My clutch cable is too short! '89 Escort

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Thu 29 Sep 2005 17:51
My clutch cable is too short! '89 Escort - mfarrow
Hi

1989 Ford Escort 1.3 - 65k miles.

Noticed a few days ago that there was "free play" in the clutch pedal of about 1" before it "latched" and released the clutch. Managed to fix itself but it is still happening occasionally. Thinking it was the self-adjusting mechanism, I had a look...

What I found was that the self adjuster teeth had gone to the end of their travel because of clutch wear, therefore when I put the clutch down sometimes, the pawl would miss the row of teeth altogether and slide along the adjuster to it's stop, them would release the clutch. That's what the free play was all about.

Now, is there any "solution" to this besides replacing the clutch? It doesn't seem to be slipping yet, which is why I'm reluctant to, and I've done the clutch test (in fourth and release clutch slowly), which it successfully passed (by stalling the engine!).

Any suggestions?

Thanks




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Mike Farrow
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Thu 29 Sep 2005 18:16
My clutch cable is too short! '89 Escort - Civic8
That I can remember of these self adjusters,is they were a common failure on the 87/88 models.lots failed within warranty and those replaced were lucky to last more than a couple of years,so would suspect that as the cause.They are also a pain to change
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Steve
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Thu 29 Sep 2005 19:48
My clutch cable is too short! '89 Escort - Dynamic Dave
As Steve says. The self adjuster on the clutch pedal needs replacing.
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Thu 29 Sep 2005 23:11
My clutch cable is too short! '89 Escort - mfarrow
That I can remember of these self adjusters,is they were a
common failure on the 87/88 models.lots failed within warranty and those
replaced were lucky to last more than a couple of years,so
would suspect that as the cause.


I've heard this too, but thought it had reached the end of its run teeth wise. However looking at it again tonight, I can confirm I got this wrong, so yes, it looks like a new ratchet kit is in order.

I found a price so am going to order from fordpartsuk.com (they don't half work late over there!) for £6.34 + VAT, which isn't too bad.

Thanks again.

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Mike Farrow
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Wed 30 Nov 2005 10:18
My clutch cable is too short! '89 Escort - mfarrow
Thanks everyone.

OK, so maybe when I checked it was a bit less than 1" play, it just seemed a lot of travel!

Anyway, turned out, after a couple of hours of argueing with the cross-shaft and the self-adjuster spring, I found that it was simply the quadrant moving onto the next tooth which was causing the play (not happened yet under my ownership). Old quadrant is in perfectly good condition, and is being stored as spare. Oh how I didn't laugh.


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Mike Farrow
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