Technical Punto '95 clutch and gearbox

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Technical Punto '95 clutch and gearbox

mark22

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Hi all,
I have a Punto 1995 55s 71,300 miles clocked up. The gear selection is difficult for first and reverse. I am planning to do a number of things to try to remedy it before opting for a new clutch. First I will change the gearbox fluid and clutch and brake fluid, as I don't think either of these have ever been done. I have followed some links on the site to identify the point where the gearbox fluid is added, and it suggested an allen key fitting. On what I think is my gearbox, I have seen no such allen key bolt, and I have uploaded some photos to show what sits at the top of the gearbox. The white arrow points to a fixed nipple that has a rubber cap on top. The white boxed in area refers to a cap that swivels on its axis, and is lightly caked in dried oil (overflow point??). Neither appear amenable to removal with a socket set. Whilst I am without a Haynes manual, can anybody tell me if either of these points are used to replace the gearbox fluid, or am I in totally the wrong area?? As regards the clutch, there does not appear to be any fluid leaking out around the master cylinder?? - if that is the cylinder where the bleed nipple appears to sit upon.

It has also been suggested to me that not all cars have a synchromesh for first and reverse, and that if I am having trouble selecting these gears to give the throttle a bleep whilst in neutral and see if that helps with selecting the first/reverse gear - does the Punto have such a synchromesh for all its gears?

One final thought is if the engine is off, I can select my gears without difficulty. When I switch on the engine with the clutch pedal depressed, the car jerks a little as if the clutch was out - I can't recall there being any clutch drag, so can anyone tell me as to why this is happening??

If I have to undo the battery to work on these aspects, I am afraid of losing the radio. I don't know the code, it being passed through several owners, so if I did lose use of the radio, is there an easy-ish way of recovering it without paying a Fiat garage/dealership loads of money to look it up for me??

Thanks for your help with any/all of these points, and I hope the pictures load up alright.
Mark
 

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Mark,

That's the top of the gearbox, so you're in the wrong place. The filler hole plug is on the front of the gearbox. Get your head underneath the front bumper. You'll see the fill plug really clearly. It has an Allen head on it and screws into the gearbox casing. There' nothing else there that looks remotely like it.

The drain plug is underneath the gearbox. It screws upwards or into the side of the gearbox (can't remember which) but again.. there's no doubt. It's identical in appearance to the fill plug, so if you find one, you'll track down the other.

Before you drain the oil, make sure you can loosen the fill plug! :D

Refill it with car on the level, untl oil starts dribbling out through the filler hole.


The BRAKE master cylinder is the bone-shaped metal sticky-out thing with 4 pipes bolted to it and a pair of rubber tubes running up to the reservoir (where you add brake fluid).

The CLUTCH master cylinder is lower down and more towards the centre of the car. Once you found the reservoir can follow the single rubber pipe till you reach it. it's at a height level with your knees.

Anyway, you don't need to do anything with these.

But from the reservoir another single pipe leads to the slave cylinder. That beast sits on top of the gearbox under the battery tray. You do get air in there (or old fluid) and this can cause some clutch problems.. It's a good idea to bleed it.

The bleed nipple is on the slave, under the battery tray, Bleed it like you bleed brakes.. just using the clutch pedal instead. The fluid is shared with the brakes (just that one reservoir) so top it up as you go.

I hope that a bleed and new gearbox oil will sort this out.. but it could be that the clutch is starting to wear out. Reverse has no synchro' but that shouldn't make it harder to engage.. just it would graunch a lot, so the "blipping" idea has only a bit of merit.

The gears are in still contact with the drive (why it lurches a bit) and that's just the clutch's job... though new/more oil may help the geardogs engage more smoothly while you save up. :D


Ralf S.
 
Last edited:
Thanks Ralf,
Comprehensive and helpful. I will see how I get on with the gear shifting after changing the fluids.
Mark
 
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