Warm car no clutch ???

[mac_55]

Hey everyone , sorry it's long

1987 cougar with 5.0ho and t5 from 89 mustang gt , turbo coupe rear 3.55 with disc and a couple other fun mods over the years , clutch & cable a couple years old, still using factory pedals and plastic quadrant.

Problem!!!!

Been noticing first gear was getting harder to downshift into lately,

Yesterday after a 30 minute drive I lost all ability to shift but the pedal still felt normal.

Pulled up on the pedal this morning got a click sound, jacked up the car and the fork still moves like it should cable has some play,

Looked normal dropped car and drove up and down driveway all shifting nicely .... ??????

time to get a new cable and aluminum quadrant?

 

[nickyb]

Sounds like it needed adjusting and you did by pulling up on pedal. Should be good for now,but if you want a new cable and quad rent go ahead.

 

[AeroCoupe]

Cable stretch most likely but yeah get a quadrant and a firewall adjuster.

My T-Bird did something similar and it was the cable starting to fail down by the bell housing. Outer sheath completely collapsed so the clutch fork then would no longer move. Swapped out cables and wrapped it with header wrap as the long tubes get kinda close and I think that’s what really caused the failure.

 

[Noobz347]

Never [down shift] to 1st.

Pulled up on the pedal this morning got a click sound, jacked up the car and the fork still moves like it should cable has some play,

Looked normal dropped car and drove up and down driveway all shifting nicely .... ??????

time to get a new cable and aluminum quadrant?

Not necessarily. Something finally wore in enough to get that next 'click'.

If you drive it for a bit and feel like it needs juuuuuuuuuuuust a litt bit more, you can do this:

Move the seat all the way and sit on the floor outside the car with the door open.
Use one hand to push the clutch pedal all the way to the floor and reach up with your other hand and hold the quadrant in place.
Doesn't matter if it moves a bit. Pull the clutch pedal back toward you until you hear one more click.

Go Drive it.

There should always be a [little] bit of play in the cable when the clutch pedal is fully released. Our Throw Out Bearings were designed to rest on the fingers of the pressure plate without assistance from cable tension.