Changing Xantia Clutch Cable

BrianM · Unread post by **BrianM** » 28 Sep 2006, 09:15

Went to change gear last night - bang - clutch pedal to the floor - oh no I thought its the clip again - got to the house in third gear and down to look but its the clutch cable. I am quite a bit away from where I normally do my repairs with (very) limited tools - anyone tell me how tricky the clutch cable is to replace. If I was at home-home I'd have pit,jacks etc so wouldn't think about asking the question.

Brian
97 Xantia TD
95 Xantia TD soon to reincarnate a 93 Xantia TD

Unread post by **RichardW** » 28 Sep 2006, 12:46

Brian,

John (jgra1) reports he can do them in 1/2 hour, so shouldn't be too difficult. I guess the worst part will be getting the old cable off the pedal clip - looks like there is a bit of room down the back of the engine to feed the new cable through the bulkhead.

Easier than the ZX TD (no chance of seeing the hole in the bulkhead!) or the 306 HDi (clutch cable? need to disconnect the A/C pipes to get enough room to get the cable in and out...) I have been involved with recently!

Kowalski · Unread post by **Kowalski** » 28 Sep 2006, 19:27

Does John's half hour include hacksawing through the pedal bolt?

I did one this weekend, my second in fact. I had the plastic canister out of the back of the brake pedal, and even with that removed, I couldn't get the bolt out without hacksawing the head off it

It took me about an hour to hacksaw the bolt alone, about 2 hours to fit the clip including getting the end of the snapped off clip out of the end of the cable....

jgra1 · Unread post by **jgra1** » 29 Sep 2006, 01:12

seriously

i did change a cable in 30 mins...

and once or twice on different 405's xantia's - hooked up the 'bad' end to the -pedal in about the same time...

I know its impossibly tricky, but , torch in mouth, magnetised long flat screwdriver putting metal clip in place and another one to push it 'home' it came good.. maybe luck was on my side.. I do remember every time thinking 'this will never work' ! but i am stubborn...

to make life easier take drivers seat out to give a decent flatish space to lie upside down..

johng (Jgra1)

jgra1 · Unread post by **jgra1** » 29 Sep 2006, 01:15

I stress ! this 30 mins is to get cable attached to pedal.. nothing more!

in the case of the cable change, i didnt spend much time around the bulkhead.. the emergency was attaching cable to pedal and to gearbox and that was about it, a bit if routing .. the bulkhead seal needed more time, but that is another tale, which isnt releveant here

I have never had to hacksaw anything.... ?

BrianM · Unread post by **BrianM** » 29 Sep 2006, 11:06

Getting another one is proving more difficult than I thought !
I have done the clip before and have found that the long nosed pliers with a slight angle on the end works well. Anyway off to the motor factors now to see if the cable they ordered in is the right one.

Brian

Kowalski · Unread post by **Kowalski** » 29 Sep 2006, 11:39

jgra1 wrote:I stress ! this 30 mins is to get cable attached to pedal.. nothing more!

in the case of the cable change, i didnt spend much time around the bulkhead.. the emergency was attaching cable to pedal and to gearbox and that was about it, a bit if routing .. the bulkhead seal needed more time, but that is another tale, which isnt releveant here

I have never had to hacksaw anything.... ?

Is that without removing the pedal from its mounts? To remove the pedal, you've got to remove the bolt. I wouldn't even try to attach the cable to the pedal without having the pedal loose, the access is horrific at best. To change the clip, you definately have to take the pedal out...

My '97 has an overcenter spring on the pedal, getting that back in is "fun" too. I couldn't compress it with my hands, short enough to get it in. In the end, it was put in the vice, compressed and tied with wire, the wire was cut when I got it into place.

jgra1 · Unread post by **jgra1** » 29 Sep 2006, 17:11

I left everything completely in place

dont all shoot me!!

BrianM · Unread post by **BrianM** » 02 Oct 2006, 09:01

Job all done - had to get cable from the main dealers. All done is under an hour and a half on the street outside the house. Believe me, the next time you have to do a clutch clip, get a set of needle nosed pliers about 10 inches long, the ones with the tip slightly angled - you will have the metal clip part on in a minute or two - the longest part of the job will be twisting your body and trying to get the lamp in the right place to see what you are at !

Brian

Unread post by **Peter.N.** » 02 Oct 2006, 14:50

You need to be youngish and fit to do that job!.I had to take the seat out to do the one on my first XM and I was 10 years younger then.