Last Friday I learned about clutch adjustment. Woohoo... I put on 250-300 miles between the Tri-State 914 gathering and tooling around town here and there.

Yesterday, we took the 914 to the obstetrician. (Is that wrong? )
On the way home, I noticed the same symptoms. Sure enough, clutch pedal play was back where it started last week, after only 250-300 miles.

The 2 11mm nuts spin loose enough that I could do it by hand. This time, after I adjusted, I slightly backed off the first, while tightening the locking one behind it. Hopefully this will keep it in place, but is there anything I should watch out for that could be causing this to loosen up so quickly?

Thanks. Time to go for a drive. Maybe this weekend preggers will learn to drive manual trans?! I'm scared.

I can go for months and months without adjusting the clutch (and this is daily driving with stop and go traffic too and from work for months on end)

I'm betting the clutch tube is starting to break at the firewall (which is the last line of defense) They break first at the front and then proceed back until the firewall weekens and cracks from trying to handle all the stress.

B

Lots of factors actually:

1.pivot ball on clutch arm breaking/worn
2.bushing in clutch arm w/pedal assembly breaking/worn
3.cable stretch/breaking
4.tube broken and or breaking
5.clevis at clutch arm breaking/worn


B

Usually once every clutch change. Sounds like you have clutch tube problems. Everyone gets that eventually. Check the firewall where the tube exits. It is probably tearing there. If it has already broken free there, then the strap in the tunnel near the gearshift is still tearing. Only held in two places, and it is under a lot of stress. Be very careful welding near the fuel lines. The fix is not done until both locations are rewelded.

ditto what Brad said. Maybe time to break out the welder?

I agree with all the replys above with one exception. Your description almost sounded like the nut was not secured tightly. Keep it simple first.

Mark

The clutch was replaced in '03 by the PO if that matters.

I'm hoping it's the simple explanation.

What causes the clutch tube problems? Is it a rust thing or wear or just age?

Good god, I am not touching a welder anytime soon. For everyone's sake!

Perfectly acceptable. Mounting a a baby seat to the roll bar - not so much.

First make sure the double nut is not backing out....get it good and tight and run it again....mark the thread with a sharpie.

It can be a rust thing and definitely an age thing. The "bowden tube" or clutch tube is welded in place in two locations, as said before. After a few thousand cycles of repetitive stress, the tube slowly starts to break or tear away from it's mounting locations. A decent welder will have this fixed in less than 30 minutes. There's a sure fire way to determine whether or not the Bowden tube has broken. Peel up your carpet, grab a flash light, sit in the car and push the clutch pedal up/down repeatedly...at the same time point your eyes and the flashlight along the entire path of the Bowden tube. (a friend looking for you is easier) If it has torn away, you will see the tube flexing like a live snake when you push up/down on the clutch pedal. There should be no movement on this tube. If it moves noticeably, you have a little welding project in your near future. Ask Kelly...he just had this happen to him.

Bill

Also.. your PP might be going out.. your clutch might be going out...

When I put a new clutch and pp in my car (switching to a v8) I had no clutch problems at all.. before... I was adjusting 2x a week...


Good luck.

Uh, you do realize that the point of having two of them is so you can tighten the "rear" one against the "front" one, right? That tends to lock them in place pretty solidly, so they cannot back themselves off.

If you omitted this step, then there's a very very good chance that the adustment nuts simply started unscrewing themselves.

--DD

I would replace the clutch cable now. Clutch tube failure is usually sudden. A lot of times, if you are re-adjusting the clutch often, it means the cable is stretching. This happens just before it breaks.

The Terry cable is better, but requires the use of a spacer or extending the threading.

13 replies, and only Z and DDD got it right. Don't you people READ the questions? More bad info for the archives.

The Cap'n, shaking his head in dismay

Bill we have both seen the underside of Dans car so I highly doubt the tube is rusted or cracked, remember I did a little adjusting to it before it left Mpls. I may have not backed up the nuts tightly against each other.

Dan I think your situation is the nuts not tight against each other.

Loose nuts? Sounds like his car needs a jock strap. If it has a bra, he's driving a transvestite.

Thanks for all responses.

I am pretty confident that it was a case of loose nuts. (No bra or jockstrap for me please! ) When I readjusted the clutch cable last night, I paid close attention to the manner in which I tightened them, and I think/hope they'll be ok now.

The reason I asked about the clutch tube reasons was the same thing Chappy pointed out. This is a relatively low mileage car (55k) and most of the problems I'm having seem to be related to it having sat, rather than rust or excessive wear and tear, so I would be surprised if the clutch tube was the culprit.

I appreciate all the suggestions of other things to consider, so I am more educated about what to watch out for relating to the clutch system.