Hi all. Never done forums before but thought it better to get advice before going blind into a garage. Last night i was driving my car (1.4 16v punto sporting on a 54 plate) and all was well. Today i got in it and it was really stiff to get into gear. about 3 road junctions and it would only go into 2nd and now it has nothing on the stick at all (just straight up and down). Its not the clutch as i can stop and start with it just cant changee gear. A mate had a look and dropped it out of gear then i managed 2nd again but no others. Some advice on what it could be will be most welcome.

Have you had a look undernieth to check linkage? if not could be the selector

There are two linkages, one for gearstick L-R, the other for gearstick forward-backwards. Maybe get someone to try changing gear while you observe the gearbox end to see whether there's movement.

I note that you have eliminated clutch but be aware that clutches fail on these more often than gearboxes and can give some strange symptoms (they break as opposed to wearing out the friction material).

red

The mk2's had an issue with gear cables breaking midway through the production run. Fiat produced a modified stronger cable, but they were only replaced as and when the issue was reported.

As Red said, have someone move the gearstick while looking at the cable movement on the gearbox. If need be, pop the cable end off the ball of the selector mechanism and check it moves freely.

well underneth the gear stick is like these rods, maybe they snapped. Happened to me on one of my old cars, i think i changed into thrid too hard and it just broke, the gear box felt like it had no gears and just wobbled around.

The clutches usually fail so they wont release making the gears hard to select. If the pedal action feels lumpy and it bites near the floor it's probably the clutch.