clutch pedal problems

geoffsgt · May 5, 2009

Heard a loud snap when I pushed the clutch in one day, and ever since then I have to push much farther to disengage the clutch, to the point that the clutch still isn't fully disengaged when I push the pedal to the floor (hard to put in gear, even some grinding occasionally). I looked at the pedal assembly and nothing is obviously wrong. Any ideas what I should be looking for?

I'm using a Fiore adjuster and quadrant, and a steeda adjustable cable.

Edit: Cable was fraying, and i just snapped it trying to fix problem (temporarily) with the firewall adjuster... weeee. Cable was about a year old...

joshjwc9 · May 5, 2009

It must have been routed wrong, or adjusted too tight for the Steeda cable to fray.

I suggest going back to a stock OEM cable, MM sells them.

It sounds like you stretched the cable out somehow and it lead to the excess play, causing it to fray and now snap.

I run a steeda cable, FW adjuster and UPR quadrant, I believe that my quadrant is causing a strange popping sound once in a while.

geoffsgt · May 6, 2009

I was hearing a popping noise occasionally. I wonder if it was slowly fraying, strand by strand. Then a couple of days ago I had that big pop, which probably frayed a bunch of strands, making the cable a little bit longer, leading to the really low engagement. I was trying to fix it so I could drive home by adjusting the firewall adjuster away from the firewall, and when I went to try out the pedal, the stress just popped it.

However, ever since I had all this installed, my pedal engagement has been a little lower than I like. Never bothered to adjust it until today. And even so, apparently it was too much for the cable. I'm definitely switching to OEM this time, as I have heard bad things about the steeda adjustable cables.

GDTrumbo · May 6, 2009

I have the Fiore Racing quad & adjuster. The OEM cable now has 158K on it and it functions flawlessly. It's a beautiful combination!

GT

geoffsgt · May 6, 2009

How did you put the rubber piece on the OEM cable through the Fiore firewall adjuster? The steeda that I just took off seemed to fit in that hole perfectly, but the OEM piece is a lot bigger diameter. Am I going to just have to cut it down? Also, what do I do with this other part that seems to clip on to the rubber piece I was just talking about?

Edit: found MM's article for installing the firewall adjuster and they explained a little, so the above is figured out. Took the rubber part off, now the part that inserts into the adjuster is a little too small, which I guess is better than a lot too big.

Hearing a squeak from the transmission when I press the clutch pedal. Any ideas what this could be? I don't feel like picking the car back up, but since I probably won't get instantaneous response on this, that's what I'll wind up doing in a few mins.

geoffsgt · May 6, 2009

Bigger problem now. The clutch engages way too high (probably not fully engaging now). I have the adjuster screwed all the way against the firewall. Correct me if I'm wrong, but adjusting towards the firewall should make the pedal engage lower. When I snapped the other cable, I had been adjusting away from the firewall, trying to get the clutch to engage higher.

So did I do something wrong? Or is this why I'm supposed to use an adjustable cable? Seems like my cable isn't long enough.

flstang65 · May 7, 2009

I got my OEM cable at the local stealership for cheaper than what the guys in the magazines were selling them for.

cobra2798 · May 7, 2009

I had a popping noise pushing my clutch in. It became hard to push the pedal down and put in gear. after some I was almost unable to drive the car. Turned out I had a bent clutch fork. May want to look at that.

drews01cobra · May 7, 2009

So I went with the Steeda adj. cable, Steeda FWA, Steeda quad and Steeda Tri-Ax short throw shifter....From the Steeda site, they make a big deal about binding, and if you think your cable is binding, then they say to give them a call. This scared me a little, so I took my time routing the cable from the tranny to the FWA, making sure the cable curved naturally. At the tranny, I adjusted the cable all the way out to make it easier to run through the FWA and get it hooked on the quad. I adjusted out the FWA to take up the slack and get my pedal firm.

