166 Clutch Problems

Hi all....

A strange experience the other day. Having completed a couple of hundred miles down the motorway arrived at the roundabout at the end of the off ramp, depressed clutch to engage 2nd gear, it felt a little strange. accelerated went for third gear major crunching and unable to select a gear. I thought to myself clutch failure. Put hazard flashers on and coasted to the side of the road and stopped. Tried clutch again and was able to select gears but clutch pedal very stiff but with the usual amount of travel. I have done a visual check fluid levels, pedal movement and clutch arm all see fine and functional. Clutch engages and disengages exactly as before but it takes all my strength to depress pedal, anyone have ideas or had similar promblems.

Regards Stevo.

sounds like the clutch has maybe started to break up internally - that's what happened to mine.

Is there any vibration from the clutch pedal when it's in neutral?

Originally Posted by lanciaturbo

Hi all....

A strange experience the other day. Having completed a couple of hundred miles down the motorway arrived at the roundabout at the end of the off ramp, depressed clutch to engage 2nd gear, it felt a little strange. accelerated went for third gear major crunching and unable to select a gear. I thought to myself clutch failure. Put hazard flashers on and coasted to the side of the road and stopped. Tried clutch again and was able to select gears but clutch pedal very stiff but with the usual amount of travel. I have done a visual check fluid levels, pedal movement and clutch arm all see fine and functional. Clutch engages and disengages exactly as before but it takes all my strength to depress pedal, anyone have ideas or had similar promblems.

Regards Stevo.

Hi Stevo,

Appears to be an inherant fault as with most Alfa's & Fiats. My 166 has exactly the same problem, no fluid leaks or obvious damage. Sorry I can not be of more help! but if you do find out perhaps you could pass the tip on! Thanks

Eric.

it definitely shouldn't take all your strength to depress the clutch though!! They are a wee bit heavier maybe than a lot of other cars but not that heavy

I think there's something wrong....

That is the strange thing there is no noise and no vibration. My thoughts are maybe the release bearing has become partly detatched form the clutch cover and is twisting when pedal is depressed causing excess friction on the sleeve it travels on !!!!

Stevo

Evenung Eric.

I will be taking the gearbox out of the car next weekend, so I will report my findings and hopefully rectify the situation without too much expense.

Stevo

eeek! good luck stevo, wish i was brave enough to atempt something like that....i'd love to know how get on and how tricky it is etc....

Hi Niall,

I am either brave or stupid, the answer I shall let you know in due course.

You can be sure that i will document on this forum the blow by blow account of removing the transmission.

Even more foolhardy while the gearbox is out I might just strip it down and replace which ever bearing it is that causes a slight whining noise on the overun, more noticeable in 4th & 5th.

Watch this space..........

P.S. How much is a clutch for a V6 these days ?

Stevo.

clutch kit is about 140ish i think from shop4parts. Good luck with stripping the box down if you have a bash....that gives me nightmares just thinking about it. Well, not the strip down but the rebuild

what did you find with your clutch?
Just had an episode with my v6 166.
It dumped some fluid (clutch or gearbox) onto exhaust at the same time I was selecting first to pull away form lights and the gearstick growled at me.
Went for another test run and could not select engage first gear. Clutch pedal growling under my foot. Persuaded it into gear and nursed it home, when it drove perfectly.
Going to garage tomorrow to check out leak and possible new clutch

Garage initially suspected clutch slave cylinder - so I went off to work a bit more happy.
garage later to report gearbox leaking and metal fragments all around from holed casing or blown seal. They consider internal failure the most likely cause. Estimate repair as "too difficult" to be economic.
How many man hours to remove and inspect then re-fit the gearbox?
Anyone tried this at home?

A clutch replacement is officially a 7 hour job thats with garage ramps and air tools & you'll be doing pretty much the same job I wouldn't fancy it at home

thanks for confirmation. MIght as well buy a new one then. Who has a really nice 3 litre for sale? Must be well kept with leather seats, anything else is a bonus.