Okay, the clutch cable went 'ping' again. It's only about 5 months old and I've been having to tighten it every couple of weeks. The hook on the clutch pedal went a couple months after the cable initially did. That was a quick $10. part(plus 1 hr labor).
This time, when the clutch cable went, I have enough experience dealing with this car to not be backward about working on it myself. Pulled out the old one--a frayed mess--the new one slid easily all the way through to the flexible tail-piece (the 'Boden tube' someone told me at work) then stopped--hard.
The first thing I noticed when I pulled the old cable was how nice and clean it was . . . meaning the mechanic didn't grease it when it was installed. The next was that the stirrup at the hook end was allmost worn through by the hook.
- Previously broken hook, two broken cables, worn strrup, no grease . . .
I can't even push the screw tip of the clutch cable through the tail-piece when its not in the car. It's ends are deformed so badly I'm lucky to get a coat hanger through it.
Whereas Muir's book suggests 3/4 " slack dip(add washers if needed) this was more like 1.5" and I guess it just kinked the heck out of the fittings on the ends.
Anyway, so now I know what's been adding so much drag on those cables and eating everything up.
Parts store is closed tonight. I'll be down there 08:00 tomorrow.
The good thing about having someone else repair your car is, you don't have to do it. The bad thing is, you don't know if they isolated out the problem or just tossed in a new part --to break again.
- So I'll just figure to replace the Bowden tube when I replace the cable next time and bypass any possible problem in the future.