Hi all

I have a Fiat Marea Weekend as a daily driver (I know Fix It Again Tomorrow) it's on a Y plate and have just spent £900 getting through the MOT. Now a couple of weeks later it's been driving fine but all of a sudden when you press on the clutch pedal theres a rattle coming from the gear box.

I'm fairly confident it's not the clutch as it drives fine but I use it for work and do around 40k a year so gotta make sure it's not gonna konk out on me.

Anybody gotta any ideas on what it is and how to fix, parts etc, don't want to spend a lot and don't want to be buying a new car as that just gives the wife ammunition against the locost!

All thoughts appreciated and sorry about the essay.

PJ

[Edited on 3/6/07 by jobsagooden]

could be clutch release bearing, but you should be prepared for it to konk out on you because its a fiat

Sounds like the clutch release bearing to me. It's not an expensive part in itself usually but it will probably require the gearbox to be removed in order to change it. This is probably a half-day job for a professional garage so is likely to cost a couple of hundred quid or so on labour plus parts. I'd expect to pay something like £250 all in but I have no specific knowledge of the Marea so it may vary.

Hope this helps,
Craig.

If it's the clutch release bearing and the gearbox has to come out I'm guessing it best to change the clutch at the same time?

Does anybody now how difficult this is so I can do it myself over a weekend? I'm pretty good with motors and have messed about with all this stuff before just not on a front wheel drive car.

If it was me I'd be tempted to buy a haynes manual for the car. That way you get torque settings and prior notification of any consumables you might need (eg. seals) or special tools. It will also give you an idea of how long the job will take so you can plan the job.

Cheers,
Craig.

ps. Yes, I'd do the clutch at the same time, especially with the sort of mileage you are doing. Change any related oil seals too.

[Edited on 3/6/2007 by craig1410]

I used to have a Marea................

The 2.0 5 cylinder one.................


They're not the easiest cars to work on, are they

quote:

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Originally posted by craig1410
If it was me I'd be tempted to buy a haynes manual for the car. That way you get torque settings and prior notification of any consumables you might need (eg. seals) or special tools. It will also give you an idea of how long the job will take so you can plan the job.

Unfortunately Haynes either havn't printed one or it didn't sell well so are no longer printing it! Not a good sign

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craig1410 - 3/6/07 at 09:42 PM

Oh, that's not so handy...

Did some googling and found this which helps to confirm that release bearings do go on the Marea and it's not an easy job to fix:

http://www.carsurvey.org/review_95828.html

This next article is even worse...

http://www.pistonheads.co.uk/members/showServiceHistory.asp?carId=808



Sorry mate!

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hillbillyracer - 3/6/07 at 09:46 PM

I had the model before the Marea, the Tempra, a 1.9TD. I did the clutch on it & found it to be not too bad a job, very tight against the corner of the suspension cradle where the N/S/F wishbone mounts on but no worse than any other FWD car otherwise.
If you can handle a RWD clutch job then you should be ok with this but FWD stuff does need a bit more work & can be a more fiddly to get the box in & out.
Something you will need is a frame of some sort to support the flywheel end of the engine before you can take the gearbox mountings off.

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craig1410 - 3/6/07 at 09:49 PM

Here's another potentially handy forum to ask questions on:

http://www.fiatforum.com/marea-technical/98833-marea-weekend-diy-clutch-change-help.html

Cheers,
Craig.

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owelly - 3/6/07 at 10:29 PM

In my experience, a faulty CRB is at it's noisiest when the pedal is released.
What work was done for the MoT?

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craig1410 - 3/6/07 at 10:51 PM

quote:

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Originally posted by owelly
In my experience, a faulty CRB is at it's noisiest when the pedal is released.
What work was done for the MoT?

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Why? Wouldn't the bearing be stationary when the pedal is released and therefore silent? Do you mean it's noisiest just after it's been released and before the bearing has come to rest?

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