I've had my MK2 Fiat Punto Sporting 1.2 since new for the last 21 years - been great, never broken down. It has 34,500 miles on the clock - Until recently was not be used very often as I've been working from home for years - but recently took a job that involves a lot of driving around in central London traffic - hence lots of start and stop driving and low speed driving, changing down gears for speed humps, etc

The other week I noticed the car was juddering when pulling away - not all the time but the more time I spent in traffic the more it would happen - but as soon as I lifted the clutch fully the juddering went away and there was no other issues.

I notice if I do a few miles on the motorway and then back to normal roads the juddering when pulling away goes away - but once I spent a lot of time in start stop traffic it comes back again (only when pulling away).

I live in North west London. I'm with the RAC for road side assistance and towing to a garage 15 miles away. My biggest worry is - is this something that might lead to a sudden car breakdown?


I would need to schedule time off work to get the problem looked at. In the mean time they send me all over London visiting clients.

I normally get my parts from Euro Car Parts when possible would this be a suitable replacement?

https://www.eurocarparts.com/p/luk-clutch-kit-641581929

LUK Clutch Kit Product Code: 641581929


They also sell Transmech Clutch Kit which is much cheaper but I've read many horror stories about this brand of clutch and also sell Valeo Clutch KitProduct Code: 641581980 but it says it's out of stock

Some sites also mention clutch problems could be caused by grease

Any tips, or suggestions would be most gratefully received. Any idea on how many hours labour this kind of thing is to sort out? I have been taking my car to the same garage for the last 20 years - they don't specialise in Fiats but I assume this is kind of standard at most garages to change?

I have a 2004 car with a new clutch but the flywheel is original. I get a bit of juddering like you.

You can inspect your clutch thru the inspection hole at the top of the bell housing.

You will need an inspection camera to see it close up but you will be able to clearly see each edge (side view) of each side of the clutch friction material. You will be able to touch it and test for oil.

Before I replaced my clutch i was also getting juddering. It went away when the clutch was first fitted but I suspect now the clutch lining is fully in contact with the surfaces it grips harder and causes the juddering where the flywheel probably is no longer perfectly flat.

I replaced the clutch because of that juddering but it still had many tens of thousands of kms left in it. even though it was original and the car had 245,000 km

I went to see my mechanic yesterday - when driving over there - not one Judder but it was only a short drive about 20 minutes away.

He seemed to think that the problem only occurs when the metal in the clutch gets hot from longer period of start / stop driving and then the metal expands, which seems to fit with what I've noticed.

I've ordered the LUK Clutch Kit mentioned before and he can fit it next week - sounds like a big job though having to take apart so many things to get to the clutch.

I'm not sure if he's the inspection camera type of mechanic .. our family been taking our cars to him for over 25 years.

Also wondering when doing the clutch if that's good time to ask him to change the gearbox oil and if so which one is suitable for the MK 2 1.2 Sporting?

deeinlondon said:

wondering when doing the clutch if that's good time to ask him to change the gearbox oil and if so which one is suitable for the MK 2 1.2 Sporting?

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Might as well be done at the same time.


Total gear 8 was recommended here by one person and it works for me.

judderbar said:

Might as well be done at the same time.


Total gear 8 was recommended here by one person and it works for me.

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Thanks for the recommendation - I take it that's not a Synthetic Oil?

I saw Castrol Syntrans Multivehicle 75w90 Gear Oil at a bit of a discount so order 2 bottles of that, as it was fully Synthetic and had many great reviews from people saying it helped make their gears easier to shift.

Normally I buy most car things I need from EuroCarParts but their prices for GearBox oil was so expensive, ended up buying from Amazon.

deeinlondon said:

Thanks for the recommendation - I take it that's not a Synthetic Oil?

I saw Castrol Syntrans Multivehicle 75w90 Gear Oil at a bit of a discount so order 2 bottles of that, as it was fully Synthetic and had many great reviews from people saying it helped make their gears easier to shift.

Normally I buy most car things I need from EuroCarParts but their prices for GearBox oil was so expensive, ended up buying from Amazon.

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That 90 might cause your gear changes to be very stiff

judderbar said:

That 90 might cause your gear changes to be very stiff

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Doing a search for "Syntrans" on this forum brings up quite a few people that have used it without any issues. Plus many great reviews on Amazon from people that used it in their cars

https://www.fiatforum.com/threadloom.php?query=Syntrans&tab=279&page=2

This is the clutch that was removed today - 21 years old and about 37,500 miles on it mainly in city driving.

Any observations about the clutch?

I also got a deal on some brand new Brembo Brake Pads so decided to have the mechanic change those as well - as I wasn't so impressed with the brake pads that were on the car, even though that had plenty of material on them.

He also replaced the original 21 year old gear oil for Castrol 75W90 Syntrans - Gear shift feels smooth - Only drove the car a few miles home in traffic so can't really say much more then that so far.

What I can say is the clutch feels so light to press now compared to before, almost too light - doesn't feel like my car anymore, I kind of hope it stiffens up a little bit.

Before I guess it was way too stiff, now it kind of feel way too light. But I'm sure I'll get used to it.

deeinlondon said:

This is the clutch that was removed today - 21 years old and about 37,500 miles on it mainly in city driving.

Any observations about the clutch?

I also got a deal on some brand new Brembo Brake Pads so decided to have the mechanic change those as well - as I wasn't so impressed with the brake pads that were on the car, even though that had plenty of material on them.

He also replaced the original 21 year old gear oil for Castrol 75W90 Syntrans - Gear shift feels smooth - Only drove the car a few miles home in traffic so can't really say much more then that so far.

What I can say is the clutch feels so light to press now compared to before, almost too light - doesn't feel like my car anymore, I kind of hope it stiffens up a little bit.

Before I guess it was way too stiff, now it kind of feel way too light. But I'm sure I'll get used to it.

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The clutch lining looks good but I am thinking the fingers on the pressure plate are more worn in the 3 to 6 oclock position and they will now have less contact and that will create an out of balance pressure on the rotating clutch lining. I do have my old clutch here so i will check mine in the next day or so.

Yes I do think the mechanic also pointed to the fingers part as being the worn out part.

Just got back from a 100 mile trip from one end of London to the other. Everything working great. The car pulls away nicely, no more juddering - The clutch is much lighter - think I've already gotten used to it.

The strange thing is the electric steering seems to be lighter in both City and non city modes as well, not sure how that could be possible.

BTW I was really surprised when I came back from my 100mile journey which included a mix of city driving and 30+ miles on the M25 at 70 MPH that when I got home my Radiator fan wasn't spinning - normally I'd hear the spinning of the fan before turning the key off - I felt the hood of the car and it didn't feel hot and Temp gauge was right in the middle.