At the weekend, noticed what seemed to be a clutch issue - the pedal returned to about 3/4 "up", then after a second or two, fully "up", with a "clonk!". The car was very difficult to get into gear, and it was easier to start the engine in gear, clutch "disengaged", and do very careful changes. Obviously, the clutch wasn't working very well!
A quick look in the drivers footwell showed a nice cadmium-plated new-looking 10mm bolt on the floor. After a lot of uncomfortable time spent wriggling about upside-down, getting poked in the eye with pedals, dropping torch onto nose, etc., *still* couldn't find where the bolt went.
So, up with the bonnet, to see whether the linkage could be seen.
Bother. The light dawned!!
No fluid in the clutch fluid resevoir! A quick slosh of DOT3 & functionality restored!
Still no idea where the flippin' bolt came from.
What motoring-oriented red herrings have *you* come across?
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Found a 14mm AF Nylock nut on top of my previous Mk3 Mondeo's gearbox, searched for possible locations then realised the nylon bit in the nut had no thread marks in it, it was brand new. Must have been there from the factory.
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I don't suppose your 10mm bolt was the adjustable clutch pedal stop bolt was it FT? Any sign of a locknut in the gravel and mud under yr accelerator pedal by any chance?
Just a thought.
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But where did the clutch fluid go to, imbibed by the puce-coloured piscian?
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It leaked all over "Technical".
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Back ten years or more ago had a Vectra B as company car. And gave someone a lift back from the garage where their was serviced.... Got back to the car park and smoke and horrible smell coming from the bonnet.
Turned out on looking a rubber hose had melted and squirting water out of a big hole so actually steam. Called the AA/RAC (whoever covered us) and they did a temp rubber hose replacement. Probably cause poor work at the recent service.
Set off for home and the smoke/smell was back big time!
Upshot was:
- Smoke/smell was due to a plastic bag on the exhaust
- Had said bag not caused the smoke I might not have known about the melted rubber hose.
Trip on a low loader to the dealer and all sorted. I had to insist on a proper hose being fitted rather than the jubilee clipped bit of rubber off the AA/RAC van.
But the bag found another fault. Lucky it was a hose carrying water... do they use rubber hoses for petrol?
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Took a one week old car back to dealer and complained about failed turbo. Especially cross because I had driven it from Edinburgh to Northampton and had not managed to get it above 50mph.
Mechanic removed mat from under accelerator pedal and dead pan said "I think that should be OK now sir."
Situation made worse because my then fearsome and bad tempered boss, who had paid for the car, was with me and was ready to do battle with the dealer.
:-(
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mate of mine from school days has always been a bit competive. Several years ago shortly after he'd bought a brand new Audi A4 manual 1.8 petrol turbo estate, he swore blind it was quicker than my 3 year older auto Jag 3.0 S Type, which i challenged.
Coincidentally we both drove down to Devon from London via the A303 and timed it so we travelled down in convoy. When the traffic thinned a bit, i decided to show him my refined gentleman's carriage was more potent than his repmobile and floored it away from a roundabout.
At the end of the next straight and slowing down to be more sensible again, he rang me to tell me there was fluid leaking from my car. I didn't believe him of course, expecting it to be a ploy to let him past in his Vorsprung Durch Technic. He insisted and advised it was water, not oil or anything, as he was easily able to clear it off his screen.
Turned out it was a minor split in a water hose, which had me parked up in a layby for 1.5 hours whiulst the AA did a repair.
He has of course chuckled about this for years, but no doubt saved me no end of hassle. How often do you drive with a mate behind you?
p.s. they were both remarkably even in the Traffic Light challenge
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Smoke/smell was due to a plastic bag on the exhaust >>
One caught fire on the exhaust of a Cortina estate I had.
On a fairly empty motorway, so decided to press on at a good lick in the hope it would blow itself out.
It did.
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Cortina 1600E quite a few years ago .
On a journey from West London via Severn Bridge and up the far bank of the Severn to a funeral.
We were making good progress so we decided to stop for a cuppa but as I was on the slip road I was not able to change down.
After many " observations" from my brother about my driving he conceeded there was a problem.
From a resident service centre expert mechanic " You have been caning it ( not true) down the M4 and have boiled the clutch fluid - the pipe is close to the 4 branch exhaust.
Accepting his diagnostic we set about cobbling up a fluid replacement.
Result - no change.
My brother drove thereafter including the toll gate without stopping.
Stopped at the AA across the bridge. " It may be a new clutch mate but it has gone"
Early next morning we did a non stop return trip through the toll.
Back home we investigated. We could not split the bell housing.
We finished unbolting the clutch before we could detach the gearbox from the engine.
The spigot bearing had broken up.
So the whole clutch and actuation was perfect all the time.
Two red herrings on one day Bah!!
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A snippet I remember from a Reader's Digest over 20 years ago. Mechanically-challenged Sunday driver sort of chap takes car to garage to investigate mysterious knocking sound emanating from bulkhead area.
On collecting car from garage, reads note from mechanic:
Knocking sound traced to glovebox: Hard boiled egg loose inside lunchbox.
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Knocking sound traced to glovebox: Hard boiled egg loose inside lunchbox.
lol.
I very nearly did a similar thing with the first car I ever bought at a fairly new age.
As I was going round bends there was this curious "schhhhhlllluu-clonk" noise that appeared to be coming from inside the dashboard.
Convinced that something had dislodged itself in the dash and was rolling around, and as it was in for service anyway I asked the technician in the dealership to come out and try to ID where the noise might be coming from.
He agreed that it sounded as if it was in the dash, and advised me to book it in to have it investigated. He suggested that the dash might need to come out.....
Two days later I sussed it. There was an empty can of de-icer underneath the driver's seat which was rolling around under the seat. Somehow the noise was travelling in the cabin and appeared to be coming from somewhere else.
Edited by jase1 on 23/09/2008 at 03:49
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Posted this before in technical but it's worth repeating.
All the non-starting symptons of a dying battery *except* when that when, and only when, headlamps were switched everything worked perfectly!
After some headscratching I determined (on the gloriously simple wiring circuit of my P4) that the current drawn by the bulbs was temporarily restoring the poor connection on the (separate) solenoid and so allowing the starter to draw sufficient voltage.
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cadmium-plated new-looking 10mm bolt ......
It's unlikely it was cadium plated because this has only been used in limited circumstances on cars for yonks because of its toxicity. tinyurl.com/43yc4h
I worked with cadmium plated disc brake components in the 1960s and I just hope it hasn't adversely affected me.
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