First real problems

B

bobsleigh

Active user
Mar 7, 2014
90
13
Not ts
So got my lowering sprinGS today. Wooohooo!!!

Went to move the car and found it very hard to To change gear, linkages feel all over the place. Its not clutch as the clutchbites and problem is same whether engine is running or not. Just odd this has randomly happened.

Lower mount looks tired but is this the likely cause or is it the gear cables.... Luckily I don't need the car

Other symptoms are jerky feeling coming on and off the throttle. But the gears have never felt so stiff,its worst coming out of gear than into gear
 
Pull the gaiter off and check the tower mounting screws, there should be four but ford saved millions of pounds by only using two in 99% of cougars. If they work lose, eventually you get sloppy gear change, unlike ford who made loads :)
 
Trieds
Thats the first thing i checked. I have put two extra screws in to tighten the motion

Tried bringing the car to temp. No difference. You can feel the cables dragging and hear them, so my bet is mount or cables but not sure where to look and weather is rubbish now, will get under it tomorrow. Reverse seems to go in and out okay, rest pretty bad although 1 3 5 are stiffer than 2 and 4.
 
Fluids are fine' I hope its not the spring, that's a bigger job than what I'm used to. Thing is the gear shift is the same engine running or not and clutch feels the same with no noises. So assumed if box or clutch had issues they'd be OK with the engine off???

- - - Updated - - -

Just had a thought, I put my imrc under the airbox near the gearbox and havent driven since, I don't suppose this has affected it, if it wasn't raining I'd go and have a look
 
Before you condemn the cables, disconnect them from the levers at the gearbox by popping them off. Don't touch the adjuster buttons. Go back to the gearstick and see if the cables/linkages still feel rough.
 
Embarrassed to say the gear issue was my fault, the place where I relocated the imrc inter feared with the linkages so now I have put it under the battery tray and its all fine

NOW

Started on lowering the car

Took wheel off
Took brake and support bracket off
Removed pinch bolt
Removed top bolt
Finally managed to get the strut out

Old spring off new one on

And now im stuck trying to fit the strut back in, should I remove something else???
 
Is this a front strut?
If so, you need to get the top nut on, but not tight, then you need to lean on the wishbone to get enough clearance to pop the ball joint or if you removed the strut from the knuckle, enough clearance to pop it back in to that.
 
bobsleigh said:
So I just have to use brute force lol
Click to expand...
Yep!

How did you take it off? Did you remove the strut from the knuckle? If you did, then i've found if you let the knuckle lean outwards and pull the bottom end of the strut outwards as well, you can get them to meet as you push inwards. Hope that helps, this stuff is alwats easier to do than to describe. We should have video clips for such as this as there is a method.
 
Yep, took the pinch bolt at the bottom of the strut and left the hub alone, then slipped it out. not fat enough to use my weight. To be fair all the bolts came out easy and been doing exactly what you say but just bit tight for space
Gonna have another go now
 
When I lowered mine I struggled like buggery to get the damn things in again, ended up lowering the subframe a cm or so, easy peasy.
 
I'll get t. other side done tomorrow, take it the rears are little easier??? The springs I got were fk 30mm ones' very cheap. Interested to see what their like.
Pid i have never seen your cougar round here, do you still have/drive it?
 
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