Technical Any ideas re. clunking after changing gear?

[oldhammer]

in what area is the oil leak ?

rub your finger under the coil pack area above thermostat.
see if its wet with oil.

 

[S1lverback]

in what area is the oil leak ?

rub your finger under the coil pack area above thermostat.
see if its wet with oil.

where the engine block joins the clutch bell housing there's a metal plate to stop rubbish getting into the clutch (I assume). The oil seems to be running down either inside the bell housing or down inside the metal plate by the looks. The outside of the gearbox side is clean-ish and has very little oil on it as does the engine block side. The last photo is up the back of the engine above the leak - I can't feel anything wet up there.

When the car is cold and level its not leaking, but when I jacked up the gearbox side to get under and do this, it was dripping quite a lot (you can see it in the photos).

 

[rc822]

Have you checked the gearbox oil level?

 

[S1lverback]

not yet. I haven't got a big enough hex key at home. I'll rob one from work and have a look on monday maybe. I have a horrible feeling there'll be little or none in there and something will have gone tits up with that.

The oil is a hell of a lot cleaner than the engine oil on the dipstick so I think its most likely something gearboxy. Anyone got any bright ideas what it's likely to be?

 

[S1lverback]

dog bone on the bottom/back of gearbox

Almost forgot about the dogbone. Checked its all ok and it doesn't seem to want to be anywhere other than where it is now really. It's deffo done up properly though and torqued up to 120nm for sure

 

[TheGentBM]

Quick, quick, quick, say congratumulations to me!

My mate and myself having spent about 2 hrs under the car flexing the bolt back and forwards finally got the b@stard out! Fiat weren't taking any chances with that were they - it's about a foot and a half long!

All sorted now though - no more clunking and jolting and hopefully no more problems for a while.


All I have to is some welding, cleaning, undersealing and then put a cutch in the other car (does this never end?)



Many thanks to all for the advice, tips and providing hope that it wouldn't shear off.

Mike

Next time you struggle with seized bolts, use a heat gun on the bolt. I snapped my gearbox mount bolt and had to swap out the whole subframe. All bolts were pretty much seized, I had to use the heatgun and impact gun on all of them!

 

[oldhammer]

where the engine block joins the clutch bell housing there's a metal plate to stop rubbish getting into the clutch (I assume). The oil seems to be running down either inside the bell housing or down inside the metal plate by the looks. The outside of the gearbox side is clean-ish and has very little oil on it as does the engine block side. The last photo is up the back of the engine above the leak - I can't feel anything wet up there.

When the car is cold and level its not leaking, but when I jacked up the gearbox side to get under and do this, it was dripping quite a lot (you can see it in the photos).

The prone area's for these to leak is from the headextension gasket.
or from behind coil pack there is a metal gasket on them.
mine used to leak from the corner going uphill.
and leak down side of gearbox,

metal gasket got flung and granville instant gasket used, never leaked again,

These all leak oil.

@ homeward will more than likely agree.

 

[homeward]

These all leak oil.

Not at the moment, though...!

 

[S1lverback]

The prone area's for these to leak is from the headextension gasket.
or from behind coil pack there is a metal gasket on them.

where would I find these bits to check them buddy? I can't see or feel any oil on the outside of the engine or gearbox at all which is what made me think that its coming from inside.

Coming from a completely unscientific perspective I was starting to wonder if it was something like the gearbox inlet seal gone??...

someone has told me about some additive you add to oil an it forms a seal itself - I don't suppose you've got any experience if this stuff worth trying before looking at dropping the gearbox out?

 

[S1lverback]

with how much it was leaking I don't think the cars driveable until its sorted. A small oil leak is one thing but this is dripping very badly when the engine/gearbox is hot...

 

[oldhammer]

where would I find these bits to check them buddy? I can't see or feel any oil on the outside of the engine or gearbox at all which is what made me think that its coming from inside.

Coming from a completely unscientific perspective I was starting to wonder if it was something like the gearbox inlet seal gone??...

someone has told me about some additive you add to oil an it forms a seal itself - I don't suppose you've got any experience if this stuff worth trying before looking at dropping the gearbox out?

the stop leak stuff you mean?

Wyns stop leak.. what it does is work its way round the engine and it will make every seal that it touches swell up.
putting a drop of brakefluid in with the oil wouid more than likey do the same job and that is furk the engine up good and propper.

avoid this junk in bottles and find source of leak .

 

[S1lverback]

ah cheers for the quick reply man. Guess I'll be avoiding that then!

 

[oldhammer]

The gaskets iwas talking about ive marked on pic here.

yellow =metal gasket behind coil pack
Red = Head extension gasket - some call this a rocker cover but it aint.

 

[S1lverback]

The gaskets iwas talking about ive marked on pic here.

yellow =metal gasket behind coil pack
Red = Head extension gasket - some call this a rocker cover but it aint.

Hmmm, I'll double check tomorrow but I'm damn sure that none of those are leaking in anything like the kinda way that it'd need to be to produce the level of dripping I'm getting underneath the box.

 

[oldhammer]

get aload of old rag's.
clean everything up
& then get it up in the air let it run and get a bright torch and have anosey
see if its the top its leaking from or the box,

 

[S1lverback]

Righto peeps, here's the latest.

Just finished under the punto. Cleaned all of the block and gearbox housing that I can get to. Got the front in the air and ran the engine for about 20 mins. The oil is definitely 100% NOT coming from the top or side of the main block. Bone dry in both places as I suspected.
Whilst under there the oil slowed down and stopped dripping. Hoping against hope that it had sorted itself out, I finally found a hex key large enough to check the gearbox oil only to find there's no oil in it that I can feel.:bang:

Am I safe to assume its one of the seals in the box gone then? There was no noise when it went; No grinding or anything. After a check around at work I can be pretty confident that it went on the way home that day so the damage is hopefully limited.

Where do I go from here?

 

[oldhammer]

id check drive shafts are all the way home in box,
might not be this but worth a check one hasnt been pulled

with having a gearbox mount fail .. it might be a possibility.
but imay be wrong.

 

[S1lverback]

id check drive shafts are all the way home in box,
might not be this but worth a check one hasnt been pulled

with having a gearbox mount fail .. it might be a possibility.
but imay be wrong.

how do you do this please? I've played with various bits on cars but this just seems to be one thing on another atm...

With this, if one had pulled out would it leak? Might sound like a ridiculous question but the box is dry as a dry thing inside...