Gear Change Problems when hot

Newbie Joined: 25 Nov 2005 Posts: 12

I brought myself a 1995 Clio 16V about this time last year. Great little car although the clutch was mega heavy compare to my old 1.4 RT. But as it was good in every other way I lived with it.

After a month or so I was driving along and came to a junction. I put my foot on the clutch, there was a ping. Clutch Cabled Had snapped. We promptly change it but found that even with the pedal fully depressed the clutch still made partial contact so it wouldnâ€™t go into gear. We then made up a spacer, a slotted piece of metal tube which we put between the gear box fork and the end piece of the cable. It then worked ok but if I was say stuck in traffic without air rushing though it began to go funny again as in even with the pedal depressed it wouldnâ€™t give me a gear.

After a few months this problem eventually got less and less of an issue to the point where there wasnâ€™t a problem. Then the clutch cable snappedâ€¦again. On inspection all of the rubbers had totally smoooshed flat so the cable was under incredible strain.

We changed this but only to find that we couldnâ€™t get into gear at all. At the time we though it must be dodgy clutch springs. So I shoved it 3rd and drove to a clutch centre. They changed the clutch, said it was on its way out but wasnâ€™t too badly worn. They also still had the same problem. They also said the clutch fork was bent which they changed. In the end they spaced it to get it to work.

After going to town today I had to do a bit of stopping and starting in traffic. It got so bad I couldnâ€™t change gear and had to drive back in 2nd. I then managed to get it to hobble to work just. That evening when I finished about 6 hours later it worked pretty much fine. There is something obviously wrong to do with when its hot-hotter engine hotter temperatures of the last few weeks.

gearbox oil has never been changed and im not sure of the level.

Any ideas????

Forum Moderator Joined: 02 Mar 2004 Posts: 19978

changed the oil it may help the sychnro work btu will not solve the issue!

Are you sure they changed the clutch and fork? did you get the old parts?

Are you using renault cables?

Has the clutch pedal been changed?

Site Subscriber Joined: 05 Apr 2004 Posts: 1141

All the problems you describe sound like a classic case of clutch pedal ratchet failure.

Sounds like you got a new clutch fitted for the sale of a Â£15 part. Clutch change on a Clio is not an easy job, are you sure they changed it ? (how much did they charge?).

Newbie Joined: 25 Nov 2005 Posts: 12

I got the old clutch back in a box. It wasn't too badly worn. As the guy said, it was unlikly the cause of my trouble. The reason i changed it was because the aa bloke recconed that it was on the way out which is why the clutch needed spacing.

He did change the fork as it was bent and i got that too.

I've had 2 genuine cables.

I've had 1 genuine pedal which was exactly the same as the original one.

Why does everything I love do this Crying or Very sad

Forum Moderator Joined: 02 Mar 2004 Posts: 19978

cables probably routed wrongly then.

Get it fitted properly, the clio is especially gay in this respect, on the 19 it comes out the bulkhead and goes left, on the clio is goes out straight curls very tightly then goes up and over then turns tightly again, uits easy to get the routing on it wrong which causes them to snap and heavy pedal.

Retroholic Joined: 23 Dec 2005 Posts: 3315

selector fork changed?

mine did the same was that

Forum Moderator Joined: 02 Mar 2004 Posts: 19978

cheaper to get a new box if the selector forks bent.

Newbie Joined: 25 Nov 2005 Posts: 12

took it to bits. the rubber on the cable had melter so the spacer wasnt doing anything. More worrying the fork was floating about not doin anything so its pretty much fucked. Luckily i have a recipt and guarentee for clutch replacement, clutch fork and selector and rectifing difficult gear selection so it shouldn't cost me anything. If he's got to take it to bits though its may be worth changing the box. Is there anyone near eastbourne who ahs either a 16v or williams one?

Level 5 User Joined: 11 Apr 2006 Posts: 122

I've got this problem. Only thing I can thing of is whitch a new clutch when it gets hot it will get slightly bigger as hot things do, this coupled with a streched cable would make it hard to selcect the gear because the cluch won't release properly.

Anyways I went the bodge route like you because I couldn't be arsed to change the cable. The best washer to use is a tap washer from B&Q, solid thick rubber. make a cut with a stanley knife and slot it in on the cable (in between the metal cup that touches the arm and the cap at the top of the cable) then tape it up with isulating tape so the pressure won't deform the washer, I'm using 2 but you may only need one.

Hasn't failed me yet.

Also what do you mean the fork was floating? Do you mean the clutch arm that the cable goes to? That's supposed to have free play when the cable isn't connected isn't it?

Newbie Joined: 25 Nov 2005 Posts: 12

not sure if it is or not. The guys coming to have a look tomorrow. Will suggest the b&q rubber washer though.