johnnyboy666 195 1 Cars Posted August 5, 2008 i was driving to work the other day along the motorway, as i was leaving the motorway and went to down shift i found it increasingly difficult to get it into gear, at first i thought the thrust bearing was on its way out but when i got to the car park i had a quick check of the clutch cable and it seemed very loose, so after work i gave it a quick tighten and off i went. the biting point was now practically on the floor but at least could change gear..... for a while, made it to the motorway fine but again on the exit from the motorway could not select any gears which made the roundabout interesting to say the least, managed to ram it into 3rd and crawl it to my girlfriends house. now feeling very annoyed with it i left it till the next morning before touching it, i had another look at the clutch cable and it was loose again so im thinking it just stretched and maybe the clutch itself is fine? so i give the cable a tighten and start her up, push the clutch pedal in to try it and felt very easy to push then lifted it, pushed it in again to try and select a gear put before i could there was a weird whining noise then the cable snapped and the pedal hit the floor. ive ordered a new cable and im going to fetch it later, is it likely to solve the problem or is it the clutch causing this? the cable seems pretty substantial so i cant see how it would snap easily. and lastly any advice on changng the cable would be great, im assuming its just 'refitting is reversal of removal' jobby comments much appreciated as usual john Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
welshpug 1,621 Posted August 5, 2008 has the cable itself snapped? or did the pedal just "give" and drop to the floor? may be a collapsed release bearing, see a few recently. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
johnnyboy666 195 1 Cars Posted August 5, 2008 the pedal just gave and dropped to the floor as you say, but the cable on the clutch arm is now extremely loose so im assuming the cable has snapped. ive had a collapsed release bearing before and it was bloody expensive to fix and after spending nearly £300 on the mot last week i really cant afford it! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
welshpug 1,621 Posted August 5, 2008 before you go and buy a cable check what exactly has happened Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
johnnyboy666 195 1 Cars Posted August 5, 2008 on closer inspection it seems the clutch is buggered and now im stuck 2 hours away from home!!! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
welshpug 1,621 Posted August 5, 2008 (edited) does it still transmit drive? if it still does (depends on the route home) you should be able to do it clutchless just match the revs and they'll slot in (start in gear) Edited August 5, 2008 by welshpug Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
M@tt 77 Posted August 5, 2008 sounds like the release bearing has pushed through the clutch plate springs (although i would expect a fairly spectacular noise if that was the case). If the cables snapped you will just be able to pull the end of it (gearbox) and it will pull out Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
steve@cornwall 100 Posted August 5, 2008 Not sure what the clutch linkage is on the 1.4 (assuming it's the garros in your sig) but BE1 boxes can bend / break the clutch arm that the cable fixes to - giving your exact symptoms Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
bren_1.3 1 Posted August 5, 2008 (edited) hmmm! im going to guess at the nylon bush on the release bearing fork. sounds alomst exactly like what happened to me a few months ago in my 106. Edited August 5, 2008 by brens_1.9_wide_arch Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
johnnyboy666 195 1 Cars Posted August 10, 2008 and the culprit was ....... snapped release bearing fork leading to a mangled release bearing!! dunno how the hell i managed to snap it, its a fairly sturdy looking chunk of metal! anyway a week and £383 later (new cutch, fork and driveshaft) two 3 hour train journeys, and some angry bosses ive finally got my car back and working and it drives sooo smoothly now!! its suprising how much difference it makes to the car! skint but happy john Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
bren_1.3 1 Posted August 11, 2008 make sure the little nylon bush on the top of the release bearing fork isnt dead. thats exactly what happened to me..totalled everything. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites