The end of the road

spjmorris

spjmorris

Well-known user
Apr 10, 2012
4,954
2,271
'Fampton
Saddened to say that my drive home from Jim's, where people from this club have again gone above and beyond friendship in the name of saving my car, was one of the worst.

The clutch is slipping horrifically, can barely pull away and reversing is....interesting.

Battery light won't go out, nor will coolant level.

Heated screen won't work

Power steering pump seems knackered

And here's the killer, she drives like an old nail, it just did not feel like I was driving my car :(

I'm done with fixing her up, she will be broken.

Thanks again to the guys who helped so much.

Steve.
 
Balls.
This is not what I'd hoped to hear at all!

Is there no chance another weekends fettling would sort it?

If its any consolation my coolant light often stays on!
 
Steve, we can still do this. It doesn't need to end up as a kill.

If your battery light is on but the car made it home over 100 miles, someone's left a plug off somewhere. It's not your alternator.

Your coolant light is ignorable but might just need a plug reseat and a slight overfill (not sure why, but Tiger's comes on if the coolant is anything less than maximum).

PAS pump is nothing. We had trouble bleeding that one before when it was on Dave's car but we got it right in the end. And if it's actually dead, your old one is still there and I'll fit it for you in a couple of hours.

I admit that the clutch is a worry, but it's not impossible to sort. You didn't do anything wrong, but it's possible that it's contaminated. Have you checked your fluid level?

I guess I'm saying that I don't want to see you slay a car that has so many more miles on it. We've put hours and effort in, and if anyone has missed something along the way, that's for us to deal with. So as I said over the phone, for pity's sake sleep on it. Take each problem individually and in context instead of letting them overwhelm you.

Relax, remember we're here, and don't let the stress spill over into the rest of your life. It's just engineering.
 
backseateducation said:
If its any consolation my coolant light often stays on!
Click to expand...

Over-fill your coolant by about 10mm and re-seat the sensor. I have no idea why this works since the sensor works on continuity not pressure, but it definitely does. Had the same problem on Tiger.

:edit: Also consider a coolant flush and a clean of the sensor tip.
 
Sorry guys I hear you and love the never say die attitude, but the decision is made, if it weren't for the neighbours I'd have already stuck my sledge through the screen.
 
Sorry to hear you've gotten to this stage Steve. None of those problems sound particularly difficult to solve - and the clutch plate may simply be contaminated as Chris mentioned. As Chris said, sleep on it and see how you feel tomorrow - the worst time to make a decision like this is when you're angry and pi**ed off with the car. If you still feel like breaking her tomorrow then at least you've given it some time to calm down a bit. (y)
 
Steve, you (and plenty of others) were here for me when Tiger's stupid MOT failures made me throw my arms up in disgust last year. We'll be here for you in your own hour of need.

Just...chill for tonight. I mean, I'm hearing you and it's a difficult situation. But nothing's impossible.
 
As I said on the phone matey, there's a few niggles that I'm sure will be easily sorted out. I know how your feeling at the minute, but don't give up. Just think about how much you have put into the car with all those tweeks you have made, that the factory should have done.....but you mastered them! that must have taken many hours to complete! Chin up fella!
 
There does come a point where a car is no longer a viable proposition unless it has a deep intrinsic value; minded of course that you could bin it and buy another car that will give you more issues.

Like I said above, if you want a diagnosis of the issues I'll happily swing by in the evenings this week as I'm working near J14 anyway.

Any car with a slipping clutch will feel pretty rotten if that allays any fears? Of course you might be right, it might be time to bin this one? Don't be hasty, but don't disappear in a sea of "fanboy-ism" either.
 
The clutch and slave have both done around 4k, so I'm guessing it has to be some minor contamination of fluid?
 
localloon said:
The clutch and slave have both done around 4k, so I'm guessing it has to be some minor contamination of fluid?
Click to expand...
I guess if it's causing a slip though it's not "all that minor".

Burnt oil deep-fry's the plate from experience - nice glazed mess than needs throwing away.

Unless there is another hydraulic issue?
 
I think realistically if it were any sort of hydraulic issue then Steve would be struggling to declutch rather than struggling to get any drive. It's been many years since I've seen a Cougar up close but is there any rubber hose along the way of the clutch hydraulics? I can only remember hard tubing but as I said - it was years. If there is rubber hosing - did anyone clamp it for any reason? That's about the only thing I can think of that would prevent fluid from returning and therefore prevent the slave cylinder from contracting and letting the clutch engage.

It doesn't take all that long to drop a gearbox though - especially if the car has just been apart and therefore none of the nuts and bolts are seized.
 
benham said:
I guess if it's causing a slip though it's not "all that minor".

Burnt oil deep-fry's the plate from experience - nice glazed mess than needs throwing away.

Unless there is another hydraulic issue?
Click to expand...

I suspect contamination, but I don't know from what - I wasn't there when that clutch was fitted, but Steve would not have done it on his own and Jim would never have let him do it with oily hands. I also assume that if hydraulic fluid was weeing all over the place and the level was dropping, Steve would've said by now.

We did have problems bleeding the clutch and I was never happy with how light it was. But if there was air in the system I would expect that the clutch wouldn't disengage, or shifting would be hard. That's not what we have here. It's the total opposite.

As much as I don't like driving other people's cars, I think I want to get behind the wheel of Steve's and get the measure of it.
 
Unless of course the contamination is coming from the gearbox side, not unheard of on MTX75s if they're disturbed but hardly common.

Hydraulic and gearbox oil level need checking as a priority diagnostic factor; then slip it up and smell the results! (Bah!!)

If the cylinder has failed of course that could be grounds for a warranty claim.
 
jamie_duff said:
It's been many years since I've seen a Cougar up close but is there any rubber hose along the way of the clutch hydraulics? I can only remember hard tubing but as I said - it was years. If there is rubber hosing - did anyone clamp it for any reason? That's about the only thing I can think of that would prevent fluid from returning and therefore prevent the slave cylinder from contracting and letting the clutch engage.
Click to expand...

It's rubber until it reaches the almost-S-shaped metal hose that clips onto the gearbox, just behind and above the reverse sensor plug. We did remove that metal section to avoid it fouling the gearbox when we lowered the new unit in.

jamie_duff said:
It doesn't take all that long to drop a gearbox though - especially if the car has just been apart and therefore none of the nuts and bolts are seized.
Click to expand...

That is indeed one blessing. But if you're not taking the engine out you do need to disconnect the steering and drop the subframe, I believe. Those bolts haven't been undone in a while as far as I know...
 
benham said:
Hydraulic and gearbox oil level need checking as a priority diagnostic factor; then slip it up and smell the results! (Bah!!)
Click to expand...

I agree about the hydraulic level. Not sure about the relevance of the gearbox oil though? That's nowhere near the clutch...hopefully.

benham said:
If the cylinder has failed of course that could be grounds for a warranty claim.
Click to expand...

Only if it was within warranty. Sadly, this one is not.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.