Seicento 5th Gear

Currently reading:
Seicento 5th Gear

Joined
Jan 7, 2014
Messages
785
Points
188
Location
Scotland
When driving i sometimes struggle to get the car in 5th. Parked at the side of the road with engine running or not the gear stick will select any gear no problem. Any ides?

Am i right in thinking one cable do three gears and the other does the other three and if this is the case why is it only difficult to get 5th and not the other two it works?

Oh and if the cable is buggered what one am i changing. Standing looking at the gearbox from the front of the car do i need the closest or furthest away cable?
 
Does your gearbox have a reverse dentente/inhibitor? (a cable that plugs into the top of the gearbox, front of the selector just above the reverse light switch). If you can't see, put the car in 5th with the engine off then try to go straight into reverse. If you can't then you have a dentente, if you can you don't or it's loose. Either way, that can effect the selection of 5th. Would also check both selection cables were firmly on their ball joints and the bracket that goes to the front left one isn't loose. From memory i "Think" the front one has more to do with 5th than the rear, but i'm not 100%.

How easy is 1st to get? i'd be tempted to just give the clutch cable a turn of adjustment if that was a little sticky too.
 
I only see two cables Mrcento. I have no problem with reverse. The ball joints at both ends of cable are seated fine and solid if a little dry (Now lubed) If i life the gator there is a white nylon block that stops the gear stick going all the way right. When i lift the reverse lever this lifts what prevent it going to far right and allows reverse selection. I was thinking this was lose and falling to far left but there is no movement. When i bought the car it did not feel like i was going into 5th ,IE feel it going right then forwards but it did select the gear but now its playing silly buggers and i cant fathom why. The car is a 2001 sporting.
 
My first Sei, 1 99 sporting wouldn't go into 5th at all and the reverse dentente was the issue, Went into reverse fine, was just 5th getting ""Locked out". the laters boxes, Fiat changed that and they didn't have them, i think 2000/2001 was the crossover point, most spi's have the third cable but the very last ones don't and the port it bolts into has a blanking plate bolted over it. If yours is MPI it probably didn't ever have one.

I'd lean towards the front/top cable being the issue as it has more likely points of issue going at the angle it does, over the bracket that bolts onto the box and engine block and finally the little selector plate can be sticky/bent. If any of the bolts on that bracket are loose then it can change the angle of the cable and not allow it to move over fully. When i was missing the bracket on my cinq (long story) i couldn't get 5th either. But to be honest if you are thinking of changing the selector cables it's probably just as easy getting second hand cables and changing both while you're in there if you go down that route, it's only going to take 10 min more and they tend to come together in packs of 2 second hand.
 
If its the cable i would buy a new one as we intend on keeping the car long term due to its great condition and 35k mileage but i want to know for sure due to the bloody price of them. My doubt its cable it the fact it works perfect when parked up with engine running or not. Ill have a closer look for this third cable when i get home tomorrow but i am 99% sure i dont have that. Im starting to think heat now. I have never had this before but can gearbox oil deteriorate?
 
I wouldn't bother buying new cables, way too expensive for what they are, they aren't under that much stress, if yours are a problem then it doesn't mean a second hand set would be, there's some cinqs out there with the originals (pretty sure mine are). It's not that common a failure point so no reason second hand cables would be a gamble. Especially when you can buy 3 pairs of them for the price of one new cable.

Change the oil if you're unsure when it was last done. As said before, would also tighten up the cable a fraction, a turn or two maximum clockwise just to make sure clutch clearance isn't an issue. If it helps the problem is traced, if it doesn't, you know it's a selector issue.

Had the car had any work done on the clutch in it's history? Just asking if there's any evidence that the gearbox has been off, selector cables disturbed or damaged etc.
 
Back
Top