Technical Play in gear stick and other problems

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Hi, it's me again. Now when major issues are repaired, I wanted to fix some smaller ones on my 2003 1.9jtd 85kW 5door Stilo.

1st problem is play in gear shift lever. It moves like 1,5 cm form side to side. Any way to make this better without changing whole lever? I saw plastic bushing on bottom of gear stick on other cars, but I can't find that piece for Stilo. Does it use some other mechanism? https://imgur.com/gSoSxSn

2nd I have broken piece that holds hood release lever. How do I remove it? I tried unsrewing that one screw, but it's held by cable. I don't want to damage anything else.

3rd Boot does not open completely, it goes to about 50% and then slows down and moves very slowly up. I changed both struts for new (Magneti Marelli), but it did not help much.

4th Should be this gap at bottom of front glass? (Now it's full of tree mess, don't mind that) Is it for water drain, or should I seal it? https://imgur.com/UJQxBLL

Thanks for any help

 

[Ralf S.]

1) That plastic "bush" looks like a cover for the lever ball-joint, to protect it while it's in the packaging. As far as I know, the Stilo lever has two balls.. which fit into plastic receviers / cups on the ends of the two gear cables... you can see the same thing at the other end, on top of the gearbox.

You may have loose cups on the cables.. and you might get a better gear lever if you changed the cables (I don't think the cups are available separately).... but this is quite a lot of effort (and cost) for something that might not improve things.

On the other hand.. my lever is a bit loose too... so if you do it, let me know if it makes a big improvement or not..

2) I don't know.. but the mount is probably fitted onto a slot, or on a lug to stop it rotating.. once you removed the screws (should be two?) then it would just pull off.

3) Does the boot lift up with no struts attached (you would need to lift it by hand)? And, if/when the boot is fully open, are the struts long enough to reach from the bootlid lug to the body lug? You may just have the wrong struts (i.e. for the 3-door). They should be compatible with Fiat part number 46784995.

The 3-door hatch struts are 46784994 (and no, I have no idea why they are different).

4) The "gap" looks the same as mine.. so I think it's normal. My glass is still a Fiat one and the gap on mine looks slightly smaller than yours (there is a thin rubber/plastic fillet to close the gap).. so if your car had a replacement windscreen and it was different dimensions/not fitted centrally then that may be why it looks like a big gap.

Your fillet looks like it's still there though, but pushed in. If you slide a very thin screwdriver or ice-cream stick into the gap you might be able to lift it back up. If it can rest in the right place for a few hours it should stay in the right place.


Ralf S.

 

[roll]

1) Yeah I though so... I just saw some video, where it was replaced and make the movement better. Stilo has different style. I thought of changing whole shifter, but if it's so hard

2) Oh I think there is only one. Elearn says: "remove the lever". Well thank you very much


3) I removed them and boot moves fine. I guess it's just designed to move very slowly. I have right part. 506 mm long, 380 N force. But they were very cheap. One would cost about 11 pounds here and I got it for 5. It's original though...

4) I'm not sure if it's original. If that gap should be there it's fine.

Thanks

 

[Ralf S.]

3) If the boot opens fully, just more slowly for the last part of the travel then that sounds normal. Mine does the same but the second part of the travel is just slower... not *too* slow.

It could be yours will speed up a bit when the new lifters settle in. You can lubricate the pistons to help things a bit.

Sometimes I have to give my boot-lid a push to lift the boot up the last 5-10cm but I think that's just my lifters being a little bit old. OE Fiat ones.... so 15 years old now.


4) The Fiat windscreen has "Fiat" and some other writing in the bottom right hand corner. A lot of replacement windscreens have no writing on them at all. But it looks okay so no worries.. just the little fillet piece to lift up a bit and it'll block the gap.

Ralf S.

 

[roll]

1) I'm gonna change the whole lever. Any tips? Remove exhaust, some protection plate and then it should be visible?

3) It will not open by itself. I need to push the boot to a half, then struts starts to feel hard, but does not lift the boot. I have to push it more and then it slowly opens

 

[Ralf S.]

I haven't poked around under my Stilo very much so I can't really remember what it looks like underneath now..

If you want to change the lever, you will need to remove the centre console. The lever sits inside a metal housing and the whole thing may or may not be easy to dismantle, if you wanted to replace the lever only. It looks easier to replace the whole housing (including the lever).. but I don't know for sure.

Note that 3-door and 5-door had a different part number for the gear-lever/housing unit; 3-D = 55197640 and 5-D = 55197645 respectively.

Handbrake cables usually attach under the car.. there should be a rectangular plate somewhere and you just remove it to expose the ends of the cables to pop them off the lever. Having said that, I can't remember noticing the cables, so they may pass back into the car and out again through the bulkhead or similar... but once you found the ends and disconnected them, you'll be able to follow the cable to see where it goes.


If the hatch opens without struts on it then the problem is the struts, especially if the movement becomes stiff. The movement on mine is smooth and light, without any hesitation. I do have to push the hatch open a bit to help it.. and the hatch sometimes doesn't lift the last 10cm by itself... and in very cold weather the hatch slowly falls down again.... but my lifters are 15 years old. New ones should be smooth and strong.


Ralf S.

 

[roll]

Are you sure with that centre console? I thought there are 4 screws at bottom of housing.

I've got whole assembly with cables for 30 pounds, so it's not the most expensive thing on my Stilo, I'm just not looking forward to changing it .
I'm gonna make some photos anyway.

 

[Davren]

All comes out from below.
.

 

[Ralf S.]

Are you sure with that centre console? I thought there are 4 screws at bottom of housing.

I've got whole assembly with cables for 30 pounds, so it's not the most expensive thing on my Stilo, I'm just not looking forward to changing it .
I'm gonna make some photos anyway.

Nope..

I haven't been under my car for ages so I was just trying to remember how much gear lever stuff there was under the car. Compared to the Younger Mrs S. Cinquecento, there isn't very much sticking out at all, so I assumed the housing with the lever in it must be inside the car.

But Davren's tech' sheet says different... so I'd go with that.


Ralf S.

 

[roll]

So I spent whole yesterday changing the lever, only to find out, it's not the problem. (It is better, but not that much.) Problem is in this piece

which is connected to "small head". It moves about 1 mm both directions. Is there any way to replace its bushings, or I have to replace the whole assembly? Also how hard would that be? I saw 3 screws holding it, but I don't want to mess with it just because.
I guess I could just pust some C shape retaining ring there, but I don't like hacks like this.

 

[roll]

There were some problems with image (I think)