Car is giving me some problems. PLEASE help...

Nuar

Founding Member
Apr 16, 2002
570
0
16
NB, CT
Earlier today i started my car and as i was pressing the clutch in i heared a loud POP. Sounded like snapped my pedal in half or something. I tried to feel around with my hand, and everything seemed ok, except that i noticed some wires are loose around the kickpannel. It seems there is some switch there or something, hanging down, when i tap it, it clicks. Well other then that the car didnt give me any ****... i restarted it a few times, and it started right up, and everything works. Just now i went to my car i had to go somewhere really quick and the car didnt wanna start for the first 3 tries (granted i didnt hold the key onto the start position for long), and the first time the car emitted a WEIRD sound, kinda like wheezing...

I'm affraid something is really *****in up and i dont like it!!

Any of you guys know what could be happening?

What are all those wires next to the kick pannel?
 
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Hard to say what that sound was. Only thing I can recommend is to get underneath the dashboard and look around. You may need to remove the driver's seat to do a more thorough search. How does your clutch pedal feel? I wonder if that 'pop' you heard was from the factory clutch quadrant? And as far as what those wires being around the kick panel, you will need a schematic to find out what they are. And please, please, please, before you start to look around under there, disconnect the negative battery cable, wait about five minutes so that the airbag system is fully drained. You don't want to either fry something expensive or deploy the airbag and it snaps your neck.
 
Sounds like your clutch self-adjuster. Mine was loud when it would adjust. As for the switch, I believe it is the neutral safety switch that requires you to push in the clutch before the car will start. That's the only switch I can find on the clutch pedal. Sometimes the car will make a heavy sighing sound when the key is released just as the engine tries to start, but that's mine I'm talking about. Sometimes after that, my car is hard to start, like I flooded it. Maybe the safety switch mount is cracked and the switch is moving around. If that happens, the car won't even crank though. Good luck, hope this helps.
 
Well you eased my mind with the rough start. As for the starting... the car starts fine now, I havent had a single problem since that time.
The clutch thing however,,, my throwout bearing got a lot louder after the pop, and the clutch pedal seems to have some slack up top.
Looks like i'm due for a clutch change and the quadrant/adjuster/cable combo.
 
Do you have your owners manual? It describes how the self-adjuster works. In a nutshell...you put your foot behind the pedal and bring the clutch pedal all the way up 'til it stops and then push it back down. If it needed adjusting, you would hear a click. But it's possible that it slipped instead of getting tighter, or as has happenned to others, some of the teeth may have broken off. The stock quadrant is only some kind of plastic. My throwout bearing was driving me nuts with all the chirping, but when I put on the aluminum quadrant and the firewall adjuster, it allowed me to adjust the cable so that the bearing wasn't noisy. Haven't had any problems out of the clutch since either.