Technical Possible Cure For First Gear Judder and wobbly idle

[ChrisF]

I've posted here a few times about

a) wobbly idle
b) juddering when pulling off in first gear
c) stuttery low speed crawling, particulary in traffic

SO, a few weeks back the car (54 plate 1.6 active sport) went in for it's 2nd Year service, it's only just broke 12k miles. I mentioned the problems above. So they checked out the coil packs, engine idle etc and everything checked out fine. They said it was a clutch fault and replaced it on warranty...fine ok. Didn't quite fix the problem and the gear box felt very stiff. SO i put it down to it being new and it might need some time to bed in.

2 weeks later, on the M77 coming towards a big roundabout, NO GEARS, GRIND GRIND, 1st and 2nd gear unusable, violent judders when pulling away, ...Luckily, I managed to get it home and to the dealers this morning.

Dealers checked it out, got back to me...TADA finally, i think they might have found the problem to all of the above.

The flywheel is "mis-shaped" and has basically been like that for a "long time" hence the reason the clutch had to be replaced the first time. They didn't spot it the first time round. They are going to replace the clutch and the flywheel on warranty and then look into the wobble and see if it is still there.

If this sorts out the problem I'll let you know, hey who knows maybe arnold clark fiat moving away from the alison st branch could be a really good thing...if anything it's now just across the road form my work LOL!:slayer:

 

[KK1]

I wonder if this would apply to the selespeed gearbox, I would love to find a cure to the low speed crawl jutter and jerkyness.

A new set of coils has fixed the Kangerooing problem, so sure would like to find a solution to the selespeed gearbox.

Thanks

 

[ChrisF]

I don't see why not, I did a bit of mechanical reading last night.

From what i gather, the flywheel basically connects to the clutch from the engne side. I'd imagine a mishaped flywheel would lead to uneven contact on the clutch plates which would a) cause the stuttery pull offs and b) wear the clutch because of the impacting of the mishaped flywheels vibrations. And what happens when a fly wheel is unevenly weighted/shaped...it wobbles...just like my engine does.

I've kinda taken to being pretty straight with my dealers, I'm on master care now, i don't want ditched with a lemon when thats finished get it sorted. Fortunatley clutch/engine faults care covered by 3rd year warranty. If they were not, the cars only done 12K miles and Fiat would be getting reported.

It's going to take a day or so to get a flywheel in, but from what i have read it does all make sense.

Chris

 

[ChrisF]

Well, the Stilo is back from the dealers and for ONCE in 2 years, after some serious phone calling and hassling they have sorted my car properly. They got rid of the first gear judder. The car pulls away smooth as silk and the gearbox feels really fluid now as opposed to stiff and awkward, oh and it doesnt grind into reverse at all!

What did they do?

Report says, Replaced Clutch, Replaced Flywheel, Put on examiner all clear and a road test. Even the wobble at idle is down to just normal level of engine vibration through the pedals. Passengers have mentioned how different it feels too.

Considering that the car has done this judder and crappy gear change since new, the car is better than new now. Such a nice car to drive now...to think i was going to trade her in after almost killing me during the week.

 

[Deckchair5]

Yes, an unbalanced flywheel is truly horrid and will cause all of your problems including crunching into reverse if the clutch plate is rubbing on the flywheel. I'll bet the difference is astounding as the 1.6 is a very smooth beast when operating correctly.

I like the way it moves off effortlessly and ticks along in a slow crawling traffic situation with no gas at all

 

[ChrisF]

The biggest difference appart from the smoothness is the fact that it feels like i bearly have to do anything now. Considering i used to almost have to force the gear changes and have the jerky changes. And i used to have to run her quite hard compared to now, where everything is just silky.

A VAST improvement indeedy

 

[KK1]

Do you think this would be the case with the selespeed box deckchair 5, I have an 02' Abarth which is out of warranty.
Is the clutch/flywheel a diy job.
I would expect a garage(fiat or non fiat) to be pretty expensive for selespeed clutch probs.

I would really like to find a cure to the problem without forking out lots of money.

Thanks

 

[alexGS]

Just for what it's worth, I've heard of other Selespeed vehicles (Alfa 156) as benefitting from a 'clutch recalibration' - this is carried out with the Examiner, I think it would be worth enquiring if it could be done to yours, since no parts would have to be changed and it may just make the difference?

But wait for Deckchair's opinion, as he has much more Stilo experience than me

-Alex

 

[ChrisF]

From what i gathered from the Fiat tech i spoke to the first time they replaced the clutch (and missed the faulty flywheel). Replacing the clutch is a pretty tricky process in the stilo. I think if your replacing the flywheel your looking at possibly stripping out the clutch (possibly the gearbox, they def did something to that too). It's not something i'd like to attempt and i just have a plain 1.6 manual. I wouldn't touch a selespeed as a DIY job personally. It might be worth checking out an independent Fiat specialist, my local one had never donea stilo tho.

It took them 3-4 hours to do my flywheel/clutch/examiner. I don't know how much it would have cost me out of warranty. Probably a fortune.

 

[Deckchair5]

As far as I know the Selespeed clutch itself is fairly conventional, it's just the operating mechanism that is different, VERY different. So faults like clutch slipping, plate contamination, warped plates etc will be the same causes.

But judder is a different ballgame as the operating mechanism is controlling how the clutch engages

Quite a few people have had their judder on take off on Selespeeds cured by dealers if you do a search