Weird clutch tranny problem...

[davmacdon]

I was in fith gear going about 60 pushed in the clutch and down shifted. I went to shift back into 5th and the clutch pedal went to the floor with no resitance. At first I thought I had broken the cable. I could not disengage the clutch. I coasted into a parking lot with the car in gear. I put it in 1st pushed in the clutch and started the car thinking I would just drive the 3 miles home trying to shift without the clutch. I got the car into second with out the clutch then tried to push the clutch in to shift into third. To my amasement the pedal now had tension but would not disengage the clutch all the way. I am now stuck in limbo halfway engaged halfway not(mostly not).

Top speed in any gear about 1/2 MPH at 4000 RPM.

I can put the car in 1st, let off the clutch and the RPM's barley go down. Rev it up and the car moves just a little. I can reach under the dash and feel slack in the cable when the clutch is engaged.

Does this sound like a broken clutch fork or something else?

 

[HISSIN50]

yep, sounds like a bad cable. get under and grab the cable at the fork. if you can pull a length of cable out, you found it.

the alternative is that the quadrant took a semi dump. if you have the stocker, reach up on the pedal and try to take slack out of it. sometimes with cables, they start to let go, and then shortly thereafter, let go all the way.

good luck.

 

[ECU5.0]

if there is nothing wrong with the stock cable than reuse it. IMO the oem ford cables are the best. it looked to be a lot better quality than my adjustable cable i had. but yeah, get rid of the stock quadrant and get yourself a firewall adjuster

 

[davmacdon]

WOW it ended up being a shattered clutch. It must have been all of that POWER POWER POWER Pieces were hung up all over everything binding the clutch fork and the fingers on the pressure plate. That would have explaned why the cable would get tight then loose. I am going to waste the stock cable and quad while I am replacing the clutch.

 

[ECU5.0]

WTF? thats the second time tonight i have replied to someones post and it posted it before theirs?

 

[HISSIN50]

WTF? thats the second time tonight i have replied to someones post and it posted it before theirs?

ok, magic man. LOL. it has happened a lot lately. seems to be hand in hand with the server being too busy (for me atleast). i dont even bother reading threads at this time of day - pages wont load or i get the busy, pack sand message.

CJman did it yesterday too, IIRC (posted a reply before the original thread post).

 

[davmacdon]

I replaced the clutch and put things back together NOW my problem is grinding gears as I put it in first or second. It really does not want to go into first at all and second grinds. With the clutch pushed in and putting it into second I can hear the tranny grinding. If I put a little pressure on the stick the grinding slows down and finnly stops and it will slip into second.

My question is... Can a bad cable cause this if it is not disengaging the clutch fully or are the syncros wasted?

 

[Michael Yount]

Something's up with the cable adjustment and it's not disengaging all the way - that's why it won't go into gear. Keep working the cable adjustment. A few gear grinds shouldn't have significantly damaged synchros.

 

[ECU5.0]

could be both. try adjusting a little preload into your cable and see if that helps. get a firewall adjuster and new quadrant so you can adjust it fully

 

[davmacdon]

I just called out local Ford dealer and was told that the clutch cable would be $186.00 but since I work at another dealership it was only $149.00. I thought they were around $30.

Is it possible to adjust the stock cable at all?

 

[HISSIN50]

on a stock quadrant, pull up on the pedal to adjust it. with an aftermarket quadrant, you need a FWA.

i think Dallas Mustang sells a OEM style cable for 30 bucks (someone posted that on a thread i responded to the other day). search my posts for a clutch thread - you should find the link.

good luck.

 

[v8only]

-maximum motorsports
-diversified
-maybe d&d
-maybe 50resto

all sells oem cables for $30-$40

like everyone mentioned, take the slack out of the cable. If you want to read my article on clutch adjusments, click here

http://www.50stangs.com/techarticles/clutchcableadjustment.html