Technical Fiat Punto gear selector problem

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Technical Fiat Punto gear selector problem

evildanger

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May 19, 2007
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I recently bought a R reg (1997) fiat punto 75SX 1.2 as my first car, and it has been great. Until today I was pulling away in first gear and found I couldn’t find second gear. The gear stick was floppy and the car was stuck in 1st gear, after trying several times I could move the gear stick up and down between first and second gear, but the punto was stuck in first gear. After a few miles trying to get home slowly in first (my mum going just as slow in front of me in case there was a problem) I pulled into a petrol station. I had to call out for the car to be picked up as the engine was starting to get hot. And it was too far to get home.

When the guy came to pick it up he said that it is quite a common problem in older punto’s for the gear selector to be “pushed to far” and he showed me how to manually put the car into neutral. This was done by opening up the bonnet and physically moving the gear selector to basically as he put it “reset the selector”.

It worked fine for a bit, although I noticed the gear stick wasn’t as firm as it was before and made a almost grinding sensation (not really much of a noise more a feeling through the gear stick) as the gears were locked into place. Now I can’t get into reverse gear and it looses 4th gear when it upshifts from 3rd (although if I wiggle it about a bit in neutral then I can get it into 4th gear, but it gets locked it 5th if I attempt to get it into 5th gear).

Is this just the gear selector, I doubt it’s the clutch as this feels just as it did before, I’m not mechanically minded but should this be easy and cheep to fix. Could it be the gearbox? Could it be both? Sorry if I’m not very good at explaining the problem, I literally passed my test 2 weeks ago and to have this happen on my 1st car is such a kick in the head for me.

Thanks for any help

PS could I have damaged the gear stick in anyway as I did kinda get a lil bit violent with it:(
 
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Okay, is that easy enough to sort out? its still got a warranty so I guess I would only have to pay for the parts needed.
 
well it was a warranty of good faith so to speak, it was kinda semi private.

I have had the car just over a week, but im worried that being a new driver its my fault, I probably have been a bit rough on the thing.
 
Mate i Have the same problem! I usually have to go out and manually put the selector back in place let me show you a diagram
davepictt7.jpg


That little rubber bit holds the selector in place, once that pops out(Thats it usually falls out under the car) the selector usually jumps over the guide(Which the rubber bit would have secured it to)

I need to ask my mate how he fixed mine.
 
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cool thanks for your help, So would it be possible to manually put the selector into reverse so i can get out my drive and get it to the garrage?
 
Hate to post back on myself, but the car has been taken back where I bought it from, said it was a lil "clip" that secures the cable to the gear selector, it had gone missing and can easily be replaced, hes also going to look at the parking break because it almost wasn't enough to secure the car on the ramp of the truck that picked it up.
 
Got it back now, everything fine, it gets in gear perfectly, just brused my confidence in the thing now.

The gear stick feels a lil bit light though, i can feel it get in gear, and the spring works fine on it, but there isn't the firm feeling as there was once before, should this be anything to worry about?
 
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