Hi I'm new to this forum but it seems to have alot of knowledgeable people on here. My son passed his test earlier this week and purchased a Fiat Punto active sport 1.2 54 plate for his first car. However today he had been driving it for a couple of hours before he took it to the car wash and when he turned the engine back on the problem started. He brought it round to me and I took it for a drive to see what the problem was. It went into gear no problem however when I pressed the accelerator pedal to set off the car was screaming from the revs and was moving very slow 15 miles if that and eventually I had to stop to pull out of the street and had to go through the whole embarrassing situation all over again very high revs with very little speed, it was terrible to drive. I have had a punto in the past and i loved mine, it was an absolute pleasure to drive. Anyway when I pulled back up I could smell the awful smell what I believe to be the clutch. I am no mechanic but what I don't understand is if it is the clutch then how come it still goes into gear just fine. I have been in touch with the guy my son bought it off and he said he was talking to a mechanic and he mentioned that particular model has an adjustable clutch, does anyone know if this is true or not and if so would this cause it to have the problems that have accrued or do I just have to face the fact that the clutch needs to be replaced because it is definitely not drivable at the moment. Any advise would be most appreciated if anyone can help me out.?

Hi. Sounds like the clutch is definitely slipping...not sure how washing the car would make this happen.

Its possible its just worn out.
Did you drive the car before purchase?

The clutch is NOT generally cable operated
So not readily adjustable...
But there could be another failed component.

Charlie . Oxford

I have an 04 plate active sport, the Clutch auto adjusts to a small degree as it wears down (It's hydraulically operated).....But you cannot physically make any adjustment to it yourself.
Revs screaming car going nowhere and making awful smell is certainly the clutch slipping.
I had a clutch on My 2B that was completely knackered and slipped when i drove the car...according to the Garage is was almost completely gone, and yet I had no trouble selecting any gears, although it did make reverse gear crunch a little occasionally.
One thing that can cause the clutch to slip is if the Gearbox input shaft seal fails..basically you get oil in the bellhousing which gets onto the clutch....however thats worst case scenario, it more likely that the clucth just needs replacement

Emmalene

Where are you based?

Prices for the job will vary with location..

Charlie

Its odd for a clutch to suddebly fail....

Normally a generally worn out clutch (friction plate going thin) slips once or twice here and there (warning sign) before gripping and going fine

But as it wears it just gets worse
Hills and full power or heavy loads and full power are full signs of a wearing clutch

The smell - high engine output and little movement = clutch worn out

Or!

The input bearing has worn causing its seal to spring an oil leak
This oil leak causes the clutch to slip
This can come on suddenly... depending how the seal fails....

Clutchs are about 60£
Id expect 3hrs labour

I can do it on my back in about 5hrs.... but its a slog!

Ziggy

No reply from OP.

varesecrazy said:

No reply from OP.

Click to expand...

I think OP got a new car to get rid of this problem