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gearbox problem: Fiat Cinquecento

I have recently purchased a fiat Cinquecento. I was obviously being a bit more timid than usual during the test drive as I did not notice the slight crunching sound when putting the car into third gear. I think it is a synchromesh problem as if I get the revs right (heal and toe etc) then it slides into gear without any crunching.

This is obviously something that I can live with, the car is not actually difficult to get into gear and runs fine once in gear. However, I was wondering if this slight crunching if likely to damage the gearbox or synchromesh (sp?) and is mending it going to mean a new gearbox, synchromesh or just a small adjustment? All other gears are fine. The car is a Chincequento 900 registered 93.

Thanks for the help,

Gordon

Reply to
Gordon Taylor
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Almost certainly wear on the synchromesh clutch for that gear - usually called a baulk ring. The only cure is replacement of this inexpensive part

- but the labour cost is likely to be high. If you can live with it, do so

- it's unlikely to cause other problems.

Reply to
Dave Plowman

Syncromesh Gordon. Mine doesn't do it and it was one of the things I checked for when I bought the car....

Learn to live with it!!

Eric

Reply to
Eric Brain

Does sound like worn/inneffective syncro. The sound you hear is the engagement dogs smashing into each other. These are pretty strong, but will wear eventually. If you can heal and toe, then you can make this gearbox last, if you dont and are heavy handed, you can trash the gearbox fairly quickly.

If it were me, I'd nurse it - I learnt this as a 17 year old kid driving knackered old heaps with weak syncro - it enables fast changes with minimal wear and tear, AND you dont end up wearing out clutches on the down shift because there is no need to slip the clutch !

I only wish my 4 year old 323i had decent throttle response and better pedal positioning to enable easy heal and toe because, contrary to popular belief, the ultimate driving machine after 20,000 miles as a company car ( previous owner ) has weak syncro :-( . Every time I hear some guy quoting the myth of "quality german cars are barely run in at 100,000, bla,bla", I rip another tuft of hair out........

Best of luck,

Steve

Reply to
sro

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