I recently had to change the clutch on our '95 Cinq Sporting which we have had from new and has done 57K miles

The symptoms of the problem first manifested themselves about 10k miles ago, they were at first a juddering on pull away particularly when turning left at a slow speed from junctions. Driving style had to be 'adjusted' to cope for this. There were never any odd noises and the pedal felt normal.

Recently, the clutch developed another problem, it started sticking, making engaging gears, particularly first and reverse, very difficult. No amount of clutch adjustment would help. I thought initially that the problem was the clutch plate binding on the gearbox input driveshaft splines as the car does a very low mileage now and I occasionally drive it through a ford so thought some rust could be involved preventing the clutch from sliding centrally.

Attempts to get some lubrication onto the centre slines of the clutch through the inspection hole were unsuccesful so it was time to bite the bullet, follow the helpful guide on here and change the clutch.

Removing the gearbox, I was faced with this...

..what's that in between the spring plates on the cover plate?

Getting the cover plate off and the clutch plate out reveals...

..Every one of the springs in the clutch plate had broken!





Fortunately the debris hadn't done any damage to the friction surface of the flywheel.

I'd read somewhere (I think it was on 'Honest John' of the Telegraph's site) that there were reports of incidences of metal fatigue in the clutches of Cinqs. Well here it is in all its glory! It looks like there are slots cut in the end coils of the springs and these are the points where they have broken off (?) The fiat replacement clutch and pressure plate I have just fitted look like they have been redesigned.

Hope this proves useful to someone.

Vic

Where is your release bearing?

Cheers

D

Yes I noticed the wear on the ends of the spring vanes, The release bearing looked fine although of a very different design to the new one fitted. (The original had a very thin contact point to the cover plate) Almost as if the release bearing didn't really belong.

My release bearing went through the vanes, Due to bad design. Common fault on some fiat clutches.

Vic20 said:

Yes I noticed the wear on the ends of the spring vanes, The release bearing looked fine although of a very different design to the new one fitted. (The original had a very thin contact point to the cover plate) Almost as if the release bearing didn't really belong.

Click to expand...

I think you'll find that there is a bit missing from your bearing which has done the damage to the springs.

Cheers

D

My advice...get a clutch without springs

rallycinq said:

I think you'll find that there is a bit missing from your bearing which has done the damage to the springs.

D

Click to expand...

Well, here's the bearing...



Only the inner part rotates, unlike the replacement bearing where a whole outer covering 'shell' rotates. If there is something missing from this bearing, it's been missing since the car was built cos there was no evidence in the bellhousing!

How this has damaged the coiled springs on the clutch plate...

Vic

That's the same bearing I had. Surface contact is too small and wears it's way through the vanes.
The broken springs are due to bad hardening process but only come to light after the guarantee runs out...

That bearing is remarkably complete.

Cheers

D

Mind you, "FIAT clutch fails after 13 years" is not exactly headline news, even in the Telegraph!