Clutch Cable? Clutch fork? or Clutch plate?

Paul L · 11-04-2006, 03:32 PM

I'm trying to diagnose (and praying for a cheap solution). My clutch went to the floor last night and left me stranded. The helper spring appears fine. Both ends of the clutch cable are attached. Everything appears normal where the clutch cable attaches to the helper spring and the adjustment (recently done) is fine. Can the cable be broken in the tunnel under the heater knobs? How can you tell if the fork broke? Does the engine and tranny have to come out for that? When the clutch went out (in traffic) i crammed it in gear and drove 1/4 mile to get out of a traffic jam. Something started whining real load right at the end. making me think clutch gone. but I really can't afford a clutch/engine drop now. Does the clutch fork require this also?

jtfreels · 11-04-2006, 04:27 PM

I recently had similar problems. The spring attached to the clutch pedal had broken. Have you checked that?

Jay

Paul L · 11-05-2006, 07:27 AM

The spring looks fine. When I pull the pedal off the floor, I can feel the cable get loose in the tunnel in front of the shifter.

Ruben911 · Ruben911's Garage

Check the pedal to make sure that the pin which attaches the pedal to the pedal shaft has not sheared. I made the mistake of dropping the engine because I thought I had a broken fork. The fork was fine and when I completed troubleshooting I found out it was a $2.00 pin. You can tell if you hold the end of the pedal where the cable is attached attached and can move the shift pedal up and down without the other end moving. Changing the pin is a 2-3 hour job of disassembling the pedal cluster. Hope this is what happened to you and not the fork. Good luck

Paul L · 11-05-2006, 09:07 AM

I wish that was it but I don't think so. If I grab where the cable attaches to pedal assembly then move the pedal up and down then the cable moves. It creates slack in the cable like there is no resistence at the other end. I don't know how to completely rule out that the cable is not snapped in the middle or inside the sheathing somewhere. Any clues?

cantdrv55 · 11-05-2006, 09:32 AM

So when you step on the pedal it drops to the floor as if there's no resistance? Does it pop back up on its own?

Paul L · 11-05-2006, 09:41 AM

It stays an inch off the floor. You can pick it up with your hand but it falls right back to the floor.

cantdrv55 · 11-05-2006, 09:53 AM

Disconnect it from under the car, at the clutch helper spring. Loosen the nuts that hold it in place. While the pedal is down on the floor, you should be able to pull on the cable from under the car to pull the pedal up.

Paul L · 11-05-2006, 12:24 PM

Bad news I think. I disconnected the cable as cant drive 55 suggests and I can pull the pedal up manually so the cable must be in tact. I did 2 more things. I reconnected the cable and adjusted every possible inch of adjustment to the cable bolts and started the care. The squel remained even though I now had 2 inches of clutch push. (not sure if it was moving the clutch any as I have no assistants). I then disconnected the cable completely and cranked the care and the squel remains. Does the squel say something is broken inside? I'm pretty sure it does. The only other possible explanation is the helper spring. It looks normal to me but could it have Un coiled leading to all of this?

Paul L · 11-05-2006, 12:26 PM

In addition to the last comment. If it turns out to be a clutch fork. Does that necessitate an engine/tranny drop?

Paul L · 11-05-2006, 12:27 PM

I don't know why I typed CAR and the word CARE came into my comments 2 up from this.

cantdrv55 · 11-05-2006, 12:52 PM

The engine/tranny would have to come out to replace the fork. Some here have been able to remove just the engine to work on the fork/clutch plate, etc but that looks like a b1tch to do.

Jeff Alton · 11-05-2006, 01:47 PM

I had a fork break on me once, same symptoms. Motor/trans out, then a quick fix.

Cheers

Rod80SC · Rod80SC's Garage

I had a similar problem earlier this summer. Turned out to be a broken throwout bearing and bent fork. Single handed first time engine drop, a couple hundred dollars, and two days I was back in the saddle.
101 projects ( thanks Wayne) was all I needed as reference for engine drop. It was amazingly simple.
Best of luck, keep us informed.

Rod

Al S · 11-05-2006, 04:05 PM

Same thing just happened to my friends '77 Targa, turned out to be the splined clutch actuator lever located at the end of the clutch shaft, outside of the trans. It had a hairline crack, which allowed the spline to spread and skip a couple of teeth.

Almost dropped the engine, just saw the crack at the last moment...