Technical 899/1108 diffs, swappable?

[BlueDan]

Does anyone know if a Cinquecento diff can be seperated from the gearbox, or if it's all inside one casing with the rest of the gearbox? And if I would be able to swap an Sporting diff with one from an S/SX?

I've got a low grumbling noise that sounds like it's coming from my Cinq Sporting's gearbox (from the passenger footwell when I'm driving), the same as described here, which makes me think it may also be the diff knackered on my Cinq, but I also have an 899 engined Cinq on the drive I can rob parts from...

 

[rallycinq]

The gearboxes are entirely different. Does your speedo still work properly?

Cheers

D

 

[cc1]

DIFFerent gearbox types.

 

[Brooky]

Does anyone know if a Cinquecento diff can be seperated from the gearbox,

yes it can. well my diff bearing is just before J31a on the M6. the casing can be removed and diff gear taken out.

 

[fordcosworth]

if the diff was knackered it would be a bad move swapping it (if you can)becasue the damaged bearing/gear making the noise will produce metal shavings would have been all round the rest of the box meaning a risk of damaging them to! and the boxes are very different, i have a spair box for a sporting cinq
also check that the driveshaft isnt making the noise as its possible

 

[Brooky]

yeah,as jason says, broken g/box bits get everywhere. i had a ball or two out of the diff bearing in the bell housing = broken casing and a slipping clutch.

someone on here must of heard the racket me cinq was making at stanford

 

[fordcosworth]

i see alot of VW gearboxes come in at work with collapsed or damaged diffs and yes the oil is like valve grinding paste so you can imagine what hidden damage is done to the bearings, detents and gears etc inside the box, best to get a new one rather than risk it after any form of gearbox bearing/gear trouble

 

[BlueDan]

rallycinq - the speedo is still fine, it dosen't even wobble approaching 30mph which I've noticed with other (899) Cinqs.

fordcosworth - I hadn't considered bits of the diff floating around inside the box causing trouble elsewhere. I could probably do with another 'box anyway, the synchro on 2nd isn't completly right and it's leaking oil from somewhere too (I've added around 800ml since I had it 3 years ago), maybe oil starvation broke it in the first place. I dunno if you were offering to flog me your spare or were you just mentioning it?

How would I go about checking if it's the driveshaft making the noise?

 

[rallycinq]

I think I was meaning is the speedo in the damaged gearbox still working. If the diff bearings go the diff drops and the speedo stops working.

Cheers

D

 

[fordcosworth]

rallycinq - the speedo is still fine, it dosen't even wobble approaching 30mph which I've noticed with other (899) Cinqs.

fordcosworth - I hadn't considered bits of the diff floating around inside the box causing trouble elsewhere. I could probably do with another 'box anyway, the synchro on 2nd isn't completly right and it's leaking oil from somewhere too (I've added around 800ml since I had it 3 years ago), maybe oil starvation broke it in the first place. I dunno if you were offering to flog me your spare or were you just mentioning it?

How would I go about checking if it's the driveshaft making the noise?

well if you want it mate its on my the back garden covered up, ive never had the box on my own car seen as it came with an engine i had bought but i was told it was all in good working order with around 65,000 miles on it
looks clean enough.

 

[fordcosworth]

ow and to check if the driveshaft has gone you will usualy notice the noise it makes get much louder under acceleration and almost going on overun, then try going round corners on full/half lock at differnt speeds under accelertion, the noise will usually get worse as the steering is turned more (if the outer CV joint has gone)

jason

 

[rallycinq]

Remember that centos are prone to gearbox mounting failure which leads to groaning noises under aceleration.

Cheers

D

 

[BlueDan]

fc - thanks, I'll check that on the car park at work.

rc - Do you mean the middle one that bolts to the floor or the end one that bolts on next to the front towing eye? I had noticed (usually over poorly surfaced roads) a scraping/chirping noise a bit like a fork on a plate.

 

[rallycinq]

rc - Do you mean the middle one that bolts to the floor or the end one that bolts on next to the front towing eye? I had noticed (usually over poorly surfaced roads) a scraping/chirping noise a bit like a fork on a plate.

The one that bolts to the floor under the passengers feet.

Cheers

D

 

[BlueDan]

Well my Dad was up before me this morning and went to the Fiat dealers for me and got the new engine mount, unfortunately they sold him the end one (behind the towing eye) instead of the middle one.

Fortunately he checked and it turns out that's the one that was knackered, and now it's swapped the grumbling noise has gone, along with some noise at idle and when pulling away

The metallic chirping noise when cornering is still there so it seems the middle one needs to be swapped as well. I was convinced it was gears or bearings as the noise would go up in pitch with the engine revs, so thanks for the pointer rallycinq.

 

[levemircento]

I think what happens is that the engine leans back when you accelerate, the exhaust pipe rests against the ARB as the mount has failed and this is what then sounds like a grinding noise, there isnt actually anything grinding, its just the engine noise resulting from direct metal to metal contact.

Best of all, its an easy fix!