Technical Problem with punto

[Tony123]

Recently i have been pulling off or going to lower gears to turn corner ect. and when i try and pull off the car judders, it does it more when its cold than when its hot.

I was at a car park today and flipped the throttle, and it made a sound like the belts were slipping, but only made the noise for about half a second.

Kinda acting like its miss firing or something,
Anyone any ideas on some tests i can carry out to find out what the problem is?

 

[invmatt]

It's the release bearing, you'll need to fit a new clutch. Mine went a while back and did exactly the same.

 

[Tony123]

hmmm could kinda make sense, because the car was acting like the revs were sticking.

But i replaced the clutch a year ago and its only have about 25k miles done on it...

 

[DaveMcT]

Riding the clutch or not taking your foot off fully will soon wear it out, but as it's juddering it might be oil contamination. Gearbox oil smells like cat pee check under the casing.

 

[Tony123]

i believe there is something wrong with the gearbox becuase about a month ago i thought i top up trhe gearbox fluid and it was completely empty

 

[bredsticz]

When cold my gear changes seem really 'bumpy' as though I'm being rough with the clutch. Fine once warm and had a new clutch only few thousand miles ago. Gearbox oil is fine

Maybe it's the same thing?

 

[DaveMcT]

When the gearbox bearing on the shaft which is driven by the clutch fails (input shaft bearing) it takes out the oil seal and can affect how the gears select. Oil from the leaking seal gets onto the clutch initially making it judder and later making it slip.

When the gearbox is good, most Punto clutches fail by being unable to release. Clutch slip or judder is less common unless they have got contaminated with oil.

 

[Tony123]

i wouldnt say that my car was bad when changing gears can be stiff at times but i think im selecting too low of a gear too early...
When i drove to newcastle and back the other month, my car stunk of a burning rubber smell, and i think it was coming from the engine

 

[DaveMcT]

When the clutch pressure plate fails (the most usual way with Fiats) the gears get hard to select and the clutch bites close to the floor. The pedal action feels heavy and lumpy.

When a bearing fails in the gearbox the gears dont align properly so get harder to select and might be noisy. A good clutch would feel normal. When the gearbox input shaft bearing fails it takes the oil seal as well and it leaks onto the clutch.

The oil loss and the burning smell suggests the gearbox is losing oil, probably dripping onto the exhaust pipe. The clutch has probably got contaminated along the way.

Folks on here say the input shaft bearing repair is not hard to do, but as yours has run dry it would be wise to fit a good used gearbox and new clutch.

 

[bredsticz]

When I replaced mine it was because of a leaky crankshaft oil seal. it went into a garage and i told him to put a new clutch in. I'm starting to doubt that he did

 

[Tony123]

how much do you think a garage would charge to do that?
Last time i changed the gearbox took me 2 lots of 12 hours because of a sub frame bolt, and lacking any proper jacks.. car was no more than like 5" off the floor big big struggle lol..

 

[DaveMcT]

You did well !!!

My garage charged me £120 to change the clutch. I supplied the parts. Posher parts of UK probably more.

Swapping the gearbox and the clutch is the same amount of work.

 

[Tony123]

i think if i could get the car in the air i would change it my self...
Once i had it in the air i would change gearbox, sump, etc and give it a big clean cause there is oil everywere.

I just had a thought, maybe my gearbox has got knackered because i ran over a cat (it darted out infront of me from a field pitch black) and my n/s wishbone was covered in cat hair, and my bumper has erm claw marks in it haha

 

[bredsticz]

LMAO, stupid cat! May be cheaper to get your car in the air than bring into a garage then. A trolley jack should get it up high enough

 

[Tony123]

if i start one job means i gotta do the rest haha...

I will have too see when my dad is free too help and get it up...

i have a big list to fix

Handbrake
Suspension
BackBox (its ok but not really made for the car so hangs a little)
Rocker cover bolt missing
Gearbox
Buckled rear wheel
Intermitant starting
Enquire an abarth front bumper
spray bonnet (its blue and i have a black car)
sump
petrol tank needs a new ring around the pump

prob more stuff wrong that i havent found yet haha

 

[DaveMcT]

The car sounds well used so expect all that plus some other stuff. If it was mega cheap you might want to cut your losses.

Loosen the front wheel studs at least on the left side
Chock each back wheel - a brick in front and behind on both wheels.
Lift the car front with a trolley jack using the subframe mounts under the footwell.
Support the car on heavy axle stands from the same subframe.

Support the engine with a 4 x 3 timber across the suspension mounts and a strong no stretch rope, so you now have the jack to support the gearbox.

Look on ebay for a sump removal gasket splitter tool well worth the few pounds.

 

[Tony123]

it was well used haha...

Im the 8th owner i think,
the previous owner had it for 3 months and wrote it off

 

[DaveMcT]

If it was mega cheap maybe cut your losses. Repairs like that = £££s

 

[Tony123]

i think the repairs would be cheaper than a new car tho.. cost me £700 on an 03 plate.. put a fair few bob in it..

ill see how much i can get everything for and see if i can fix me self over a long weekend lol

 

[DaveMcT]

Agreed - do the clutch & box