My wife was driving my daughter's nice little Clio 1.8 rollerskate into town yesterday when the clutch cable parted in Holland Park Avenue. She was in the middle of the road in the process of waiting to turn right. I was half an hour away across town, but some nice passing plod helped push the car out of the way and I wouldn't have been as much use as the AA man, who fixed the break - close to the clutch fortunately - with a proprietary bodge he had in his van. He said it might not last, and that there might be a clutch problem causing strain on the cable (only 5000 miles old).
Today my man down the back put in a proper new cable. 45 quid including parts. He said the clutch did feel a bit heavy but he didn't have time to do that now. A bit of an awkward job, he said. Bring it back a bit later when he has the time.
My guess is that they will ask him to look at it. He said he would have to work out a price. We all know it won't be excessive and the work will be impeccable.
Pure gold.
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I remember going to buy a Christmas tree at a Forestry Commission place in the Scottish Borders. It was snowing and we had taken my wife's Mk1 Panda. It must have been around 1982ish.
There is not a lot of room in a Mk 1 Panda for two adults and a freshly cut 7' tree. Anyway, on the way back the clutch cable broke. That was a bit of an Achilles heel on those cars, something to do with the circuitous route it had to follow to be adapted for RHD apparently. Being miles from nowhere and pre mobile phones this was a bit of a pain.
Bright idea was to remove some of the string binding the tree together ( this added to the space issue by releasing more foliage into the cabin ) and tying it to the lever on the bellhousing which operated the clutch. The string was then fed around suitable bits of car until it appeared through the passenger window and could be held in my left hand. By pulling or releasing the string the clutch could be operated. It resulted in an unusual driving technique but worked well enough and got us and the tree home.
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Did something similar when the throttle cable snapped on my Lada Samara.
I found some packaging ribbon in a bin and tied that to the throttle linkage.
Managed to route the ribbon through the open driver's door window, giving me a perfectly usable hand throttle.
Two problems - using it on the move proved harder than you might think.
I also needed to have the bonnet part released, to give the ribbon a free run.
Needless to say, once on the move the bonnet fully released itself.
The wind lifted it, but I was not going fast enough to do any damage.
Visibility was poor for a few metres until I slowed enough to let the bonnet down.
I managed to get the car a few miles to a garage.
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Experienced something similar in my Vauxhall Cavalier, this for me was the 1st time I had experienced it.
Driving up the A66 westbound, there was this loud clicking noise everytime I pressed the clutch, I had never heard anything like this before.
I was going round the roundabout at Penrith joining the M6 North, it was in very slow moving traffic for some reason (I cant remember why). I had to change down into 2nd
There was this almighty bang!, followed by a noticeable loss of drive, I thought someone had hit me ? however realised that I could no longer see the clutch pedal.
Managed to roll the car onto the Hard shoulder of the slip road and phoned the AA (who where brilliant)
Police turned up in the meantime as there was someone just down the slip road with a flat tyre on the hard shoulder ? after asking them what they where doing he reversed up the hard shoulder to see me.
Told me I ?could not park my car here?, I explained what had happened and the Police officer was really great about it, asked me if I had phoned the AA, and how I had (hard shoulder phones, mobile (in my instance)) and chatted about how good the AA where, and then drove off
AA man replaced the cable on the hard shoulder advising it was just temporary, I was still using it 6 months later (stupidly!!! Im ashamed to admit) and then it started making the clicking noise again, and would not select reverse ? I got it replaced promptly this time!
Edited by redviper on 06/05/2009 at 13:14
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Bright idea was to remove some of the string binding the tree together ( this added to the space issue by releasing more foliage into the cabin ) and tying it to the lever on the bellhousing which operated the clutch. The string was then fed around suitable bits of car until it appeared through the passenger window and could be held in my left hand. By pulling or releasing the string the clutch could be operated. It resulted in an unusual driving technique but worked well enough and got us and the tree home.
Thats brilliant!!! :-)
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Lud,
the mind boggles, slightly, at the thought of a Clio with a 1.8 engine. My wife had a mk 1 Clio with a 1.2. A 1.8 was considered a BIG engine once upon a time. But I wonder how a modern Clio compares with, say, a Maxi for interior space?
JH
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It's a roller skate, but a discreet one. Very brisk indeed on the road if you want it to be, but punts nicely about as a shopping trolley. It looks like a 1.2 with wide tyres and a good-taste, discreet body kit. Called an Sri or something like that.
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It's a bit of a Renault tradition. I remember they used to offer the 5 with a 1.7 litre engine. I went in one of those as a passenger and it was just so effortless. The driver seemed to leave it in 4th all the time.
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The GTL? Had to be force fed petrol? I hired one in France many years ago. I was always a "5" fan. V. nice. I know it had a big engine and high gearing but I'd forgotten it was a 1.7
JH
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Yes, but the 5GTL was super-economical in the last days before the small diesel became a reality (the Peugeot 205 diesel was an improvement on it in all ways). This thing of my daughter's isn't very high-geared. It is distinctly sporting in character (or perhaps the carp word 'sporty', which I try to avoid, is more accurate), discs all round for example, without going the whole hog with 2 litres and Williams livery. It's in very good general condition too, although recently keyed by some toerag.
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Tell your daughter to keep some string in the glovebox, oh and at least a left hand glove. I should think it wouldn't half chafe in London traffic.......
