17TZD clutch cable mystery

andycadabra · Post by **andycadabra** » Sun May 16, 2010 4:45 pm

my garage ordered in what is supposedly the correct clutch cable for my car ( part number QCC1426, for the 1.7 turbodiesel and 1.6 GTi only). when they took the old one off they said that the replacement was 7 cm shorter and too short to be fitted, and that I'd have to get one from a main dealer.

I've found out that clutch cables for the other BX's are longer, so it's possible that one of these had been fitted previously, and that the garage hasn't bothered to try and fit the shorter, but correct one.

They say it is fairly common to have to go to a main dealer to get a correct part, but I can't imagine that everyone who tries to fit these cables, if they are wrong, ends up returning them?.

at the moment I'm awaiting answers from eBay sellers to see if their QCC1426 cables have the required overall length of about 1400mm...

incidentally it wasn't the cable that snapped, but, annoyingly, just the flimsy cast 'hook' on the non-adjustment end.

ken newbold · Post by **ken newbold** » Sun May 16, 2010 11:45 pm

Interesting one this

I thought there were only two types of cable.

A turbo diesel car should have a cable with a long thread and nut on the gearbox end. The other type of cable has a metal piece of the end with a rectangular hole in it to fit over the clutch arm.
The two aren't interchangeable, so the big question is, does the car have the right gearbox in.

citronut · Post by **citronut** » Mon May 17, 2010 8:37 am

the one that is to short is probably for a 1.4,
i had a problem a while back were i was supplied a cable for a customers MK1 A reg 1.6TRS, my local factors say in there catalouge it specified it was the correct one for the car,

but on compairing it with the cable from the car it was about 7inch's shorter on the inner and about 9inch's to sort on the outter,

i tried to fit it but it would not go anywhere near,

regards malcolm

andycadabra · Post by **andycadabra** » Mon May 17, 2010 11:19 am

Thanks for the replies.
my old one has 5 cm of adjustment thread and a nut on the end, which is presumably the gearbox end (my PDF workshop manual lacks the clutch chapter!) the other end has just a white plastic Collar plus the thing with the 2 cm rectangular slot in it that broke.
The one my garage ordered in, I think had the same fittings, it was just too short.

andycadabra · Post by **andycadabra** » Mon May 17, 2010 12:05 pm

just rang Citroen main dealer only to be told that 4 different lengths come up for my chassis number and none of them can be ordered any more!.

Had a response from one eBay seller who says that the cables are stored off-site so can't be measured.. hmm

Post by **Tim Leech** » Mon May 17, 2010 2:39 pm

Andy, worth trying a motor factors, my local one will order the part based on the reg number and is normally spot on.

Post by **mat_fenwick** » Mon May 17, 2010 4:27 pm

Agreed, if you can befriend a good local factors, then they'll be worth their weight. With mine (although not exactly local to me!) if there is some doubt over a part they will sell me all the parts it could be, and I just return the unused ones for a refund.
One thing I would add though, during my time at Quinton Hazell it was definitely not unknown for parts to be wrongly packaged, or the catalogue cross references stating wrongly that one part covered more variants that it actually did...

Linegeist · Post by **Linegeist** » Mon May 17, 2010 5:28 pm

Mat - if I may - a question. What's QH quality like nowadays? I seem to remember they went through a sticky patch in the late 80's and QC plummeted ...............

citronut · Post by **citronut** » Mon May 17, 2010 7:10 pm

i fitted a Q/H clutch cable to a GS years ago and it failed after a very short while,

the nylon linner tried working its way out of the outter cable, crumpled up and caused the clutch to jam up

regards malcolm

Post by **mat_fenwick** » Mon May 17, 2010 9:27 pm

Well, as ex Quality Engineer there I'd have to say that it took a huge nose dive just after I left... Actually it was about 3 years ago I left, so not certain what it's like now but can say what it was like during my time.
The single biggest quality problem was parts incorrectly boxed or labelled! But, the parts that weren't made by QH (a surprisingly large number), just reboxed, were very variable. We'd test stuff beforehand to make sure it met the manufacturer's specifications, but I suspect the parts we had in for testing were not of the same standard as the ones later bought and re-sold. Some of the water pumps we got in for testing were absolutely shocking, so I would actually say QH are/were one of the better aftermarket suppliers. We did have some assembly problems in house (bits left out or incorrectly fitted) but if you got a part that had been made correctly, and put in the right box then I'd have no problems fitting them to my vehicles, which I have done and probably will do in the future. It was only water pumps and clutches that we made here in Wales when I was there, ball joints were outsourced to India a few years back and I'd be reluctant to fit them unless things have improved recently.

Linegeist · Post by **Linegeist** » Mon May 17, 2010 10:13 pm

Thanks for the straight answer.

I asked because I fitted a QH water pump to a P6 Rover 2000 a couple of years ago, and it failed within 2000 miles ........ I didn't bother to swap it for a replacement - I got the real thing from the owner's club and it's still going.

andycadabra · Post by **andycadabra** » Thu May 20, 2010 12:44 pm

I'm afraid it was local Motor Factors that had supplied the cable that were too short!. One of the eBay sellers measured the one he had for sale, and it's turned out to be ok.
Just got my car back from the garage who had quoted about £30 labour for fitting the clutch cable, but in the end wanted £100 labour, on the basis that it was a really long job and all the pedal assembly had to be removed. When I complained we agreed at £80.
Is it that hard a job? I need to consider whether I should use these guys again!

ken newbold · Post by **ken newbold** » Thu May 20, 2010 1:05 pm

I can do them in about an hour, but I've had my share of practise. They've probably tried to do it without removing the pedal box first

I suspect they might be quite pleased if you don't go back

DavidRutherford · Post by **DavidRutherford** » Thu May 20, 2010 1:18 pm

andycadabra wrote:Just got my car back from the garage who had quoted about £30 labour for fitting the clutch cable, but in the end wanted £100 labour, on the basis that it was a really long job and all the pedal assembly had to be removed. When I complained we agreed at £80.
Is it that hard a job? I need to consider whether I should use these guys again!

I don't like the job myself, and it shouldn't take as long as it does, but other people don't have as much of a problem as I did.

citronut · Post by **citronut** » Thu May 20, 2010 7:27 pm

it is a fiddly job but i never take the pedle box out,

and i think an hour is about right,

were they get 100 quid from unless they are a main dealer, as thats somewere near what they charge per hour,

regards malcolm