[deep-six]

Hi all

I posted on this one a while, back. My 89 Vitara 1.6 has a very heavy clutch pedal, I think it should be a lot lighter. Its like driving a truck with a 16 inch spicer clutch.

A while back when I first got this Vitara I replaced the clutch with a standard Exedy unit, at the same time I replaced the cable with an aftermarket cable from 4WD products.

I wanted to replace the cable knowing they were a problem after experience with my previous Vitara, plus the fact the firewall was cracked and needed repair where the cable bolts on.

I have been struggling with this for a long time, it makes it just a struggle to drive, the pedal has a notchy feel and is very heavy when you disengage the clutch.

Following advice from this forum I got some cable lube and lubed the existing cable, I think it made it a bit better for a while but back to its old self now.

I am contemplating biting the bullet and paying $120 or so for a genuine Suzuki cable but just wanted to get some idea if anyone else has had this problem and can offer some suggestions.

Please help, this vitara is really a pig to drive and could be a whole lot better.


Cheers

Ric

[11_evl]

Just get one from wreckers.

[FullyZooked]

Aftermarket cables are shit. Get a genuine cable and you'll be right.

[royce]

I killed a genuine cable in a week

I think the whole system seems to suck and the only cure is regular cable lube

[FullyZooked]

Its strange. Mine with new exceedy clutch and original cable is smooth as silk. You can press it in with you thumb.

I would be looking for other issues such as cable route(make sure its not on sharp bends), swivel arm bushes/bearing where the cable attaches(hit it with some spray grease and then ofcourse the pedal pivot point. Lots of spray grease

[deep-six]

Thanks Guys

I'm not sure what the problem, is, I did squirt a lot of inox up around the pedal pivot bushes a while back, didn't seem to help a lot, so damn hard to reach too, would hate to have to replace the bushes at some stage.
I really want to avoid pulling the box back out to check the cross shaft, not even sure if there are any bushes there or it just runs on the alloy, guess I should check my suzuki electronic parts manual on that one.
The whole system seems crap, but then FZ has a nice pedal so I can't figure it out.
Guess I will just have to fork over the bucks for a new OE cable and see where it goes from there.

Cheers

[Jagman]

Mine was very heavy and I found the clutch fork pivot rod was dry( yes there is bushes) and the snout on the front of the box where the throw out bearing runs was also very dry. Lubricated and all is sweet.

[deep-six]

Hi Jagman

Could be the answer. I did degrease and hotwash the bell housing to get rid of all the crap when I had the gearbox out. Made a point of greasing the snout where the thrust bearing slides but didn't think to lube the pivot rod.
But can you lube the pivot rod without pulling the gearbox???

[Jagman]

deep-six wrote:

Hi Jagman

Could be the answer. I did degrease and hotwash the bell housing to get rid of all the crap when I had the gearbox out. Made a point of greasing the snout where the thrust bearing slides but didn't think to lube the pivot rod.
But can you lube the pivot rod without pulling the gearbox???

You might be able to use some spray grease in the holes of the box where the rod runs but not sure how well it will do the job. I greased mine when I did my clutch(snout and pivot rod), however after driving through water is when I noticed it getting heavy again. Then when I couldn't take anymore and pulled the box out again is when I found both of them with barely any lube on them. And what was there had caught a heap of dirt and grit which I reckon wasn't helping matters.
Might not be your problem, but when I was scratching my head wondering what else there was it could be, that was it.

[deep-six]

Well Guys, Glad to report the problem is now fixed. I went and got a genuine clutch cable, fitted it today and what a difference.

Now the clutch works smooth as silk, you can actually feel the diphragm in the pressure plate go over centre as you depress the pedal. Before it was just horrible. I used to dread gear changes and taking off from a stop because the clutch was just a pig.

The car is a whole different vehicle to drive now, even changes gears better and no longer crunching into 3rd.

All I can say is if you are having this problem don't even think about using an aftermarket cable, the price is tempting but it will give you more grief than its worth. I got my aftermarket cable from 4WD Products, I am very unhappy with it.
Its just a total waste of money which could have been better spent on something useful. Only had it in for 9 months and its been a pig since day one.

Many thanks to all here who replied and gave me tips and advice.

Cheers

[royce]

how does the old cable feel? is it stiff or notchy at all out of the car?

if you dont plan to keep it as a spare cut the gearbox end off and pull it apart and see if there was any gunk or fraying inside

[deep-six]

Hi Mate

When I pulled the old cable out I layed it along side the new cable to compare, worked both cables by hand and they seemed to both offer the same resistance. At that point I though Oh Crap, I've just wasted a hundred bucks on a new cable.
But after I put the new one in, total different story, well you know that from my rave above.
All I can say about the old cable is when I squirted some cable lube down it a couple of months back a lot of black liquid came out of the end, don't know if that meant anything.
Not sure if I will keep the old cable, probably give it away to some poor person on this board like I did with my old soft top.

Cheers