, 99% of my journeys are just me in the car, and the only time we ever utilise the space is Christmas, so I'll probably change down to a diesel Panda for commuting.

Mine is probably at the lower end of the value scale. It took quite a beating sitting in the long stay car park at Birmingham Airport last year. 3 seperate dents down the nearside, according to CCTV, 3 different cars parked next to me. We can prove nothing.

I'llprobably get the work done, tidy up the bodywork and try sell it for as much as I can, rather than trading it in for a stupidly low value. It's just the getting round to doing it part!

SkinnyandWirey said:

I'm getting some quotes today. See what the damage will be.

I'm probably going to change it soon anyway, 99% of my journeys are just me in the car, and the only time we ever utilise the space is Christmas, so I'll probably change down to a diesel Panda for commuting.

Mine is probably at the lower end of the value scale. It took quite a beating sitting in the long stay car park at Birmingham Airport last year. 3 seperate dents down the nearside, according to CCTV, 3 different cars parked next to me. We can prove nothing.

I'llprobably get the work done, tidy up the bodywork and try sell it for as much as I can, rather than trading it in for a stupidly low value. It's just the getting round to doing it part!

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So I understand you now...

My situation is totally different. I drive it both for work and normal use.
I can't stay without a big car, even if, as you, I drive it alone for most of the time.
I'm not married and I've not children, but I prefere quite always to drive this car , also in free time. My father uses the Alfa, my sister the 500 1.2. I've my beautiful Integrale for friday and saturday...but it's always in the garage, because I drive the Croma (cause its comfort) also in that days...

Jesus,you lucky man.The intergralie.The pinacle of Italian engineering.My friend has one also.Beautyfull.

Mister-auto.co.uk have got a valeo 2 part clutch kit for £119.40 if that's any use?

Due to the ammount of work involved gaining access it's sound practice to change the dual mass flywheel and concentric slave cylinder at the same time if you are keeping the car. Taking everything apart and fitting a new clutch changes loads on the DMF and puts the slave cylinder in a different position. This can accelerate DMF failure and cause leaks due to seals being in a different part of the piston. I'd spend the extra £100 or so to do the lot.

Robert G8RPI.

Yes I concur you must do the whole lot.

I had my Croma's clutch cover plate fail at Dover when goiing on our annual Italian holiday with caravan in tow.

When recovered back home an to my Fiat dealer the whole job including new DMF and slave, etc cost near on £1500. My trusted independent garage was not able to take work on for several weeks and with a holiday at stake my trusted Fiat dealer did the working within the week.

Clearly there are large price variations (dealer vs other) involved here but the important point I want to make it this.

The Croma gearbox can NOT be removed without the whole vehicle front sub frame being removed. Bearing in mind the required time consuming sub frame strip down then it does not make sense to just replace a single clutch component. Bite the bullet and do everything expensive as it may be.

I would also suggest/recommend looking at having a non dual mass flywheel and associated clutch assembly installed.

The non dual mass flywheel option's interesting. Where would you get one of them?

BrianMcL said:

The non dual mass flywheel option's interesting. Where would you get one of them?

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Be aware that the DMF dampens torsional vibrations of the crankshaft. Fitting a solid flywheel can increase stress and fatigue and might result in crankshaft failure. It will increase noise and vibration, but don't know to what extent.

Robert G8RPI.

Interesting. Would that be more of a problem for the 16v rather than the 8v or would it not really matter?

You can't just reliably fit a solid flywheel. A good non DMF replacement kit should include a completely new design of clutch plate which incorporate much heavier torsional damping springs compared to a traditional clutch plate. There are some other design variations that I can't recall.

http://www.borgandbeck.com/products/flywheel-kits/

Between 8 and 16v I think that only the cylinder head is different...the engine crankcase is the same...also the flywheel...so probably all the situation is the same