RobertM
Member
Hi everyone it's been a while, a while back I was the guy who tried to drive across the country in a new (to me) Fiat 500L. I managed to make it from Pennsylvania to Florida to Illinois, a total of 2,600 miles, before the exhaust studs pulled themselves out of the head and I called it quits. Not without many other issues along the way which involved replacing the cap/rotor, plugs a few times, a hand full of condensers, plug wires twice, the entire fuel system from front to back, a front wheel bearing, and tons and tons of transmission fluid from a pretty massive leak.
Fast forward to today and I've had the engine and transmission out, I've removed and replaced the entire suspension, steering box, steering arms, carpet, exhaust, lights, tires, and a bunch of other odds and ends through the car tallying up to over $5,000 and leading to effectively a mechanical restoration, the only thing left on my todo list was to switch to an electronic ignition kit that I have sitting in the box still until today. I drove the car for the first time since tearing everything down and putting it back together to get it to a friend who does alignments at his house to get everything sorted and found out that I should have replaced my idler arm because it appears to be bent at an awkward angle compared to the steering box arm causing tons of bump steer, but in addition to that, upon arriving home I found the issue that is the subject of this thread.
When I pulled the transmission out I removed and replaced all the seals including removing the bellhousing, as that's where I suspected the leak to be originating from. I had a new gasket kit to reseal everything except for the bellhousing, after searching for a while I couldn't find anything for that specific part, I don't know if there is a gasket produced for that part? So I used black RTV, as I've used it for oil pans, and valve covers, etc. in the past with great success. I applied a small bead of it around the perimeter of the bellhousing but unfortunately I still have a leak. The leak is nowhere near as bad, prior to this I was loosing 1qt every 500 or so miles, so topping up the transmission was a normal gas station stop. Now I seem to be loosing about a drop every 5 minutes, to a point where it's livable, but I'd rather not have leaks.
My current course of action is going to be to remove the flywheel cover and see if I can tighten the bottom 3 bolts a little more to see if that's my issue, and before anyone asks I'm sure it's gear oil and not the rear main seal as there was no oil inside of the bellhousing or anywhere near the clutch when I removed the engine and transmission.
If any one has any additional suggestions or can point me to a gasket for that bellhousing I can pop the engine back out and take care of it the correct way!
One final note: I think, unfortunately, my Fiat will be going up for sale soon so if anyone around the western United States is looking for what will hopefully be a very well sorted out 650cc Fiat 500L let me know! I'll likely end up selling it for a bargain comparted to the amount of effort that went into making it what it currently is.
Fast forward to today and I've had the engine and transmission out, I've removed and replaced the entire suspension, steering box, steering arms, carpet, exhaust, lights, tires, and a bunch of other odds and ends through the car tallying up to over $5,000 and leading to effectively a mechanical restoration, the only thing left on my todo list was to switch to an electronic ignition kit that I have sitting in the box still until today. I drove the car for the first time since tearing everything down and putting it back together to get it to a friend who does alignments at his house to get everything sorted and found out that I should have replaced my idler arm because it appears to be bent at an awkward angle compared to the steering box arm causing tons of bump steer, but in addition to that, upon arriving home I found the issue that is the subject of this thread.
When I pulled the transmission out I removed and replaced all the seals including removing the bellhousing, as that's where I suspected the leak to be originating from. I had a new gasket kit to reseal everything except for the bellhousing, after searching for a while I couldn't find anything for that specific part, I don't know if there is a gasket produced for that part? So I used black RTV, as I've used it for oil pans, and valve covers, etc. in the past with great success. I applied a small bead of it around the perimeter of the bellhousing but unfortunately I still have a leak. The leak is nowhere near as bad, prior to this I was loosing 1qt every 500 or so miles, so topping up the transmission was a normal gas station stop. Now I seem to be loosing about a drop every 5 minutes, to a point where it's livable, but I'd rather not have leaks.
My current course of action is going to be to remove the flywheel cover and see if I can tighten the bottom 3 bolts a little more to see if that's my issue, and before anyone asks I'm sure it's gear oil and not the rear main seal as there was no oil inside of the bellhousing or anywhere near the clutch when I removed the engine and transmission.
If any one has any additional suggestions or can point me to a gasket for that bellhousing I can pop the engine back out and take care of it the correct way!
One final note: I think, unfortunately, my Fiat will be going up for sale soon so if anyone around the western United States is looking for what will hopefully be a very well sorted out 650cc Fiat 500L let me know! I'll likely end up selling it for a bargain comparted to the amount of effort that went into making it what it currently is.
- Model
- 500L
- Year
- 1971
I did it recently and it was a job I quite enjoyed, put it together with black heat proof type sealant which I’d very carefully applied but didn’t tighten down fully until some hours had passed, just a gentle nip to begin with.
