Clutch Cable Keeps Snapping

[bales 1]

I finally got my car back on the road last night after 8 months of sorting out when my gearbox and diff assembly destroyed itself last year.

 

However within an hour of driving the bloody clutch cable snapped....again!!

 

This is the 3rd clutch cable that has snapped now since I have had the car and this was a brand new clutch I fitted last week so it can't be an issue with the clutch.

 

It must be an underlying issue somewhere as my clutch pedal is ridiculously heavy and always has been since I had the car. Changing the clutch and clutch cable seems to make no difference to this.

 

The only reason I can think is that the the cable is in too tight a radius in the engine bay and is causing internal friction as this is the only constant between every cable I have changed.....can this cause the problem?

 

Also is there an uprated item you can get which is heavier duty of a diesel or anything or should I not need one. One of the times the actual fixing assembly on the pedal snapped and I have a new pedal so I can't see it being an issue with that.

 

Is there any well known issues for causing a really heavy clutch and having not driven any other 205's I don't have anything to compare the weight of mine to.

 

Thanks

 

Alex

[Pob 1]

When I first got my 205 I replaced the cable with a pattern cable, about 2 months later is snapped. I bought another cable fitted it and the clutch was extremely heavy, so much so you could see the bulk head moving when you pressed the clutch. I removed the cable and it was smooth, I tried different routes in the engine bay but still the same effect. I thought the problem lied with clutch or folk. Removed the gearbox, checked everything and replaced the folk, greased the arm and new pin (BE1) and it was still stupidly stiff. The only thing left was the clutch, which I replaced 2 months before. Fitted a new clutch kit and still stiff. It turned out to be the new pattern cable I bought, even though it was smooth off the car. I replaced it with a Peugeot cable, smooth clutch. I've never had problems with pattern cables before, but after all the hassle and expense I had I'm never buying a pattern clutch cable again.

 

Dan

 

 

I finally got my car back on the road last night after 8 months of sorting out when my gearbox and diff assembly destroyed itself last year.

 

However within an hour of driving the bloody clutch cable snapped....again!!

 

This is the 3rd clutch cable that has snapped now since I have had the car and this was a brand new clutch I fitted last week so it can't be an issue with the clutch.

 

It must be an underlying issue somewhere as my clutch pedal is ridiculously heavy and always has been since I had the car. Changing the clutch and clutch cable seems to make no difference to this.

 

The only reason I can think is that the the cable is in too tight a radius in the engine bay and is causing internal friction as this is the only constant between every cable I have changed.....can this cause the problem?

 

Also is there an uprated item you can get which is heavier duty of a diesel or anything or should I not need one. One of the times the actual fixing assembly on the pedal snapped and I have a new pedal so I can't see it being an issue with that.

 

Is there any well known issues for causing a really heavy clutch and having not driven any other 205's I don't have anything to compare the weight of mine to.

 

Thanks

 

Alex

Edited March 20, 2009 by Pob

[welshpug 1,657]

change the bushes on the clutch end of the mechanism, there are two top hat ones on a BE1 205 box, and the 2 larger bushes at the top and bottom end of the cross-shaft of a BE3.

[Emmy Seize 8]

Glad to hear I'm not the only one who had this happning (I feel sorry for you, of course)

 

I went through three cables within a couple of weeks.

 

The first one snapped after 20 years of service, which was tolerable.

 

The other two failed down to design faults (both of high German "quality", eg. ATE and Sachs)

 

It turned out, that on both cables the fittings where the cable is hooked to the clutch pedal were just 2mm too short.

 

This forced the cable to kink where it runs through the bulkhead whenever the clutch was operated.

 

Problem is, the difference is not obvious even if you put the OE and AM cables onto the dealer's counter side by side.

 

The Peugeot part a bought after i found out has been working trouble-free ever since.