A few weeks back, it started to shudder, then slip, then make strange noises in second gear and when the key was hit, the car, although in neutral, still felt as though it was going to take off like it was in gear as it seemed to bump forward as the starter turned.
Concensus was the clutch, not much doubt you'd reckon as it also was very heavy in the pedal and some of the noises had us convinced it was falling apart internally, so a decision was made to park it up until I had time to have a decent look.
That happened this arvo immediately following a battery recharge and I was still a bit apprehensive about the total damage mainly due to a couple of "Job's comforters" talking about gearbox internals and final drive gears and the like, so I decided a closer look was in order. Whilst standing in front as the car was started, I noticed the engine seemed to move a lot so I grabbed it and gave it a heave and thought I was going to pull the engine out of the car, so I climbed under whilst someone else gave it a pull and guess what???????????????? The bolt through the lower (donut) engine mount was missing, gone, tata, just wasn't there, so I hurredly found another and fitted it and now we have a car that can be driven until we get enough garage space to fit the new clutch. It still slips but only slightly and under pressure. This we think was caused by the entire drive train swinging off the top mount and therefore making it impossible for the clutch cable to be at a set length or out of adjustment as much as it was in and the motor being drawn in the direction the cable was pulling.
So the moral of the story is, if you think the clutch has suddenly lost its adjustmnt or suddenly starts to slip, before you either blame the pedal for cracking or the cable for stretching or the throwout bearing for boring through the fingers on the pressure plate, just check the lower mount first so you don't park up a car unnecessarily for so long that the battery goes flat.
Alan S
