1.9 TD Clutch Cable replacement

whitecrook2 · Post by **whitecrook2** » 16 Dec 2006, 16:19

Hi all - a small story if I may

Over the last couple of weeks I noticed a sort of 'clicky' sound when using the clutch pedal, and just recently it has been very hard to get it into gear when stationary, as if the pedal wouln't go down far enough.

I purchased the infamous plastic clip, but before I fitted it I thought I'd adjust the cable at the transmission end as per Haynes. This was pretty easy and I immediately took it for a quick test drive, This improved the gear change 1000%, even better than before I noticed any problem.

But disaster, about 10 gear changes later - bang! the pedal hit the floor and I thought plastic clip time. So at the side of the road I proceeded to dismantle the pedal assembly and after about 1.5 hour I had the pedal in my hand (without the need to hacksaw or bend any metal a twist of the clutch pedal worked)

When I look at it I can't see any difference between my old clip and my new clip - that's when I thought to pull on the clutch cable and about 2 feet later the frayed end of the snapped cable appeared.

Being the weekend I can't get a cable till monday, but when I do is it literally just a case of pulling both parts of the old cable out, and pushing the new cable through from the footwell and securing? I'm thinking 5 minute to put cable in + time to reassemble pedals...

citronut · Post by **citronut** » 16 Dec 2006, 16:34

the clutch cable goes in from the engine side of the bulk head,not to bad a job,have you not got a GSF near where you live
regards malcolm

whitecrook2 · Post by **whitecrook2** » 16 Dec 2006, 16:53

Feed the cable in from the end where it is adjusted, or right on the other side of the bulkhead?

Yes there is a GSF reasonably near (about 10 miles) but they close early on a Sat and don't open on a Sun.

john alexander · Post by **john alexander** » 16 Dec 2006, 19:45

Hi I snapped a clutch cable on a rover 214 while caravaning at hebden bridge . Partco at Halifax brought me one out within the hour and didn't charge for delivery. worth minding when GSF and EURO have a £50 minimum. regards john.

Post by **RichardW** » 16 Dec 2006, 21:05

Once you remove the old outer cable it will be obvious how the new one goes in. Work back from the gearbox, remove it from the various clips, and eventually pull the rubber bung out of the bulkhead. Refit the new one in reverse. It doesn't look too bad on a Xantia, as there is a fair amount of room where the cable goes in the bulkhead (have struggled with a 306 HDi - disconnect the A/C pipes; and a ZX TD - do it all by feel - this year) - and you might be able to do it all from above. Don't worry about having removed the pedal - you would probably have had to do that anyway to reconnect the new cable - unless you've got really long thing fingers...

whitecrook2 · Post by **whitecrook2** » 16 Dec 2006, 21:22

Great. Thanks, seems OK

Would I get away with only changing the metal cabale and not the whole tube system? I remember when I changed my throttle cable, I just kept the old housing and changed the wire as it seemed a bit tricky. Although that was 2 years ago, maybe now it'd be no problem for me.

The other option is to phone out the AA (the car is still about a mile from the house) do you reckon he'd bring a new cable with him?

citronut · Post by **citronut** » 16 Dec 2006, 22:07

nop as the cable has factory fitted ends at both of the ends of the inner,so you cant disasemble the two parts of the cable
regards malcolm

whitecrook2 · Post by **whitecrook2** » 20 Dec 2006, 01:06

Thanks to all the help here I managed to change the cable tonight.

It could have been darker, colder, and wetter but it wan't too bad out by the side of the road...

Took from about 7pm to midnight to do (i already had the pedal removed)

No major headaches, didn't even look at the book once lol.

Some things I noticed that may be useful for other people:

Had to remove some hoses and the air filter.

Hardest part was clipping the cable back in to the pedal, I would recommend a small pair of (very) long nosed pliers. I had to take apart the other end of the cable to provide enough slack for that though.

To get the cable through the bulkhead I taped a rolled up piece of duct tape about 10 inch long to the end of the cable and fed that through then pulled from inside, as the cable itself was a bit tricky to feed by itself.

Pedal bolt went back in from the other side no problem at all. Rachet spanners (13mm) would be /very/ handy here as someone mentioned. I used a ring spanner -- don't use the ring end though, as once the bolt is tight you can't get it off again doh! (clearance from brake pedal is about 2mm.

As for setting it up, I just used the pedal about 30 times, then lifted pedal almost all the way up, then tightend the cable. This provided a bit of play in the pedal upwards (40-60 mm guess), and driving it feels 'normal'.

Car feels much nicer now.

citronut · Post by **citronut** » 21 Dec 2006, 08:52

i usualy pull the spring clip partly out of its nylon holder whilst i have the pedel of the car,then gently put the pedel back into place so not to knock the clip home,also when fitting the cable through the bulk head dont fit the gear box end first,i feed the inner so more is pocking out of the outer at the bulk head end and feed that in first,now raise the pedel so the nylon tube end of the clip block gose over the bullet end of the cable and hold or block the pedel up whilst you push the inner cable from the gear box end as far as it will go now push the clip home with a long screw driver,now before fitting the gear box end give the inner a couple of tugs to make sure the clip has hold of the bullet end
regards mlcolm

whitecrook2 · Post by **whitecrook2** » 21 Dec 2006, 18:34

Something I forgot to mention, is the cable supplied by GSF the bullet end is about 3mm to long and doesn't clip in to the pedal properly. Lucky I tested before hand other wise I could have been extremely puzzled. It took about 5 mins to file the end down to the same sizre as the old cable.