First post on this forum, a month ago I became a Panda 4x4 owner! 2005 model and almost 120000 km (75000 miles for UK readers) on the clock but in very nice condition. Initially I'm very impressed and pleased by this little car!

After the first service a few things came up though, and I have some questions and am looking for experiences from other 4x4 drivers.

There's oil leaking from mainly the rear but also the front differential. Seals must be replaced of course, not so much of a question. Is this a common fault though?

Second fault is something I don't even know what to call. Along the drive shaft (propshaft?) connecting the rear axle to the drive train there is a "holder" in the middle. This one is worn down and in bad shape and need replacing. What would you call this part, and where would I find a replacement? I live in Sweden, with very few Fiat owners and mechanics that know the cars. So far the best tip I've gottten is german parts websites, but haven't found the part (whatever I should call it.

Some pictures would've been attached to clear up what I meant and make this post less daunting to read but apparently I need 5 posts on the forums before this is allowed. For those exeprienced with this forums, the pictures are in my member album!

Is this the part which is worn out (see picture)? If it is, according to ePER, a new one is only available with a whole new prop shaft, which will set you back 14,550 SEK including taxes (~£1300 including the Swedish version of VAT, for anyone British reading this).

ePER also says that the other two brackets which hold the prop shaft in place are unavailable as they're now out of production. If it's one of these you need, as opposed to the one in the picture, you'd have to get it from a breakers yard or somewhere else second hand, unfortunately.

Yes, it's the one you point out. I really hope I can find a better solution, the cars value can't warrant such an investment.

The part looked fairly standard to me, it's just something to hold the shaft in place. Any non-standard options? Any other 4x4 drivers experience with this part?

To be honest I don't know how bad of a shape it is in - I'm no mechanic myself and all I have to go on is one mechanics word. When I tried to move the shaft with my hand it could wiggle a bit inside but it seem to be steadily in place.

There is a place called Firow at Holmes Chapel, Cheshire that I've previously used to replace propshaft centre bearings and universal joints on truck propshaft. I reckon they could replace the 4x4 panda centre bearing aswell. 01477535960

A small update: I have a repair manual in French for the car (RTA, Revue Technique Automobile B706.5 from Amazon). I could never find one in English! Is there one?

Either way, in this manual on page 78 there are pictures of disassembly of the prop shaft. It seem the piece I'm looking is isn't even removable/replacable without swapping the whole shaft. At least no pictures showing it removed. Am I barking up the wrong tree here?

Now to find out: Am I looking at the right part? I'm travelling today but I'll try to contact the mechanic that warned me and ask him.

If it was
Mine I'd definitely be working out a way to replace that with a fixed bearing, shouldn't imagine it'll need to flex that much, or at least take the whole prop off and find a good fabricators to do the job, fiat are bad for non serviceable parts
If it was land rover or someone it would be changeable.

Take a look here:
https://www.fiatforum.com/panda/333146-panda-4x4-prop-shaft-centre-support.html

The centre support bearing is available as a separate part (not from Fiat(, and that suggests the propshaft can be separated as in the link above. Mine's been like that for a couple of years now, but still seems to work OK

Here comes a thread revival! I must say I feel like I've abused my Panda. It's been going over 20000 km a year and it deserves more attention. Thanks everyone that gave advice here, it helped me get in the right direction although my speed in getting there is glacial.

Anyway, trying to get better! I finally found what seem to be a good supplier for the propshaft bearing that I needed to replace (I've been driving with the bad one this whole time...). Drive Shaft Parts turned up by searching around and without any references I ordered the bearing. Hope it turns up in Sweden any day!

The oil leakage stopped on its own long ago, I'll of course replace seals that are accessable when I replace the bearing but it hasn't been a problem.

jaywalk said:

The oil leakage stopped on its own long ago, I'll of course replace seals that are accessable when I replace the bearing but it hasn't been a problem.

Click to expand...

They appear to stop leaking when there's nothing left inside to leak!

Goudrons said:

They appear to stop leaking when there's nothing left inside to leak!

Click to expand...

Sometimes I look at the bottom of my Guinness mug and think the same thing!

Goudrons said:

They appear to stop leaking when there's nothing left inside to leak!

Click to expand...

Oh how I wish you wouldn't make so much sense right now! I'll look into that asap, that I haven't thought of this... :bang: And it is time for an engine oil change anyway.

Sweetsixteen said:

Sometimes I look at the bottom of my Guinness mug and think the same thing!

Click to expand...

Be careful with them beers, before you know it someone who isn't the mug will need to take a leak!

I keep reviving this thread, but that's since it is in itself a continuing story.

First off: The oils. I checked and replace the oil in the engine, gearbox/front diff and rear diff. All where there and at decent levels but now all fresh! This was maybe 1500~2000 km ago.

Replacing the transmission oils was a bit of a challenge, but doable. Didn't replace any parts here, I still don't know about the leaks that once was. I continually check the engine oil and will check the diffs again within 10k km or so.

MOT test (I think it's called in GB? Besiktning here) in 2015/12: They pointed out both rear suspensions and left steering joint being worn out, so brought the car to a mechanic to fix these and asked them to check out the propshaft center bearing that I tried to replace long ago.

Propshaft/drive shaft: As I turned in the car for maintenance yesterday I asked them to try to replace the center bearing as the part was already in the trunk, and doing no good there. Got a call this morning: They picked down the propshaft but was unable to split it to fit the new bearing! Simply couldn't get it apart to fit the new bearing, and didn't know how to proceed. They checked with Fiat and another shop and got the answer we know Fiat gives: Buy a complete propshaft.

I'm searching high and low for instructions on how to split the shaft but coming up a bit short. The best I can find is this post with related link. Anything other tips for them to get the work done?

I never finished off this thread, net result: the propshaft bearing was replaced (the instructions I found was plenty) and the cost of purchace + work ended at < £80. No worries here!

MOT went fine after service and this car is all up and running again!

However: This weekend I happened to find... a new Panda!

So this 2005 4x4 petrol is now out for sale in order to make room for a... 2006 4x4 diesel! I'll start a new thread for the new car.

Just to add some comments on 4x4 propshaft maintenance; the splined joints at both ends and the centre are fixed in with Loctite.

I managed to take off the GKN end joint using a puller (after removing circlip ...) and then found the Loctite.

For the centre bearing I only managed to shift the splined joint after applying heat to the shaft outer then using a large hammer. To feed back on links already posted on this forum there are no spring rings in the joint like on other cars so anyone dismantling the joint needs to deal with the Loctite.
To avoid damage to the bearing dust shields there is no point in using levers to try to separate the joint since this doesn't work anyway and then there's lots of work to do to straighten out the steel dust shields.

I obtained the replacement centre bearing from Driveshaftparts.co.uk and a replacement GKN end joint (diameter 86mm, 20 splines) from A2Z Motor Spares on Ebay - this is for the Volvo AWD vehicles but seems to be the same part.

Once it's all up and running again I'll add to this post with some pictures.

Heat to about 120C with a hot air gun and IR thermometer to break the threadlock grip.