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Technical Crunchy Third

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Technical Crunchy Third

Hello to all and can I say what a helpfull site this seems to be. Well done.
I seem to have the same problem on my 53reg active sport 1.6 with only 11,000 miles on the clock. 2nd and 3rd felt alittle notchy (felt worse when racing through the gears ) so mentioned this on its service. They came back to say that it was the gear lever linkage and to be fair they changed it with no problem. However on driving it home although it seemed a bit better I wasnt convinced that the problem had been fixed. It feels like two cogs crinding together for a split second befor it slips into 3rd gear. I contacted them to be told that according to them it now drives like any other stilo and I should beable to feel the gears going in. On reading the other comments on this problem I wonder if I have a synchro problem.?? would you agree or are the stilo gearboxes natually notchy.
Any comments would be greatfull apprieciated.

ps still like my stilo :)
 
3rd gear crunching can be
1 clutch not disengaging ( although you'd tend to feel it in other gears too)
2 moving the gearshift too quickly and forcefully so you defeat the synchro
3 worn synchro ( caused by the above)
4 out of line gear selectors

If you've had your Stilo from new then you will feel the difference if the synchro is wearing out. If a previous owner was heavy handed with the gearbox then the damage to the synchro can be done quite quickly with even a low mileage car

Where does your clutch bite? 1/2 way up? 3/4 way up? A low bite makes all the gears feel clicky and especially 3rd

3rd gear seems to be the one that the synchro wears first and the only cure is a gearbox out and strip
 
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Thank you for your comments Deckchair5. I'm the second owner and have had the car about 3weeks. The biting point I would say is below 1/2 way and can feel slightly notchy from 1st to 2nd and worse from 2nd to 3rd. 3rd to 4th and to 5th seems very smooth. If I go from 2nd to 3rd and wait a second or two in the neutral position then it seems to slip into gear ok..is this the norm for a fiat gearbox ??
 
No that's not like my clutch and gearbox now. If my clutch was biting below 1/2 way then i'd get all the symptoms you describe as the clutch isn't disengaging fully.

Try bleeding your clutch like i did and that might well bring the bite point up a lot further and everything then just slides into place

It's easy with one of these one man self bleeding tools. Just attach it to hydraulic fluid reservior and connect it to your car tyre (having reduced the tyre pressure sufficiently)

If you use a friend to push on the pedal to bleed the clutch then get them to only push very lightly

Find the slave cylinder on top of the gearbox, in the gap between the battery and the air intake. Remove the rubber dust cover to the bleed nipple. With a pair of long nose pliers pull back the slave cylinder hydraulic hose C clip just far enough to release the hose. Don't take it right out or drop it!

Pull back the hose carefully until fluid starts coming out the bleed nipple. Let a small amount out like a tablespoon then put it all back together again. Check your hydraulic fluid level- it should hardly have moved

Check your bite point now

Have a look for leaks around the slave cylinder while you're down there
 
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Thank you again. I will try that asap and fingers crossed all will be ok..
 
Deckchair5 said:
No that's not like my clutch and gearbox now. If my clutch was biting below 1/2 way then i'd get all the symptoms you describe as the clutch isn't disengaging fully.

Try bleeding your clutch like i did and that might well bring the bite point up a lot further and everything then just slides into place

It's easy with one of these one man self bleeding tools. Just attach it to hydraulic fluid reservoir and connect it to your car tyre (having reduced the tyre pressure sufficiently)

If you use a friend to push on the pedal to bleed the clutch then get them to only push very lightly

Find the slave cylinder on top of the gearbox, in the gap between the battery and the air intake. Remove the rubber dust cover to the bleed nipple. With a pair of long nose pliers pull back the slave cylinder hydraulic hose C clip just far enough to release the hose. Don't take it right out or drop it!

Pull back the hose carefully until fluid starts coming out the bleed nipple. Let a small amount out like a tablespoon then put it all back together again. Check your hydraulic fluid level- it should hardly have moved

Check your bite point now

Have a look for leaks around the slave cylinder while you're down there
Click to expand...

That sounds like a right old palaver why cant Fiat do it the same as we use to years ago undo bleed nipple with tube on the end of it put tube in jam jar of fluid etc etc that sounds rather fiddly Decks :(
 
ActiveEz said:
Thank you for your comments Deckchair5. I'm the second owner and have had the car about 3weeks. The biting point I would say is below 1/2 way and can feel slightly notchy from 1st to 2nd and worse from 2nd to 3rd. 3rd to 4th and to 5th seems very smooth. If I go from 2nd to 3rd and wait a second or two in the neutral position then it seems to slip into gear ok..is this the norm for a fiat gearbox ??
Click to expand...

that is what mine was like, now its fixed imagine your 3rd/4th change is the same as the 5th/6th change
 
Hi BBS just read all the thread again and seems that my problem is very similar to yours with the very slight crunch that happends now and again in 3rd and more so on higher revs. I'm sure that some drivers would say that it seems fine to them but its starting to anoye me.
My wife drives a pug 206 which are supposed to have a notchy gear box but the 206 is very smooth compared to the stilo's. I will take your advise and print off the diagrams you provided and see my dealer. However this might have to wait till I get back from our holiday which we go shortly but thank you for your usefull comments..
 
Hi BBS
just a quick update. Still wasn't happy with the 3rd gear so thought rather than wait till I got back from holiday I would go and see my local Fiat dealer.
I contacted the service manager and told him that even though they had changed the gear lever linkage I still didn't feel the 3rd gear was right.
He said he would ask his best tech to test drive the car.
The tech asked what the problem was and I told him that I thought it was a syncro mesh problem caused by the original faulty gear lever linkage.
Which they had replaced 2 weeks earlier.
He, with me as passenger, took it for a test drive and after only about 1/2 mile said "yes they was a problem with 3rd and 4th gears. We got back to the dealership and I asked him what he thought was the problem. He said untill he got the gearbox out and had a look he really couldnt say what the full damaged was but at least the 3rd and 4th syncro mesh in his opinion would need replacing. 2-3 day job depending on what was wrong and if parts needed ordering.
I'm on holiday from 1st - 16th June in sunny cuba (yabba dabba dooo ) so they have booked it in for the 20th June to have the gearbox out and repair under 3rd year waranty.
Thanks again for all your help BBS in this matter and I will say to all other Fiat owners with this problem. Go see your dealer armed with this information and the diagrams and get it sorted..(y)
 
Hi all,
I'm not a happy chappie. Took car in for the gearbox to be looked at expecting it to be taken out and fixed only to find nothing had been done. When I contacted the garage to enquired how things were going with the car. I was told that when they contacted "Fiat Care" under the 3rd year warranty to tell them they wanted to strip the gearbox down. They were told to wait while "fiat care" sent out a technician. He took it for a test drive and said that as it was slight.If they stripped the gearbox down they wouldn't be anything really noticiable to indicate the problem to fix. He instructed them to tell me that I have to drive the car around for another 3 months or 3000 miles in the hope it gets worse so they can see the damage in the box.If it got worse befor then, I had to bring it back and they would re access the situation.
Surely if one of the garages technicians said there was something wrong, 3 of my friends said they noticed the problem with 3rd gear. Then action should have been taken.
I am taking the car to an independant Fiat specialist to get his oppinion on the 3rd gear problem. (J&B) mentioned in the forum who is close to me.
Looks like I will have to use and abuse the gears.
Any input on this would be appreciated.
:mad:
 
Was more of a tongue in cheek comment about abusing the gears but I am miffed that nothing was done, when one of their own technicians said something was not right with the gears.
Roll on Sept :(
 
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