Medway - I need a tow home!

[SmokinWaffle]

Clutch pedal has fallen to the floor on the BX and I'm stuck! Anyone around? Need towing from top of chatham hill to chatham elsewhere to get it home 

I know @vulgalour is nearby but unsure if the princess is up to the task 

[LightBulbFun]

  On 06/11/2020 at 15:32, SmokinWaffle said:

Clutch pedal has fallen to the floor on the BX and I'm stuck! Anyone around? Need towing from top of chatham hill to chatham elsewhere to get it home 

I know @vulgalour is nearby but unsure if the princess is up to the task 

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if this is urgent then it might be worth posting this in the main forum section as people generally tend to check out the other forum sub sections less frequently 

[SmokinWaffle]

  On 06/11/2020 at 15:34, LightBulbFun said:

if this is urgent then it might be worth posting this in the main forum section as people generally tend to check out the other forum sub sections less frequently 

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Have reported it to be moved to the main part of the forum, thank you :). Not super life changing urgent, but it's cold and I'd rather not be blocking this road haha

[vulgalour]

Unfortunately, the Princess is dead (OMGHGF) so I can't help.  There's a slim chance that the end of the clutch cable has come disconnected from the clutch pedal, this is a BX/Xantia thing that usually happens when the plastic clip breaks and you can sometimes (but not usually) get the cable reattached.  You might need to let some slack out of the cable to do it and I'm not sure where the adjuster is in the engine bay, it's been a good few years since I had to do anything with BX clutch cables.  If it went without warning, it's almost certainly the plastic bit that goes into the pedal.

I don't know if that helps you at all, but maybe you can bodge something to get you home?

[SmokinWaffle]

Got a tow on the way. Will check that when I'm back home @vulgalour, cheers!! 

[strangeangel]

Has that little rod thing fallen out of the clutch operating lever mechanism?

 

[colnerov]

 

 Switch it off, put it in gear, start it up and you're off.  Now you can practice your clutchless gear changing, Pull it out of gear as you come off the throttle and gently push it into the next one as the revs drop. After a while it will come as second nature.

 Colin

[Stanky]

/\ /\ /\

He's not wrong. The horrible graunching of gears help you learn really fast how to do smooth changes. The key is to be GENTLE with the gearstick, as you come off the throttle to change up, gentle push the gear lever and it will engage perfectly when the revs match, going to fast or pushing too hard (fnarr) will make it crunch.

Going down the gearbox is less easy than going up, but can be done. 

ANTICIPATE ahead and try to never need to go into 1st/stop. Reverse is terrifying

[castros_bro]

 

Clutch cable on my ZX 1.9D broke but I managed to drive it home- from Portugal - but didn't have to drive up Chatham Hill.

 

 

[chaseracer]

You had to drive all the way up France though!

Ah, my coat...

[SmokinWaffle]

  On 06/11/2020 at 15:56, strangeangel said:

Has that little rod thing fallen out of the clutch operating lever mechanism?

 

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Good question. Will take a closer look tomorrow! 

  On 06/11/2020 at 16:26, colnerov said:

 

 Switch it off, put it in gear, start it up and you're off.  Now you can practice your clutchless gear changing, Pull it out of gear as you come off the throttle and gently push it into the next one as the revs drop. After a while it will come as second nature.

 Colin

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  On 06/11/2020 at 16:49, Stanky said:

/\ /\ /\

He's not wrong. The horrible graunching of gears help you learn really fast how to do smooth changes. The key is to be GENTLE with the gearstick, as you come off the throttle to change up, gentle push the gear lever and it will engage perfectly when the revs match, going to fast or pushing too hard (fnarr) will make it crunch.

Going down the gearbox is less easy than going up, but can be done. 

ANTICIPATE ahead and try to never need to go into 1st/stop. Reverse is terrifying

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@colnerov - thank you. I don't know why I didn't think of this as I knew it was a thing - I've done it before and I'm good at it, Panic of the moment I suppose! 

Towed it with an XC90 until the towing eye gracefully snapped off, then stayed in 2nd most of the way home. Happy days. Thanks to you too @Stanky

[sierraman]

Not much help to you now but joining a recovery organisation is probably food for thought for the future. 

[High Jetter]

Glad you're home, but am puzzled how a towing eye can snap 'gracefully' whilst under load?

[strangeangel]

  On 06/11/2020 at 18:34, High Jetter said:

Glad you're home, but am puzzled how a towing eye can snap 'gracefully' whilst under load?

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That didn't sound good to me either! Glad you made it home anyway.

 

[busmansholiday]

Glad you're home. Some years ago the Uno's slave cylinder failed and I enjoyed* driving it home a mere 40 miles in the rush hour. Took a lot of forward planning at junctions to time it correctly to I didn't have to stop. Fortunately I was brought up with crash box buses, so the changing gear bit wasn't that difficult.

