[Palio_2005]

[

Problems till date
1. Clutch had to be replaced within 6 months. I had to shell out 8k as it was not covered under warranty. This happened when I was not in Hyderabad and i had no option to pay else needed to tow the car to Hyderabad, a distance of about 300 km. But, later found that the problem with clutch could have been due to gear oil seal conking off. i was very mad at Sureka Auto, Vijaywada who had not diagnoised the problem accurately. As it was too late, I just accepted it.

HI,

I had the clutch replaced 3 months from purchase. In my case this was traced to the faulty gear oil seal. When the seal started leaking again, they changed the entire gear shaft and the clutch again. All this was done under warranty. I was always in touch with Fiat, Mumbai service guys to ensure this happened.

I think you were taken for a ride by your dealer.

Regards,

[Palio_2005]

Originally Posted by gemithomas

What is the symptom of this problem?

The car starts jerking when you release the clutch. This is more pronounced in the first gear. Gear oil seal leakage can be traced by looking under the car. You will see oil at the joint of the gear box.

[bottle]

Since I've never encountered clutch failure before what are the symptoms to look out for ?

edit: Thanks Palio_2005

[payam]

And the acceleration would be low.

[prabuddhadg]

Originally Posted by gemithomas

What is the symptom of this problem?

I had been driving one day on the Western Highway here in Bombay, it was 5 in the afternoon, traffic was light. On a climb up a flyover, the cars in front had been moving slow, and I had been keeping pace. Then as things cleared and the car in front moved up quicker, I pressed the accelerator. The revs picked up a little too fast. But the car kept going at the same pace. Speed increased very slowly.

There was no mistaking something was amiss. With some experimenting I noticed that the lag between the pressing of the accelerator and the pick up of speed could be reduced by sort of letting the clutch get used to the pressure on the accelerator little by little. But still, the problem is clear enough not to miss.

The service centre later diagnosed this as a leaking gear box. The clutch plate was slipping because of the oil leaking onto the plate, I was told.

[windsurfer]

Originally Posted by prabuddhadg

I had been driving one day on the Western Highway here in Bombay, it was 5 in the afternoon, traffic was light. On a climb up a flyover, the cars in front had been moving slow, and I had been keeping pace. Then as things cleared and the car in front moved up quicker, I pressed the accelerator. The revs picked up a little too fast. But the car kept going at the same pace. Speed increased very slowly.

There was no mistaking something was amiss. With some experimenting I noticed that the lag between the pressing of the accelerator and the pick up of speed could be reduced by sort of letting the clutch get used to the pressure on the accelerator little by little. But still, the problem is clear enough not to miss.

The service centre later diagnosed this as a leaking gear box. The clutch plate was slipping because of the oil leaking onto the plate, I was told.

Exactly the same symptoms, i had. Don't know why i have seen so many new Fiats with the same issue.

[prabuddhadg]

Originally Posted by windsurfer

Exactly the same symptoms, i had. Don't know why i have seen so many new Fiats with the same issue.

Probably a batch of faulty gear oil seal gaskets.

[windsurfer]

Prabhu,

Do you have any issues with the car after the problem was fixed? I have been running around Concorde Motors, to get small problems fixed which were introduced after the gear oil seal issue was fixed.

[prabuddhadg]

Windsurfer,

No issues after the fix. I have driven another 2k km or more, and no problem with the clutch at all.