Grannie's Clutch Judder | Technical matters | Back Room Forum

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Thu 23 May 2002 23:03

Grannie's Clutch Judder - Dizzy {P}

My friend Graham has a 1984 Ford Granada 2.3 with 65000 miles on the clock, owned by him from new. He loves the car except for one thing ... it has always suffered severe clutch judder. The main dealer fitted two new clutches and even a new flywheel under warrantee but the problem remained.

Graham eventually decided that the judder was nothing to do with the clutch but was caused by the very tight bend in the operating cable. A new cable was fitted and this solved the problem for a very short while, but soon the constant rubbing of the inner cable on the sheath led to the judder re-appearing. He bought a new cable and pumped a very slippery and clinging aircraft grease through it, then asked the dealer to fit it. This gave a bit longer freedom from judder but he gets only around 12-18 months of smooth driving before the judder returns with a vengeance.

Graham wants to keep the car for a few more years but is getting tired of messing about with the clutch cable. At one time, when the car was a couple of years old, he asked if it could be converted to automatic transmission but we decided against that on cost grounds. Today he asked if it could be converted to hydraulic clutch operation but I felt that this would be quite difficult. I suggested avoiding the sharp bend by splitting the cable in two and having a bell-crank at the point of the bend, but on second thoughts, this would also be difficult and time-consuming.

Knowing that Backroomers never get stumped for an answer, I have decided to throw the question open to you, the reader. Please can anyone suggest an answer to this problem? (So far as I know, the cable cannot be re-routed.)

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Thu 23 May 2002 23:42

Grannie's Clutch Judder - BrianW

If it can be converted to hydraulic operation I would go for it.
My 105E Ford Anglia had it and it performed faultlessly for well over 100,000 miles.
Cables are a retrograde move, I really don't know why modern cars use them.

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Fri 24 May 2002 08:39

Grannie's Clutch Judder - jc

Current Fords have hydraulic clutches.

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Fri 24 May 2002 08:45

Grannie's Clutch Judder - Galaxy

Could be connected with engine and/or gearbox mountings being worn, or even faulty from new.

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Fri 24 May 2002 10:01

Grannie's Clutch Judder - Dizzy {P}

Thanks, John. It was lateral thinking of this sort that I was after. However we are sure that it is the clutch cable that's at fault. The outer sleeve has an inner lining which wears through and this is when the judder starts. The cable sticks/releases in quick succession and this results in some spectacular 'kangaroo hop' starts, rather than the more normal vibration-type judder.

Brian's comments re: converting to hydraulic operation makes me think that this might be worth doing after all. Rather than design and build from scratch, it would obviously be easier and cheaper to rob a scrapped car of its hydraulic bits. Please does anyone know if other (perhaps later) variants of the Granada engine/gearbox used hydraulics?

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Fri 24 May 2002 11:22

Grannie's Clutch Judder - Galaxy

Many years ago I owned a Ford Capri Mk 3 which had a cable operated clutch. I didn't know very much about cars then and a "friend" advised me to oil the clutch cable when servicing the car.

This I duly did and it made the car virtually undriveable. The clutch snatched uncontrollably and, as you yourself also describe, produced kangaroo starts which had to be seen to be believed!

I have since learned that these cables are coated with a nylon (or similar) covering and lubricated for life with a small plastic pot of black grease (graphite or MS, not sure which) which, in the case of the Capri, was mounted at the bulkhead end of the cable.

I myself would be wary of providing any additional lubrication whatsoever for one of these cables, after my own previous experiences. It also occurs to me whether you are using genuine Ford clutch cables? I myself would only use genuine Ford, though for a vehicle of this sort of age, they, regrettably, may no longer be available.

As to cable operated clutches not being effective and causing problems, the trouble that I describe above happened when my car had done about 26,000 miles. When I eventually scrapped the car last year it had done 255,000 miles, the clutch had been changed only once during this time, but it was still fitted with the second clutch cable. No further trouble whatsoever! Cable operated clutches do work.

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