I know I took the long way to get here, but the car shifts flawlessly. Good firm pedal, no slop, and no problems getting through the gears.

Anyways, I think some of the critics of adjustable cables may have binded their cable, or didn't adjust the cable out far enough at the tranny and caused their own problems. For as long as Steeda has been around, it's hard for me to wrap my mind around the thought that Steeda would sell a product they knew would fail most Mustang owners, resulting in hurting their own reputation. IMO.

+1 - From joshjwc9, cable may have been routed wrong or adjusted too tight...

joshjwc9 · May 8, 2009

That is pretty much what happened to me when I had a UPR cable...I believe that I installed it wrong, then about a month later it snapped on me. I still have the UPR quad and I think it is making the cable bind up slightly, I'm thinking about throwing in a Steeda quad in place of this one.

If I had to do it again, I would keep my stock cable and get the MM pieces or Fiore pieces.

GDTrumbo · May 8, 2009

geoffsgt said:
Bigger problem now. The clutch engages way too high (probably not fully engaging now). I have the adjuster screwed all the way against the firewall. Correct me if I'm wrong, but adjusting towards the firewall should make the pedal engage lower. When I snapped the other cable, I had been adjusting away from the firewall, trying to get the clutch to engage higher.

So did I do something wrong? Or is this why I'm supposed to use an adjustable cable? Seems like my cable isn't long enough.

You didn't, by accident, get a '87 - '93 cable did you. They are a bit shorter than the SN95 piece. Check cable routing closely.

Good Luck, GT

squeak93 · May 8, 2009

When you replace the quadrant you also have to space it properly. It took the factory junk and cut off the spacer on it and used it for my bbk one. Works flawlessly with a lrs adj cable.

geoffsgt · May 8, 2009

The quadrant, firewall adjuster, and steeda cable were all put on when I had an aftermarket clutch installed by a professional.

I bought the new cable from a stealership. Called ahead and asked specifically for a clutch cable for a 2003 Mustang GT. If they messed up, I don't know how I could tell. I checked the packaging and it didn't really say anything about the model for the cable.

I'm probably going to take it to a local shop here that primarily works on mustangs and see if they can figure out what went wrong. I rarely have time to work on stuff like this myself, and I'm not going to have time to fix whatever I messed up. Leaving for a road trip on Monday and luckily I was already planning on taking my F150. Have a feeling I'm going to need to get another clutch cable, and I'm not going to be able to return the one I bought because I had to tear off the stock firewall flange thing for it to fit with the Fiore firewall adjuster. Sucks... damn thing was $80...

geoffsgt · Jun 7, 2009

Update...

Took it to the shop. I was thinking the new cable I put in was too short, because now the clutch disengages after pushing the pedal only about 2 inches. The guy looked at it, and the cable is fine. Apparently the problem is the clutch itself. It has worn out (has been in for only about a year). The guy lifted a cobra he had a the shop with the same clutch I have and showed me the difference between that clutch and mine (Spec stage 2+).

He noticed 2 things. First, the "fingers" (can't remember the name for them) on mine stick out much farther than the one on the cobra. Apparently this is a sign that it is wearing out, and this somehow causes the clutch to engage/disengage with very little pedal travel. Can't really picture it right now, but it seemed to make sense to me 4 weeks ago when he showed me. Does this sound right to anyone else?

The other weird thing he showed me was that the arm that the cable attaches to on the transmission is hitting the transmission case when fully released, so hard that it has a sizable dent in it where it has been hitting a bolt head. Any idea what caused that to start happening?

Stan Weiss · Jun 8, 2009

Yes. As the clutch disc wears and becomes thinner the face of the pressure plate moves closer to the flywheel this causes the fingers to move out farther away from the flywheel.

SVT32VDOHC · Jun 8, 2009

Get rid of the aftermarket crap and go to all stock stuff and go from there. If you end up needing a clutch get a Ford Racing kit and you'll be good to go.

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