Same problem new parts. Please help!!

[NotOrange...]

Okay long story short... again.
got the car in Jan. Was fine until say June. The clutch cable started stretching out. I found out it had a racing clutch, alum flywheel and adjustable cable quad. Got a new Adjustable cable and threw it in, it lasted a few days. I got a centerforce clutch and threw it in... same problem. Got the car dragged to the local Ford Dealer. They had it for a month, the foreman wasn't sure what was going on, and reccomended replacing everything. So I replaced: Quad, linkage, cable, clutch fork, pivot ball, pilot bearing, FLYWHEEL, and he put in the centerforce clutch again. Now it lasted just fine, but the TOB chirped a bit. I took it there to get the TOB repaced again and low and behold on the way there, the cable was showing signs of stretching (funny pedal feeling, low engagement, hard to get into gear, basically not able to get into gear). Now the question:

What the hell is causing this now?

Has anyone had this severity of clutch cable issues?

If anyone has any suggestions, please respond!!!!

Thanks in advance.

 

[SnakeBit]

You say the cable is stretching, but have you tried to adjust? What I have found, is that some firewall adjusters will NOT hold a setting. That includes all adjusters without some sort of locking mechanism. Also, if the clutch was not quite adjusted, the friction disk could be wearing because it is allowed to slip, and that wear might be fooling you to think it is a stretching cable as would a firewall setting would if not properly locked down. In my experience, a cable will stretch, but only so much and then stop. If yours appears to continue to stretch, then something else is wrong. Could be flexing in the cable's sheath caused by a softening due to being routed too close to an exhaust manifold.

Currently, I'm using a Fiore adjuster, but if the allen screw which is part of the "click adjustment" is too loose, it will also lose a setting. My first adjuster was a Steeda and the "locking mechanism" was to put silicone seal between the 2 parts. Marking the turning ring proved that in spite of the silicone seal (and at one point I really gobbed it on and let it dry overnight before driving the car), it still moved. If I hadn't marked the adjustment, I might have improperly thought that the cable was stretching.

It appears to me that Ford reinstalled their POS 2 pc adjuster back in your car. If that is correct, you should adjust it as per the owner's manual, engine off, car in first, pull up on the pedal until it clicks, then slowly depress the pedal. I would do that several times.

If I'm wrong, and you still have a solid quadrant and a firewall adjuster, I would start by adjusting it so you have between 1/4 and 1/2" freeplay at the top of your pedal (check that with one hand on the pedal, not a foot). Then use a Sharpie to put a mark on the edge of the firewall adjuster. When the clutch feels like it's not disengaging correctly, check the firewall adjuster to see if your mark has moved. My bet is that it will have moved.

Good luck.

 

[01yellercobra]

Man, some people just have horrible luck. Hopefully it's just the quadrant out of adjustment. When I put in my new cable I had to adjust it a couple times afterwards and it's been fine ever since.

 

[NotOrange...]

Snakebit.

I have tried to adjust the cable (factory, cable and quad) and it was actually only making it worse. I also had the ford shop foreman try it a few times and it made no difference either. I will look under there in the a.m. to see if there is any more adjustment room left.

I have not checked to see where they routed it (eh... I assumed everything would be fine with 99% factory parts put in) but I did give them instructions on where I wished it routed. (through the motor mount) but I will be checking that again.

I did have a bad TOB noise for the last few weeks before this problem started, I can't really see how it would be related but I guess anything is possible.

I'll give updates tomorrow sometime.

Thanks for the help, I might be back for more of it though....

 

[01yellercobra]

The only other thing I can think of is the clutch itself. It's the only part common between the two times. Maybe something is wrong with the pressure plate and it'a causing the cable to stretch because of too much tension.:shrug:

 

[NotOrange...]

slo984now:

The clutch was put in after the 2nd cable stetched out.

Time line so things are more clearer:

Dec. got car

Mar. 1st cable stretched a bit (reused it)

May. 1st cable snapped. tried to get oem ford cable on but there wasn't enough room to get it on the clutch fork, I realize now that it was bent and thats why) tried BBK cable.

Jun. BBK cable snapped and got clutch and TOB (put in by self) no improvements

Jun. Towed car to Ford. Tech was perplexed and had car for 1 month.

Jun. Foreman decided to replace everything to correct problem(except I wanted my Centerforce left in)

July. TOB starts to squeek

Aug. TOB starts to chatter and squeel alot

Sept. Cable appears to be stretching out again

When everything was replaced:
the clutch fork was bent ( I couldn't tell, I didn't have one to compare too)
the pivot ball was badly worn (it still slid and moved freely so I thought it was fine)
the flywheel was **possibly** machined too much out of spec.
cable was stretched (obviously)
and I asked for the factory quadrant and underdash setup. ( i beat on my old orange car pretty good and the factory stuff still held up to all of it)

 

[NotOrange...]

Well I tried the pull up until it clicks then press down, method.

It seems as though when I'm am pressing down it clicks about 1/2 way. When I pull up I cannot get it to click no matter how hard I try.

After I try to adjust using this method it gets worse. If I just drive it eventually gets bearable again and I can somewhat shift without the grinding and severe puling to get into gear. But that takes like a good 10-15 minute drive.

Is it possible that the quadrant and adjuster were put in backwards, as it seems to get worse by trying to adjust it the propper way?

Eh... I guess Ford will have another crack at it in the a.m.

 

[01yellercobra]

I'm pretty sure it's impossible to to put the stock stuff in backwards. Do you still have the aftermarket stuff? If you can put that in then you can adjust it and make sure it's the cable and not the quadrant.

 

[NotOrange...]

So... when adjusting with the toe/heel method....

How often do you have to physically seperate the two ratcheting parts to get it to adjust? I just had a chance to take a look and I was able to adjust it by physically seperating them and moving them a few clicks by hand.

So as of now I think I'm back in the game... except for the TOB. (which I will deal with at another time) but I will try it for a few days to make sure it still holds up.

 

[NotOrange...]

Well one more plan I had... worked!! so far.

I have a very wise friend that reccomended zip-tying the cable to a few places to keep it from moving around so much, so I did that a few days ago. and I have had no problems since. Even the TOB noise went away. I'm not sure if this is a coincidence or what but it's held up for a few days. The one bracket on the fender was very loose and he said that was probably the issue.

I do have an appointment at ford Tomorrow, but I think I will just get them to check the tollerences of the cable to see if it did stretch before or if it's still working.