chocolate_o_brian

iTrader: (22)

as many know, the scoobs been away fro weeks now, while api catch up with their gearbox backlogue, so ive been running around in a work hack.

the little fiat cinq. cost me £450 which at the time i thought was a fair price.

it needed taxing, a new battery and a couple little unscrupulous bits doing, so wasnt too bothered. looked a tidy car.

the probelm has been though, the gearbox/clutch. basically the clutch pedal is far too low down, and the car crunches into gear, sometimes not at all.

a couple weeks back, i lost my temper, yanked the lever and it snapped. good mate saw to this and welded it with a couple thin plates. said it must have already been cracked however...

the story is now, ive had to fondle with the clutch cable so much to allow the car to go into first, second and third, that ive totally lost reverse. the selector will not find it.

weird thing is, when the car is off and in neutral, it slides in and out of gear beautifully, but as soon as its running or being driven, its a real dog.

so my question to the masses...

i assume it will cost a few more unwanted quids to fix it to sell on. so would it be worth just running it for another week/two and then take it straight to a scrappers?

the car itself is a 1996 black fiat cinquecento sporting 1108cc. exterior its a lovely car, no deep scratches etc, only 76k on the clock. everything else on the car is in fantastic nick for the age, just this bloody gear changing is problematic. could anyone offer me advice to as what it may be worth to a scrapper. i assume selling it private with nothing wrong i would get £600-650, as i got it quite cheap to start with. could i make some of that back by lobbing it at a scrappers when the beloved scoobs back?

honestly, in the 5 weeks ive had it, every weekend ive been with a mechanic mate trying to sort this problem out, costing me money every time.

sarcasm is welcome, but id like some serious advice too please guys/girls.

also if anyone is interested in buying the cinq. for a good price (obviously negotiable) when shes ready to sell, pm me.

thanks in advance

andy

PeteBrant

Slightly related, and I don;t want to put a damper on things, but the one and only time I have drivin a Cinquecento Sporting, was when the scoob was in for a service. It was , without a shadow of a doubt, the worst car I have ever driven in my life. Normally there is some redeeming feature of a car that will endear you to it in some way, but the cinqucento is utterly devoid of them completely. It is completely useless.



Good luck with the sale by the way

chocolate_o_brian

iTrader: (22)

il be honest pete, besides the gearbox issues (god how i love gearboxes at the moment!!), its been a reliable run-around. i just havent the time nor resources to keep bodging it for another week. unless my mate can source the full extent of the problem and sort it cheaply, im gonna lose out on money for this thing.

STi wanna Subaru

iTrader: (1)

Does it improve once warm? Could be really crappy gearbox oil in there? I had an old 205 which was a bitch to change gear until really warm. Put in some decent oil and never had a problem again.

chocolate_o_brian

iTrader: (22)

you know what, thats what i forgot too mention. when freezing cold going to work on a night or driving home in the morning, its fine, no hassle. but as soon as the car warms up, it gets worse and worse.

if i approach a set of lights or a juntion, it sometimes wont go into first or second. so i have to fiddle with the lever, pop it into neutral, really hammer the clutch pedal all the way down and try feed it into first/second. all this while traffic is forming behind

GC8WRX

Is it worth breaking it when its died?

DCI Gene Hunt

Let's burn it and see ......... Third Party Fire & Theft seems the only sensible option left

chocolate_o_brian

iTrader: (22)

dci, i was tempted, but i do around 200 miles a week getting me and her to work, so im praying it lasts until then and i dont lose any normal gears. reverse i can handle, as i get out and push, but anything else and im buggered

lordretsudo

My wife's first car was a 98 Cinq Sporting; we had it three years and the only problem we ever had with it was when one of the door hinges snapped! In all honesty, I quite liked it... at the time we were just grateful for it being a reliable, cheap-to-run motor...

MJW

Put some oil in the 'box !!

Shark Man

Dropped clutch pedal?

Well that's your problem with your gears.

Something is screwed with adjuster linkage at the top of the pedal, cable has stretched or the fork the cable attaches to is bent (or about to snap ).


In the mean time, learn to double de-clutch and match revs in neutral to what they will be doing in the gear your trying to get into....after you mastered that, you won't need the clutch at all. (and you don't need to force it into gear either ).

chocolate_o_brian

iTrader: (22)

how can you be sure? oh and how do you check the oil level in a cinq. gearbox?

gpssti4

iTrader: (6)

Ebay is your friend. Sell it on there for £500 spares or repair and you're done!

Leslie

What were the unscrupulous bits you had to do Chocolate?

Les

EddScott

LOL, glad I'm not the only one with car trouble.

On a complete whim, I bought a 4L Jeep Cherokee for £1500 - 1999, black, 3 previous, 66K. A week later and I'm not sure but we think the automatic gearbox is on its way out.

I didn't check any levels and we drove it nearly 200 miles home. I've since had to put 3L of ATF fluid in. Its now behaving OK but I think whoever serviced it last put manual gearbox oil in so not sure how much damage has been done.

Oh and 3.3mpg up hill made me cough a bit

Abdabz

A mate of mine had a yellow cinqy sporting... People from all walks of life used to point and laugh at him when he was out and about in it

joey_turbo

iTrader: (26)

Scrap value of car would be around 70quid.
The catalyic converter another 40quid.
And the alloys scrap value will be around 16 quid.

So, better of selling it on either ebay or gumtree or something.

Sbradley

I had a Cinquecento Sporting as a 'courtesy' car while the idiot dealer failed to fix my old Alfa 164. It's true that it was crap, but it was enormously entertaining crap

And it was number plate yellow. So I lookes as though I was driving a bright yellow fridge. Abdabz is right - other people found it as amusing as I did

SB

PS can't help with the problem though, sorry.

chocolate_o_brian

iTrader: (22)

needed new battery £60
tax £60
washer pipe was leaking £5 from scrappy
cracked rear cluster £10 from scrappy
mcgard locking nuts why?!?!? £35

hasnt been washed since i bought it. mate may be buying it off me now for £450 instead of £600 originally agreed. i dare say if someone threw £50 at it on new parts, she would be sorted.

oh and had a call from a.p.i. today saying my gearbox is built and on its way to scoobybits. so not another penny on the car is being spent