General Creaking sound in first gear

[Cheeky123]

Hello everyone,

I finally bought a 2015 colour therapy fiat 500, 1.2 engine.

I think I have an issue. I noticed whenever I press the clutch to put the car in first gear to drive off, there is a creaking sound, lasts a couple of seconds. What could be the issue?

I also noticed the car requires me to change up the gears quickly, like I’d be driving 20-30 mph and feel I need change up to 4th gear. Is this normal? I find the car quite revy too.

Any help would be appreciate. The car was serviced in September 2021. I’m planning to ask my local garage to look at it.

Thanks

 

[Popitinpete]

Hello everyone,

I finally bought a 2015 colour therapy fiat 500, 1.2 engine.

I think I have an issue. I noticed whenever I press the clutch to put the car in first gear to drive off, there is a creaking sound, lasts a couple of seconds. What could be the issue?

I also noticed the car requires me to change up the gears quickly, like I’d be driving 20-30 mph and feel I need change up to 4th gear. Is this normal? I find the car quite revy too.

Any help would be appreciate. The car was serviced in September 2021. I’m planning to ask my local garage to look at it.

Thanks

Sounds like a squeaky clutch pedal/rod. Should be able to sort as per the pandas with a very small amount of wd40 pointed at the clutch pivot. Don't put too much on, slippy pedals are no fun.
Gear ratios will be just different to previous car that's all, just needs to get used to them.

 

[jrkitching]

I also noticed the car requires me to change up the gears quickly, like I’d be driving 20-30 mph and feel I need change up to 4th gear. Is this normal? I find the car quite revy too.

Fiat's ecodriving recommendations (that's what the gear change arrows are based on) are very much biased toward maximising economy and most folks have a driving style which hangs onto the lower gears for longer than the arrows suggest. From memory, the official recommendation for the 1.2 is to change from 4th to 5th at 1400rpm; this is significantly lower than most drivers would consider feels comfortable.

It's all about bottom end torque; unfortunately the later versions of the 1.2 don't have as much of this as the pre-VVT 60HP Euro4 engine used in some of the ecoPandas. E10 fuel definitely doesn't help, either. If you do want to follow the arrows and change up early, I'd recommend using super unleaded fuel; the consequent improvement in torque below 2000 rpm is quite noticeable.

 

[Pugglt Auld Jock]

Thankfully my old Panda doesn't have one of these gear change recommendation thingies so I just drive it as I've always driven my cars - the more modern ones I mean - doesn't apply to the older, 1960's and older, vehicles I've owned - which is that I try not to slip the clutch excessively or use more revs than necessary when moving away from rest and then I tend to work the engine between around 1500 to 3000 rpm. I try to always not labour the engine by asking it to pull strongly from very low revs. I'm not averse to using higher revs if undertaking a "spirited" drive and indeed occasionally stressing the engine (Italian Tune Up some call it) helps to clear things out but events like these are few and far between these days for me living in a big city.

My Ibiza does have one of these indicators. However, being a 3 cylinder engine, I find changing up at the revs recommended, whilst maybe extracting the very last possible drop of economy from the fuel, make me cringe at the "laboured" feel of the engine as I count, and feel, almost every power stroke! - If you follow the indicator you end up in 5th gear doing around 1,000 rpm in town which makes the car almost undriveable as it's well "off" the turbo and won't accelerate. I get almost exactly 60mpg on long motorway journeys and between 30 to 40 in the city (varies quite a lot depending on traffic conditions - I always disable stop/start, not just because I want to save the starter and flywheel ring gear but also in sympathy with the poor old turbo) It may ring out a couple of miles more per gallon by following the indicator and using S/S but the toll it would take on my nerves and anxiety levels are not worth it!

 

[A3jeroen]

Abarth has a Shift indicator, but since I'm always in Sport mode it only lights up when it hits the revlimiter

gr J

 

[Ralf S.]

Second the clutch pivot. If you have lithium-based (white) grease, that will linger on there better than WD40, which is just kerosene. Kerosene is "oily" so will lubricate, but it will also eventually evaporate.

