Is there an easy way to lubricate the clutch cable? It's approaching 90,000 miles now and "feels" like it needs some grease putting on. Also, it's developed a squeak that's driving me insane. ;-) Car is a 1999 Xsara with the 1.9TD XUD engine, though I'd assume the clutch cable and fitting is identical across the range.
Cheers,
Dave.
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i think you will find that the squeak is probably the thrust bearing about to commit suicide , 90k is a lot of clutch cable but no amount of lube is going to do the trick unfortunatly , take it in for a new clutch £120 plus labour and piece of mind ,cheero!
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I doubt you will be successful in greasing or oiling the cable - if it's gone stiff, it's probably time for a new one. Howver, as MJ pointed out, it's most likely that that if it's getting heavy, it's the clutch itself that is on the way out - these pull clutches on XUDT seem to go like that. Well advised to put a new cable in at the same time as the clutch however - but if your car has A/C prepare for having that drained - I changed the clutch and cable on a mates 306 HDI and we had to disconnect the A/C pipes at the bulkhead to change the cable (fortunately his A/C had already drained itself!). I changed the clutch (and cable) in my wife's ZX TD last spring at only 70k as it was extemely heavy, but once out the clutch plate was only about 50% worn - the new one however is so light it makes the throttle seem heavy! The squeak is probably just the pedal pivot a well aimed spray or two of spray grease should fix that.
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RichardW
Is it illogical? It must be Citroen....
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Squeak thankfully not related to thrust bearing, you can hear it with the engine off.
Clutch isn't particularly heavy (at least not compared to my dad's Rover 75, his left leg now has bigger muscles than the right...) but it's a "feeling" that the cable needs lubricating - you know how can almost instinctively tell something needs oiling. I'll look at a new clutch cable, but should I need a new clutch in the future, how much should I budget for? No harm in starting to save up now.
Thanks,
David.
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The squeak then is probably somewhere in the clutch / release mechanism, so you're unlikely to cure it easily. The bits for the clutch job (Valeo clutch kit - don't fit anything else!; new release arm bushes; shaft seals; input shaft seal / guide; gearbox oil) are about £120 from GSF - add another £20 for the cable. To do the job properly (ie drop the box on the floor, remove the release arm and clean it up and fit new bushes, fit the new input shaft seal) should take about 4-5 hours (my mate and I did our ZX in about 7 hours, including the clutch cable); probably an hour less if the box is just pulled back and the 'extra' bits not done. The clutch cable is likely to be a right pain - took about 2 hours to do that on our ZX when we had the 'box out. So anywhere from £250 upwards depending on the hourly rate.
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RichardW
Is it illogical? It must be Citroen....
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Ah. In that case, I think I might just stick some teflon lube onto the clutch pedal pivot and see what happens! I'll leave the clutch until it stops working start saving now - I reckon there's another year in it at least so a pound a day should do me fine...
Thanks,
David.
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you will be doing a good thing by changing the cable , its unbeleivable the difference it makes, silly thing is when you get the old one off and move it you will think youve wasted your money but trust me, when you fit the new one there will be a difference, especially if its been on since new, ive done quite a few on older cars, vast difference, you can also get similar problems with handbrake cables, sticking when fitted but remove them and lay them on the floor and theyre "seize free" ?
i have just done a transit clutch and handbrake cables, vast difference now, they wear on the bends and the nylon/plastic coating wears/rubs on the outer, oil wont work.
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I have a Transit (1999) and have lubricted the clutch cable by dropping gearbox oil down from where the cable attaches to the pedal (no dismantling at all) and it has worked a treat!
You do not need much oil, 4 - 5 good drops sliding down the inner cable from the pedal and the difference is quite noticable, all the 'gritty' noise went.
Perhaps you can do the same with the Xsara?
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