;-)
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I know you're joking HB - this particular daughter wouldn't dream of opening the bonnet, checking her tyre pressures or anything else of the sort - but I was intrigued by your anecdote above. The effort needed to move a clutch lever is often considerable, which is why we move the pedal several inches to move the lever an inch or so. I don't doubt that you have the physical strength to move one by hand with a bit of string routed round the air cleaner or something, but my daughter doesn't have it. Nor would she know where the lever was, or the clutch cable, and if she saw a broken clutch cable she would assume it was meant to be like that. Anyway, although she no longer has a minor accident every month as she used to, one wouldn't want her to be juggling with bits of string and the gear lever while steering with her knees in London traffic and giving her nippers a scolding at the same time...
It isn't that she couldn't understand this stuff if she wanted to. She just doesn't want to.
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Think its called an RSi :)
I used to have an original 1.4 Clio (J259FNS) and this suffered clutch problems. IIRC I was told it was a self-adjusting clutch or something along those lines. In reality this meant that every so often when depressing it, it would make a ratchet type sound and sink to the floor!
Last time it happened, for anyone who knows the junction, I was joining the A8 westbound at the Showcase cinema just ouitside Glasgow. Short uphill slip road, you need to accelerate fast and have minimal road to do this on. Just as I accelerated, changed up gear as I pulled onto first lane of carriageway the clutch disappeared to the floor!!
Seem to remember a story that the original Clio Williams engine was shoehorned into the engine bay so tightly, that parts of it needed removing to simply change a headlight bulb. In those days that was so much an astonishing, unbelievable thing to have to do. Now it is commonplace in modern cars.....
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"Seem to remember a story that the original Clio Williams engine was shoehorned into the engine bay so tightly, that parts of it needed removing to simply change a headlight bulb. In those days that was so much an astonishing, unbelievable thing to have to do. Now it is commonplace in modern cars....."
I watched a mechanic change the cambelt on one. IIRC he had to dismantle part of the front suspension and much of the tinware AND it took about 8 hours.. which is not bad compared to a Rover v6
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I've been there too, Lud. I was driving SWMBO's 205 Dturbo when the clutch cable broke cruising down the hill into Hereford from the s-west. That meant I could pick my spot to ride up onto a suitable verge and await the RAC man. Unfortunately he was on the far side of town and took about 1½ hours to arrive. He likewise performed a 'roadside fix', which lasted a year or so until I sold the car on at 11 years and 80K miles.
It has spent some time on SORN since, but may now be back on the road. Great little car - as long as you don't need to replace the clutch cable.
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Yes BobbyG, it is Sri...
The exhaust on my car started rattling against the chassis the other day. You can't see a thing underneath there without lying flat in the road, and I am too old to ignore a rattle. It may mean a support has given way and the next thing will be an old-but-good bit of pipe fracture-stressed.
I called my man apologetically. He said there was nothing over the pit just then and I should go down there straight away. He put the car over the pit, readjusted a clamp that had slipped or twisted, bob's your uncle, five minutes. Instead of offering money I asked if he liked malt whisky. He said in his dour Aussie way that he drank anything, but did quite like malt whisky.
So before giving him my daughter's 45 quid I went round to Oddbins and got him some. Worth every penny to put it crudely. A most deserving individual.
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He put the car over the pit, readjusted a clamp that had slipped or twisted, bob's your uncle, five minutes. Instead of offering money I asked if he liked malt whisky. He said in his dour Aussie way that he drank anything, but did quite like malt whisky.
So before giving him my daughter's 45 quid I went round to Oddbins and got him some. Worth every penny to put it crudely. A most deserving individual
Forty five quid and a bottle of malt for five minutes work?
I'm in the wrong game!
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I assume you are ribbing bt, but in case you aren't the 45 quid was for something else, and the bottle of malt for a number of impeccable jobs carried out at modest cost over some time.
Perhaps you too are a deserving individual. I'm certainly not one myself.
:o}
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Once got a bottle of Port Ellen (I've still got it - daren't open it when I saw how much it is) it used to be my favourite until price outstripped disposable.
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go on Lud recommission the old skoda and give it to your Daughter convince her its better that the Clio [:>)
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Salaam aleikum mm.
I wish you hadn't said that. I still wonder if it's possible sometimes but the poor old thing has been sitting in the weeds five years now. Engine needs a total rebuild although it has only done 30,000 miles, having got cooked after I replaced its head with an older one that may have been warped, leading to hgf... Not an automotive triumph even by my standards.
Still got its own young cylinder head, slightly foxed with exhaust valve seat recession incurred hammering across Germany. It would need steel inserts before being put back. But I imagine the sump is full of water and rust by now. And I don't know how the body will have stood up to those five clammy years in the undergrowth.
I assume the Monaro is still frisky? How I wish sometimes that I were rich or a bit more competent.
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get pimp my ride to give it a makeover lud
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Hello Lud!
Monaro & owner still madly in love ;)
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pimp my ride to give it a makeover
It's an idea bb. I'd quite like to see one in shocking pink with huge rear wheels and buttoned gold skunkskin upholstery... What would they do about the engine though? Secondhand Lancia V6 rally car rear end perhaps... but I don't think so somehow. They aren't engine people. They're pimps.
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