[High Jetter]

I can clearly remember this happening on a Hillman Imp, Morris Oxford and Triumph 1500FWD, maybe others. I made a point of practising clutch-less changes when I bought a new* banger and still do it occasionally if I'm bored.

[vulgalour]

Because I bet at some point after I welded the towing eye back on at the front, it's bent under again and was weakened.  It's a BX thing.  Or it's rotted further up than where I repaired it, that's also a BX thing.  Or my welds weren't as good as they looked, and that's entirely a me thing, so I hope it's not that.

[colnerov]

  On 06/11/2020 at 18:34, High Jetter said:

Glad you're home, but am puzzled how a towing eye can snap 'gracefully' whilst under load?

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Because they are made of chocolate, they're for emergency use only not towing it halfway round the country.

[wuvvum]

I've lost a few clutches over the years, usually manage to get home OK.  The one time I didn't was in an LDV 300-series spec lift with a Morris Special on the back - clutch master cylinder sprang a leak and lost all its fluid over a few miles, then I had to stop on a hill as a parked car was in the way.  The starter wasn't powerful enough to get it going uphill with a car on the back, so I was stuck until a chap with a Transit beavertail came by and towed me home.

I did once lose the brakes in a Saab 9000 automatic on the Paris périphérique and drive all the way from Paris to Norwich with no brakes, but that's a different story.

[Wack]

Glad you made it home , don't know if they're still going but autoaid used to be dirt cheap , its a pay and claim breakdown service,  I joined , 4 days later my A8 immobiliser packed up , local guy came out , £100 , they paid out within a week.

Not clutch related but the only time I've been towed by a member of the public was when my iveco daily and trailer jack knifed very gracefully at 15mph in the snow on my way back to the M1 leaving Buckingham , I was really lucky nothing was coming the other way as I completely blocked the road.

Managed to unhitch it , get it straight again but couldn't get any traction to get it moving until a guy in a freelander stopped 

He pulled me out but as soon as he stopped that was it , no traction so he towed me 10 miles all the way to the M1 

Only he thought he was part of international rescue, got a bit carried away ,started going a bit too fast, I could feel it slipping about so flashed my lights hoping he'd slow down a bit , only he didn't,  he stopped , a bit quicker than I was happy with , fuck fuck fuck , I slid to a halt about 2" from his towbar , luckily I'd used a very long strap 

When he saw me 2" from his bumper slightly sideways he realised and slowed down a bit 

[Dave_Q]

Autoaid have gone up a bit but still only 60 quid a year which is cheap compared to any of the usual suspects.

[dollywobbler]

I've just had an Autoaid recovery and it didn't cost me anything other than my annual premium. Good service.

I also had the clutch fail scenario in my first BX. Pedal box collapsed, which is something they do. 

I did limp to a friend's house with no clutch but decided recovery was a better idea across busy Birmingham.

[BeEP]

  On 07/11/2020 at 07:10, Dave_Q said:

Autoaid have gone up a bit but still only 60 quid a year which is cheap compared to any of the usual suspects.

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Yes, my renewal's just come through at £60 (that's for any vehicle you're in, and if you have a spouse they're also covered within that price).  They haven't been pay and reclaim for a number of years now, and use local contractors who will probably reach you much quicker than waiting for orange or yellow vans!

[Dave_Q]

It was a little disappointing when they went up from 40 odd quid but I guess they looked at the rest of the market and concluded they could put it up and still be significantly cheaper than AA/RAC etc, plus no age limits on your shite.

[sierraman]

I pay £120 a year with the RAC, full personal any car cover. None of this paying up front claiming back from the organisation bollocks. Went with one of those years ago, they sent some clown out from a local garage, he’s looking over the engine for about 5 minutes asking if it’s a petrol or a diesel. Similarly what would happen if you broke down 250 miles from home? The towing for that would be a right price to stump up!

[Dave_Q]

  On 07/11/2020 at 09:13, sierraman said:

I pay £120 a year with the RAC, full personal any car cover. None of this paying up front claiming back from the organisation bollocks. Went with one of those years ago, they sent some clown out from a local garage, he’s looking over the engine for about 5 minutes asking if it’s a petrol or a diesel. Similarly what would happen if you broke down 250 miles from home? The towing for that would be a right price to stump up!

Autoaid haven't been pay and claim for at least 3 or 4 years.

The people they send out are exactly the same subbies the RAC etc send when they can't get to you or you need long distance towing.

They have no limits on towing distance or car age, almost all experiences of them on here are positive.

[sierraman]

For what it’s worth I’ll stick with the RAC. Did a quote and it’d save me £2.27. 

[stephen01]

Thankfully I’ve only had to call out recovery a couple of times, we have Rac cover via our bank, and car insurance. 
 

ive not heard a bad word about auto aid mind. 

[stuboy]

the fun pedal was known to snap