Fiat 5th Gear - Advice please

[Guest Rowan Lee]

We have just collected our van from the Fiat dealer and paid £660 for a new syncro and hub on 5th gear. The vehicle is a Fiat Ducato 2.8TDi, 2002 model with 29,000 kms on the clock, and weighs around 3,600kg. We have had it from 19,000 kms, so we don't know how the first owners treated it, but we'll blame them anyway! In a previous thread, Tony Hunt suggested the problem was caused by incorrect use of gears, especially keeping in 5th for too long, which I can appreciate. Checking in the handbook, the MAXimum speed in 4th gear is 100kph, but it doesn't give any minimums. Hills and stuff I am fine with, I know what I need to do. My first question is, if I am cruising on A roads, doing around 80kph/50mph, which is my speed limit anyway, should I keep the van in 4th? Should I really only be using 5th on the motorway? The second question which concerns me is that my invoice for the repairs does not show any gearbox oil. When I queried this, I was told "None came out, so we didn't need to put any in". I know 5th gear is a separate bit of the gearbox, and I had already queried the necessity of draining the main box ("not necessary, nothing could possibly get through there"), but I remain unconvinced. Any advice would be much appreciated.

[Guest Malcolm Moore]

I had a similar problem with my VW T4 a couple of years ago. VW dealers in Kent hadn't a clue what to do with it - apparently mine was the only VW gearbox that had ever gone wrong. Eventually got it fixed painlessly by South Eastern Transmissions of Folkestone for £230. They had spare 5th gears in stock so they obviously change them regularly. They did the gear switch by taking off a side panel from the gearbox, so presumably no oil was lost. They told me the problem had probably arisen because I was changing up too soon. They recommended hanging on to 4th until about 50mph.

[Guest martin]

We had this self same problem ... and this is a well known fault. My understanding is that damage occurs because the 5th gear is apart from the rest of the gearbox (a late addon in the design process)and oil has trouble getting to 5th gear when the box is cold and the oil viscous and at low speeds it doesn't circulate adequately. So the mantra appears to be never engage 5th gear when the engine is cold ... and even when hot never below 50-60 mph! When ours failed, in the first year, I understood that the replacement included a modification - but this may have been the garage trying to placate me ...

[Guest PW]

Just had a repair done to 5th gear at my local friendly transmision shop. They changed 5th gear set, synchro hub, bulk ring, nut and locking washer at a cost of £328, labour was £110 and job was done in situe in around 2hours, they changed the oil as well, £15 saying that the damaged parts of the gears would be in the old oil and could do further damage to the internals and bearings.

[Guest Mike C]

Hello Rowan, Very good point raised by PW in respect of changing the oil and therebye removing any particles left from the original failure. As a matter of good practice, where there has been a failure of any mechanical component the oil AND FILTERS should always be replaced and in most cases the sump or oil reservoir strainer also cleaned. It surprises me that more use is not made of filters that have a magnetic trap for metal particles. Of course this would not be relevant to alloy particles. I would suggest that you speak to the garage that did the work to raise the points mentioned in this thread. Regards, Mike C