54-plate fiesta ABS problems NOW CLUTCH PROBLEMS

[sierraman]

I hope not. Otherwise it’s goodnight Vienna for it. Forking out for another gearbox fitting won’t be cheap. If I could find one easy...

[Mr_Bo11ox]

No oil drain? WTF man

[cobblers]

Yeah I still stink of gearbox oil after doing a clutch on my mums ka ten years ago.

[sierraman]

Find somewhere that fits clutches regular, they’ll be quicker. Not Mr Clutch though obviously.

 

Guessing it’d be a couple of hundred labour and should have some sort of guarantee on it for however many miles.

[Mr_Bo11ox]

I'm shelling out money left right and centre.... this week it's the friggin pet insurance and £300 on a Eurotunnel crossing for a week's holiday, I cannot face another £350 bill this week so I'm defo DIYing it. Just bought a big syringe to suck the oil out.

[twosmoke300]

If you can get the pipe past the gears. Prepare for oil everywhere inc up to the arm pits

[Mr_Bo11ox]

Hmmm! There must be a filler plug hole surely.

[sierraman]

Good luck with whatever you end up doing. How much is the clutch kit? Don’t bother with those cheap transmech jobbies from ECP, get a decent LUK or Sachs one. Probably preaching to the converted here but thought I’d mention it.

[Talbot]

No oil drain? WTF man

Drill a hole at the lowest point, then tap and fit an M10 bolt with a dowty washer behind it perhaps?

 

I can sortof understand no level plug, and you just have to fill from empty a known quantity, but no drain plug is just ridiculous.

[mrbenn]

There's no drain plug on my Focus (IB5 gearbox), either. I tried sucking the oil out of the filler hole. Got about 300ml out then gave up. In a "shit or bust" move that could potentially have gone either way, I removed some sort of detent that allowed the oil to flow out easily. Some people say nuns and kittens will meet an untimely end if you do this, others have done it without issue. I did poo myself a bit, though.

 

Filler in blue, "drain" in red.

[Talbot]

I removed some sort of detent that allowed the oil to flow out easily. Some people say nuns and kittens will meet an untimely end if you do this, others have done it without issue. I did poo myself a bit, though.

Could it be a case of "you can do this, but don't move the gear lever while the detent cover is off, or the entire contents of the gearbox will spring out through the hole"

 

Detent plugs are like this on the CX. You can remove them just fine, but if you so much as breathe on the gear linkages the entire world will end.

[sierraman]

Drill a hole at the lowest point, then tap and fit an M10 bolt with a dowty washer behind it perhaps?

 

I can sortof understand no level plug, and you just have to fill from empty a known quantity, but no drain plug is just ridiculous.

Can just see all the gearbox oil suddenly pissing out all over your arms as you drill this hole. Assuming the driveshaft comes out ok, just put a big sump tray underneath to catch as much as possible then put back in what’s come out.

[mrbenn]

Could it be a case of "you can do this, but don't move the gear lever while the detent cover is off, or the entire contents of the gearbox will spring out through the hole"

 

Detent plugs are like this on the CX. You can remove them just fine, but if you so much as breathe on the gear linkages the entire world will end.

 

 

Ah, now then, you're quite right. I missed off that very important piece of advice - have the gearbox in neutral and don't touch it during the work!!

[Lankytim]

Going back a page, it's a pity this brake failure didn't happen when I had a Fiesta for parts to go onto the Fusion. I didn't have space for it so removed what I needed and weighed the rest in!

 

I do still have the 1400cc engine and box in my garage complete though.

[Mr_Bo11ox]

Well this Fiesta has only done about 75k or something and the engine and box are pretty mint, although is it one SLOW ASS VEHICLE. I’m sure it should be livelier but theres nowt obviously awry - sounds OK, starts on the button, averages 40 mpg, no lights on or owt…. it just feels asthmatic.

[Lankytim]

Our Fusion goes really well round town, really zippy. I think something is up with yours, unless the auto ECU is different or something.