The 500 engine sounds quite short geared, but I'm not sure it really is. If it sounds like it wants to change up, then just change up. In town I can use 5th gear for "rolling" along and the transmission doesn't snatch even at lowish revs. If you wants to accelerate sharpish, rather than at the car's leisure then a quick change down to 3rd sorts it out. The gearing works well in town, in my opinion.. the engine is reasonably tractable (Rasputin is a 2013, so presumably has the more bottom-end biased engine map). I think you'll get used to it though, and changing down from a high gear is pretty fast, with that short-throw gearshift.

The E10 fuel does seem to have sucked the joy out of the engine though. I'm noticing/imagining that Rasputin has turned marginally more sluggish, so I might have to give it a tank of the red-top super-max warp blend fuel, just to prove it's not my imagination. If it's much better then I'll switch to using red-top every other tank, so that the fuel averages E7.5.. (I'm too tight to use exclusively the expensive stuff).


Ralf S.

 

[Cheeky123]

Thanks everyone.

I just need to get used to the gears of the car.

I went to my garage and they said the noise was a rattle from the air filter box.
never heard that before, was so scared it be a big job like the clutch, wheel bearings etc. The noice has reduced by 90%, but now and then it’s faint.

should I be concerned? Or is this normal for a 7 year old car?
thanks

 

[Popitinpete]

Thanks everyone.

I just need to get used to the gears of the car.

I went to my garage and they said the noise was a rattle from the air filter box.
never heard that before, was so scared it be a big job like the clutch, wheel bearings etc. The noice has reduced by 90%, but now and then it’s faint.

should I be concerned? Or is this normal for a 7 year old car?
thanks

I would not be overly concerned by the 'air filter' noise but the question is why didn't the garage fix it or do something with it when they had the car? Explaining what it was is one thing, just leaving it is another.

 

[Popitinpete]

Second the clutch pivot. If you have lithium-based (white) grease, that will linger on there better than WD40, which is just kerosene. Kerosene is "oily" so will lubricate, but it will also eventually evaporate.

The 500 engine sounds quite short geared, but I'm not sure it really is. If it sounds like it wants to change up, then just change up. In town I can use 5th gear for "rolling" along and the transmission doesn't snatch even at lowish revs. If you wants to accelerate sharpish, rather than at the car's leisure then a quick change down to 3rd sorts it out. The gearing works well in town, in my opinion.. the engine is reasonably tractable (Rasputin is a 2013, so presumably has the more bottom-end biased engine map). I think you'll get used to it though, and changing down from a high gear is pretty fast, with that short-throw gearshift.

The E10 fuel does seem to have sucked the joy out of the engine though. I'm noticing/imagining that Rasputin has turned marginally more sluggish, so I might have to give it a tank of the red-top super-max warp blend fuel, just to prove it's not my imagination. If it's much better then I'll switch to using red-top every other tank, so that the fuel averages E7.5.. (I'm too tight to use exclusively the expensive stuff).


Ralf S.

I recommend WD40 only for its ability to creep into and along the clutch pedal pivot better than a grease could. Part of the WD40 evaporates buts leaves behind lubricating properties, it's designed that way. Having said that I have got some lithium white grease in a spray can that may get a better chance of getting deeper into the pivot.
Its all hyperthetical anyway turns out its the air box

 

[John202020]

I also noticed the car requires me to change up the gears quickly, like I’d be driving 20-30 mph and feel I need change up to 4th gear. Is this normal? I find the car quite revy too.

Our car has no shift indicator, but I often change at 3500 RPM ( 4k in our Mazda, just before the VVT really starts to work! ) and still does 44 MPG round the town, it would probably be more economic if I changed earlier which I do at times

 

[Cheeky123]

I have another issue. I find getting into the 5th gear quite tricky. The other gears and reverse are smooth. Feels strange going to 5th feels close to 3rd gear. Is that normal?

Shouldn’t 5th gear be smooth?

Thanks

 

[A3jeroen]

With no force left to right 3 and 4 should be forwards and backwards. 5 should be to the right and forwards. Pretty normal and not easy to mistake IMHO.

gr J

 

[John202020]

I would suggest looking at the clutch hydraulics just to rule them out? How does it feel with the engine OFF?