Here's an odd one for the collective brains..
1994 Xantia TD. 160K but excellent with full history and maintained regardless of cost.
Super smooth and nippy engine, good gearbox...excellent drive.
Except...
At various speeds and in various circumstances there is the most amazing "joggling" at the clutch pedal. It might just appear at 55mph and you actually hear the pedal vibrate. If you touch it lightly with your foot it appears to be pulsing. If you put firm pressure on the pedal to take up the cable slack the vibration all but dissapears.
Sometimes it will go 30 miles without doing it at all.
Clutch cable checked, OK. Engine mounts seem OK. Engine doesn't misfire.
Anyone experienced this before?
David
Xantia Clutch Vibration
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Just an Idea..............
Did a clutch on a nissan a few years ago with a similar problem, owner drove like this for a couple of months getting worse and worse, took gearbox out and problem was clear the springs on the clutch cover were breaking off one by one, the plate and bearing seemed to have plenty of life left in them, there was no pattern to the vibration at all, happened at ramdom and them it would be fine for days.
Hope this helps.
Did a clutch on a nissan a few years ago with a similar problem, owner drove like this for a couple of months getting worse and worse, took gearbox out and problem was clear the springs on the clutch cover were breaking off one by one, the plate and bearing seemed to have plenty of life left in them, there was no pattern to the vibration at all, happened at ramdom and them it would be fine for days.
Hope this helps.
Hi David -
This problem was wellknown on the ancient CX models [:)]
It happened if the clutch cable outher shed was allowed to touch the driveaxle.
While letting go on pedal to let engine take up power - the car could tremble scaringly - giving the impression of a very bad driveaxle fault.
If the clutch cable on the Xantia can not come near a driveaxle - then I'm in line with suggestions on the release bearing.
Any symptoms on the standard clutch test ? - i.e. handbrakes on - select high gear - power on engine - then slowly de-clutching.
This problem was wellknown on the ancient CX models [:)]
It happened if the clutch cable outher shed was allowed to touch the driveaxle.
While letting go on pedal to let engine take up power - the car could tremble scaringly - giving the impression of a very bad driveaxle fault.
If the clutch cable on the Xantia can not come near a driveaxle - then I'm in line with suggestions on the release bearing.
Any symptoms on the standard clutch test ? - i.e. handbrakes on - select high gear - power on engine - then slowly de-clutching.
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Jon
Sounds like the classic case of the cover mounted release bearing trying to make a bid for freedom! Same thing happened to my Dad in ZX TD (uses same "pull" clutch). He complained of vibration through the clutch and was actually on his way to us to check it out when it went "bang" when he changed gear! [:D]
Upon removal of gearbox we found that the release bearing had tried to make its way through the cover plate. Ouch.[:0]
Upon removal of gearbox we found that the release bearing had tried to make its way through the cover plate. Ouch.[:0]
Many thanks guys, I reckon you're all going to be along the right lines. Anders is correct to think of checking the simple/cheap things first. I've actually got it here today...the cable route is fine, it's free moving, no problem at the pedal, clutch doesn't slip, all engine mounts are fine, engine still idles/runs really smoothly.
You might know these clutches are pretty familiar to me but I've not had one "fail" in this way so far. Feeling the "joggling" at the pedal you could just imagine it being caused by the release bearing as it feels just like someone is lightly pulling/releasing the clutch release lever a few times a second.
I really didn't want to have the gearbox out of this car!
David
You might know these clutches are pretty familiar to me but I've not had one "fail" in this way so far. Feeling the "joggling" at the pedal you could just imagine it being caused by the release bearing as it feels just like someone is lightly pulling/releasing the clutch release lever a few times a second.
I really didn't want to have the gearbox out of this car!
David
Ahh found it...not quite what I expected.
Did a very careful double check of everything today as facing the owner with the words "you're going to need a new clutch" on a Xantia needs some nerve.
When I had the cable off at the clutch end to check it was 100% smooth I wan't sure that the clutch operating lever felt exactly as it should. There seemed to be a little bit more free play than usual. If you've been in this area on a Xantia you'll know there is a plastic cable shield/guide that covers much of the bellhousing and the clutch lever so you can't really see what is happening at the pivot.
So I took off the air filter housing, battery, battery cradle, plastic shield etc to get a good look at the release lever.
And there it was...or rather it wasn't! The clutch release pivot was completely missing the top nylon bush where it passes through the bellhousing. Looking carefully I could see the bush had lost its top shoulder and slid halfway down the pivot rod.
This explains the odd pulsing as the extra play would allow the release bearing to twist on the pressure plate splines and transmit some of their motion to the clutch pedal.
Normally this would be an easy repair because you just need to pop out the clutch lever pin, remove the lever and then it is possible to insert a new bush from the top...and the bush is about £1.
Sadly not so easy on this car. It has lived on the coast for many years and suffers from the odd seized/corroded fixing. The lever retaining pin is so badly seized in I think I may have to cut off the release lever with an angle grinder to get enough length of pin to extract it.
Anyway I've put it all back together and that will be a job for another day.
David
Did a very careful double check of everything today as facing the owner with the words "you're going to need a new clutch" on a Xantia needs some nerve.
When I had the cable off at the clutch end to check it was 100% smooth I wan't sure that the clutch operating lever felt exactly as it should. There seemed to be a little bit more free play than usual. If you've been in this area on a Xantia you'll know there is a plastic cable shield/guide that covers much of the bellhousing and the clutch lever so you can't really see what is happening at the pivot.
So I took off the air filter housing, battery, battery cradle, plastic shield etc to get a good look at the release lever.
And there it was...or rather it wasn't! The clutch release pivot was completely missing the top nylon bush where it passes through the bellhousing. Looking carefully I could see the bush had lost its top shoulder and slid halfway down the pivot rod.
This explains the odd pulsing as the extra play would allow the release bearing to twist on the pressure plate splines and transmit some of their motion to the clutch pedal.
Normally this would be an easy repair because you just need to pop out the clutch lever pin, remove the lever and then it is possible to insert a new bush from the top...and the bush is about £1.
Sadly not so easy on this car. It has lived on the coast for many years and suffers from the odd seized/corroded fixing. The lever retaining pin is so badly seized in I think I may have to cut off the release lever with an angle grinder to get enough length of pin to extract it.
Anyway I've put it all back together and that will be a job for another day.
David
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Jon