Hi guys,
I have a 1997 Punto 1.2, SX60.
The past couple of days the car's gears have felt a bit weird. The engine would be loud in 2nd gear so I would go up into 3rd and the car would kinda slow down! And the engine would still be noisy. I would have to accelerate a lot. Now I didn't think too much of this because the route I take to work has a lot of upward slopes and I know if you go into a higher gear too early on a slope it makes things worse.
I should probably mention that I have a habit of staying in 2nd when I should be in 3rd, if I am going through 2 roundabouts that are say 300m apart I won't bother changing gears. Maybe this has damaged my car?

This morning the car cut out about 7 or 8 times. The traffic was mad and I was stuck on a steep hill for ages and the road was wet. I thought maybe it was my hill starts that were at fault and maybe ti was because the road was so wet. Then I was on the Belgard Rd which only has a very small slope, I rarely need do do a hill start. The car cut out another couple of times. Very frustrating!

I parked the car and when I came out on my lunch break and started reversing it out of the space I heard a squealing noise. Like the noise the kettle makes when it's boiled! I drive to Halfords, I'm going round the car park in 1st and the car is squealing. I move up to 2nd and soon it starts squealing again! I also had to accelerate more than I usually would need to.

I am raging, this is literally the first day this has happened but I am fuming, I don't have the car very long and I'm scared it will cost me a fortune to get fixed!!! What could be wrong??? There not too long ago the car used to make a noise when I accelerated which turned out to just be a couple of loose nuts on the wheel. I am hoping to god this is the same, just something small that is loose, but I am raging! I am also terrified the car will break down on me tonight on the way home, I wouldn't know what to do!!!

Sounds like :-
1) Clutch is slipping.
2) generator drive belt is loose/slipping.
3) problem with ignition.

Not sounding cheap

:yeahthat: time for a new clutch kit if you are handy with a set of spanners, get yourself a haynes manual and you should be able to do it yourself.

the car has a new clutch already...

how much am i looking at to get the above problems fixed?

The squeel deffo sounds like am belt mine used to do that til i revved it a bit... lol

PS cannot be held responsible for any damage casued by over-rev

This bit of your original post is classic clutch slip, if the driven and pressure plates were replaced with new ones there may be oil contamination from the gearbox/crankshaft seals.

The past couple of days the car's gears have felt a bit weird. The engine would be loud in 2nd gear so I would go up into 3rd and the car would kinda slow down! And the engine would still be noisy. I would have to accelerate a lot. Now I didn't think too much of this because the route I take to work has a lot of upward slopes and I know if you go into a higher gear too early on a slope it makes things worse.

Either way its a clutch job, generator belt and ignition work you wont see much if any change from maybe £200 - £300 if a garage does it for you. Much cheaper if a friend you know who can do it for you just gets the bits and works for cups of tea and sarnies.

when you say car cut out ,did it literally stop dead or was it cutting out because you were in too high a gear for speed you were doing just to try and get rid of noise e.g. 20 mph in 5th

the sqealling could be the alternator (generator)belt slipping or could be tensioner , have you had timing belt changed recently. alternator belt is easy fix just a simple ajustment for someone who knows what they are doing,, similar for tensioner, although if its this you should replace timing belt at same time,,,,,its a little difficult to know sat here ,niether job should be expensive even for a garage although much cheaper if you know someone

when was clutch replaced? if new as you say wouldnt think this is problem

The timing belt was done and a whole new clutch fitted in the past year,

A friend of my boyfriend's is a mechanic, hopefully he will fix it for a bit less,

I bought the car privately from a mechanic who knows my mother but I don't want to go back to him again, maybe I should, one of the wheel nuts got loose and he came out and fixed it but I don't want to be bothering him again, his brother has died recently and I don't want to be annoying.

niamhh said:

I bought the car privately from a mechanic who knows my mother but ... his brother has died recently and I don't want to be annoying.

Click to expand...

But you also bought the car in good faith and seeing as he is a mechanic why not just pay him a visit? explain the situation and maybe he will be able to fix it much easier than us lot can help you with.

His situation is a horrible one that happens to us all and im sure he is not going to hang up his spaner just yet.

Worst he can say is no after all ?

I would rather not, he didn't do a pre-MOT for another friend of mine.

Hi definately sounds like your clutch is slipping.(i know it was only fitted last year, but it could be for a number of reasons) The cutting out could be a number of things. If your not willing to take it back to the person you bought it from, then probably your next best bet is to take it to a local independant garage, or find somone who knows about cars and is willing to have a look at it for you.

Alan