Cordoba clutch problem

[hugh.venables]

Hi all,
I put a new clutch in Bron's '96 1.8 Cordoba about 2 1/2 years ago. It has worked perfectly until the other day when she rang to say that the gear shift linkages had seized up. That's not the problem. It shifts fine when the engine is not running. When the engine is running we have suddenly quite a bit of clutch drag. The car is driveable but difficult to shift gears. It is not possible to engage first while stationary with the engine running. There is a strange creaking sound while the clutch pedal is being operated which definately sounds like it is coming from inside the bell housing. I have just popped out the thrust bearing cover and the lever looks fine. The cable is working fine and there is plenty of movement of the lever and the thrust bearing. When driving the car, the clutch starts to take up and drive the car when the pedal has been released from the floor by 30 m.m. or so, a normal amount for a healthy clutch I would think. The clutch drag stays constant for that 30 m.m. or so of pedal release. The clutch does not slip at all, a high revs dump in fifth takes up straight away.
Any ideas?
Thanks Guys
Hugh.

[Martin]

Given your (good) observations I would assume the pressure plate snapped a finger or two...
(Maybe the release bearing is collapsing - unlikely)

[hugh.venables]

Thanks Martin,
That was my thought too (regrettably) but I'm a bit surprised it doesn't slip and I should have mentioned it doesn't shudder either. The release bearing would have to be not transferring the last part of the motion coming from the pedal, cable and lever. I can't imagine how that could happen. We have driven it about 20 or 30 km with plenty of clutch applications and it hasn't become any worse.
Hugh.

[hugh.venables]

The diaphragm was broken. A section of three fingers had broken away from the rest. Unfortunately some twit had removed the clip and the string we tied the clutch cable up with broke and it took me a very long time to eventually dismantle the self adjuster and reset it. As I couldn't find any useful help on the internet during a long search of many forums I will make a separate thread on how it works and how to dismantle and reset it. Many, many thanks to Peter Jones for advice and other help.
Hugh.

[Martin]

Well done sorting it out

[Golf Loon]

And post the how to on dismantling the cursed auto clutch cable.

[gldgti]

the auto cable sure is a PITA to dismantle, did it once years ago.

I also once had a brand new clutch go awry when a bit of metal became stuck under one of the diaphragm fingers. It was just enough to cause it to drag badly and made it impossible to shift into reverse or first unless you were already moving.

[lynnos]

Hello Hugh,
I had the clutch stop working on our '95 Cordoba years ago and in my haste dropped the box out to find nothing wrong with the clutch. It was the little lever that pushes onto the thrust bearing under the end cover. Bugger, could have been done in situ. Still it got a new clutch at just shy of 100K. I had an old Mk1 Golf gearbox and thought the lever from it might fit but they're slightly different. The broken lever had split through the spline hub which was quite narrow. When I bought the new part it was much wider.
Yes, those clutch cables are a bugger, but no need to dismantle and you need 3 hands. While you are trying to compress the adjuster parts have someone pull the inner cable out as this allows the locking mechanism to relax. I have a drawing to include here but will have to convert
it from Pdf to Jpeg somehow as I see Pdf is not accepted. Yes I pulled mine apart once also. Cheers.
PS. had a Toledo for many years also hence the drawing name but the cables are basically the same.