rolandrat Posted May 14, 2012 Share Posted May 14, 2012 I was at the Auto-Trail Factory Rally this weekend, I went in my car but thats another story sometime. Fiat had a representative there so I had to ask him a burning question. Has the reverse gear judder been resolved? He said it had. There was numerous suggestions as to what was the cause and we were told of different modifications that were supposedly being carried out at Fiat main agents to overcome the problem. After a thorough investigation an OVER MACHINED reverse gear shaft turned out to be the culprit which had been fitted to all the 2.3 gearboxes for some considerable time. He didn't say how many microns or thous of an inch they had been reduced by but it was enough to cause all the jingle and jangling and juddering. He said that all the suspect gearboxes had to have the shafts changed. The 3 ltr wasn't affected because the gearbox is totally different. So Andy if you are reading this, your description of a rattling gearbox was just about right. I know there will be a number of doubters out there but I can only relay the Fiat reps comments..I always thought that one of the first things a machine shop setter-operator or inspector learnt was to read a micrometer and use it occasionally. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derek Uzzell Posted May 14, 2012 Share Posted May 14, 2012 Seems to conflict with received wisdom that the main reason for the juddering was an overly high reverse-gear ratio on the 2.3litre motor's 6-speed transmission and the cure (for owners who complained enough) involved a lower-ratio gear-set being retro-fitted. The transmission used for the 3.0litre motor is indeed of a different design that makes it impracticable to fit a lower reverse ratio without screwing up the forward ratios. My understanding was that the jingling and jangling on Andy Stothert's motorhome came AFTER Fiat had attempted to rectify the basic problem. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rolandrat Posted May 14, 2012 Author Share Posted May 14, 2012 You are right it does conflict and I expected comments about it. To me its just another probable reason with some credence. That is why my heading was "Was that the reason". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
malc d Posted May 14, 2012 Share Posted May 14, 2012 The Fiat rep at the rally was more likely to be a ' salesman ' rather than an engineer, which may explain any conflict of info . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crinklystarfish Posted May 14, 2012 Share Posted May 14, 2012 Wouldn't be surprised if both 'faults' were evident at one point or another and contributed to the overall fiasco. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yeti Posted May 14, 2012 Share Posted May 14, 2012 Over machined 'My a***' and only affects 3L-Balderdash and piffle,if you believe that have these magic beans sonny! I had a 3 Litre Autotrail Scout bought new in 2008 with 200 miles on the clock, it juddered, Fiat assist and their handling agents were totally incompetent,the Fiat rep at at a show was so full of manure it was like listening to the Hans Christian Anderson,like the Emperor's Clothes! After it was test driven I wasn't allowed access to the report on MY VEHICLE, 'It was in the system and couldn't be retrieved'. Well I changed the vehicle 18months later (none Sevel base) because additionally after 'the fix' I suffered a fault EVERY time I took it out. Ranging from brake failure on the motorway to replacing the engine battery that failed after 10 months while reversing onto a driveway and being stranded halfway across a busy country road. Well FIAT it will be a cold day in Hell before I buy another one of your loads of junk! Interesting that now they are planning to drop the SEVEL chassis. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rolandrat Posted May 14, 2012 Author Share Posted May 14, 2012 The plot thickens a little, I have just spent some time talking to a service guy at my local Fiat garage who talked me through the rectification proceedure of a faulty gearbox. The Fiat rep will have been told to pass on the explanation I have mentioned. The shaft is only part of what is replaced. Parts that are replaced are the shaft, reverse gear which is uprated from 26 teeth to 27 teeth, Main gear reduced from 26 to 25, the clutch is replaced. a pipe is replaced and the engine mountings if thought necessary are replaced. There is nothing hard and fast written down with this proceedure but what he did say was that Peugeot had a different way of sorting out the problem by replacing the whole gearbox whereas Fiat decided to replace components as necessary. Any work that was carried out had to be authorised from Italy. I have to add that at no time whilst in discussion with a Fiat Sales Rep have I felt confident with their reply. So "Was that The reason" apt. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chausson le mor Posted May 14, 2012 Share Posted May 14, 2012 So that was why when I changed vans last year I bought a new renault Master to leave the world of sevel far behind!!!!!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve928 Posted May 14, 2012 Share Posted May 14, 2012 rolandrat - 2012-05-14 10:57 AM but what he did say was that Peugeot had a different way of sorting out the problem by replacing the whole gearbox He was talking rubbish then: my Peugeot gearbox was rebuilt and the garage had done many others. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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