Hi All,

I'm hoping to gather some information, and hopefully some help if anyone is able to assist me?!

My Fiat 500 twin air is having some issues with the clutch, and engaging gears. Reverse is the worst - and 'grinds' into gear when I select reverse.


The car has done 35,000 miles which I thought was a bit low for a clutch change? I've had a look on line, and someone mentioned about trying to select the gears with the car ignition off, which seems a lot smoother, and less difficult to select the gear. A bit of research suggests it may well be the Bearing in the flywheel.

Has anyone else witnessed this issue, and can anyone advise me if I will have to replace the whole clutch or just the bearing?

Thanks so much in advance guys...!

Hi and welcome,

Crunch into reverse is not unheard of especially the twin air, try my trick on our 1.2(and my Accords in the past), press clutch, select 4th then reverse? don't release the clutch between selecting.

It could also be the clutch hydraulics, a known weakness on RHD 500's (LHD cars have a cable clutch).

As a first step, try changing the clutch fluid. If either master or slave cylinders are past their best, I'd suggest replacing both at the same time.

Do not continue to drive with the car in this condition as you will put a great deal of wear onto the synchro rings and could easily end up needing a new gearbox as well.

Does it crunch into all gears? or just reverse, how good are you at DIY?

Reverse is the most noticeable. With the other gears - it's more difficult to select the gears than previously driving it. First and second especially.