[Mr_Bo11ox]

Maybe I will experiment with my Delphi DS thingy and see if I can take a glimpse inside the workings of its mind while driving.

[PhilA]

No sensors or switches or such on the bottom of the gearbox that can be undone?

 

Renault fitted as many as they could to mine to give as many places as possible to leak from.

 

 

Phil

[sierraman]

After this clutch swap how often are you going to change the gearbox oil? Can’t see the point drilling holes in casings to provide a drain. Most of it will piss out anyway the moment you pull the driveshaft cup out.

[jonathan_dyane]

It's lazy and wrong but I would unclip the gaiters and just withdraw the tripods leaving the ends of the driveshaft still in the final drive. As long as you wrap plastic bags around the greasy bits it will survive. My other laziness would be to not bother removing the driveshaft from the other end just breaking the bottom balljoint and using a nice bit of wood to prop the leg out the way. Doesn't work so well if the long driveshaft has a support bearing though...

[sierraman]

Why is that wrong? Sometimes those driveshaft cups can be a right bastard to get out. Can’t see a problem so long as you pack the joint out again with some grease.

[twosmoke300]

Sometimes the cup will stop the box coming out past the subframe or the back of the engine .

[omegod]

I think it's the same as the 1.25 box, I've done 2 clutches,

 

You'll need 2 x new lower arm pinch bolts/nuts as they always need twatting out,

Drivers side driveshaft will pull out easy but passenger one may need knocking out gently internally from the other side with a long screwdriver as it's got a meaty circlip

Passenger engine mount under the battery needs removing so it's a 2 jack job, one to lower engine one to support box while you remove the nuts

I got away without undoing the exhaust, just don't lower the engine too much

Clutch itself is a doddle

Twat to line up again and a tight fit to get the box back up into the right area cos chassis leg but raise 2 jacks slowly and they will pop together

 

Hub nuts are VERY easy to misthread but outer CV joints are only £14 from GSF with a code with new nuts etc and not a bad idea given the shafts are off 

 

Local decent place quoted me £204 for a full LUK kit supplied and fitted, they will be doing the next one !!

[Mr_Bo11ox]

£204 fitted is a good price, I just paid £108 for a LUK kit from Andrew Page!!!

 

I've got one of those engine support beam thingys which help a lot with transverse clutch jobs. Its all sounding do-able at least.

[sierraman]

Learnt my lesson there, don’t fuck about swapping CV joints, joint was £15 delivered, the entire driveshaft was £30. For sake of a few quid I wouldn’t fuck about swapping just the joint.

[egg]

It was £350 for a clutch change on my Fusion down here in the expensive south. Had done 114k and 15 years on the original.

[sierraman]

I reckon you’d get it done for £300 up here easily especially if you can find somewhere not VAT registered.

[omegod]

Learnt my lesson there, don’t fuck about swapping CV joints, joint was £15 delivered, the entire driveshaft was £30. For sake of a few quid I wouldn’t fuck about swapping just the joint.

 

A good point well made !

[Mr_Bo11ox]

Halfway through this job now, so far so good. I did chip a little piece out of the gearbox casing while fannying about getting the shaft out though .

[Isaac Hunt]

Well done, to a man who knocks out KV6 Cambelt changes, this is a walk in the park.

 

I'be done the job on a Fester ST150 (same box diff belhousing for the Mazda derived 2.0 lump IIRC)

 

If that clutch cover is 'self adjusting' make sure it is still set to the the 'unadjusted state'. When I did an ST150, I was using a new driven plate but the original cover (clutch wasn't worn but gearbox mainshaft had snapped) so a new driven plate was a 'whilst it is all out may as well). Caused me no end of grief and had to take the fekkin box out a second time. The cover had 'adjusted up' to take out the wear in the original drive Plate. I put a new unworn drive Plate in and the pedal was rock solid. I had to reset the clutch cover. A mate of mine said they always check the covers before fitting as a drop in the parts dept can have them ratcheting up so to speak.