Driving without the clutch ?

[masona]

My son's Fiat Seicento 900 clutch cable snapped while learning to drive. Called the National Breakdown Recovery to be towed home and they said you could've drove it home without the clutch, I have heard of this but not sure if it's practical. Can it be done safely ?


Info,
I have read that these model are prone to clutch cable snapping and best to change it every 18,000 miles and I understand that they are difficult to do !

 

[david and julie]

I haven't changed a clutch cable on one so don't know how hard they are.

One of the reasons clutch cables break is because of our cars being R/H drive. Most FWD cars have the gearbox to the L/H side and on L/H drive cars they have shorter straighter cable runs. When changing to R/H drive the cable takes a longer and sometimes more complicated route.

You can drive home by starting the engine (warm engine is better) in first or second gear and then drive without the clutch. You have to take your foot off the gas and let the revs drop to change gear but It is not as bad as it sounds to do.

It is not practical if there is traffic but would certainly be OK on open roads or motorways.

 

[masona]

When changing to R/H drive the cable takes a longer and sometimes more complicated route.

Spot on ! I can see a metal rod all the way to the passenger side and the clutch cable goes into a floor plate and from what I understand you have to take the front wheel off as well !

You can drive home by starting the engine (warm engine is better) in first or second gear and then drive without the clutch. You have to take your foot off the gas and let the revs drop to change gear but It is not as bad as it sounds to do.

So what you mean is to leave it in the same gear and not change the gears ?
And when you stop at the traffic light you turn the engine off maybe ?

 

[AdamW]

What Dave is describing is matching the engine revs exactly. Say you are going from 2nd to 3rd, at 20mph. Engine might be turning at 2000rpm in 2nd, will be turning say 1500rpm. So, you knock the stick into neutral, match engine speed, with road speed for the gear, and put the stick into third.

A mate of mine reckons you can do this without any crunching, but I am not so convinced!

 

[david and julie]

You change up as Adam say's and he describes it correctly. It is the other way round when changing down, you rev the engine up, like we had to do before we had synchromesh gearboxes.

When approaching lights etc, slow right down in 2nd gear to try to judge the lights to avoid stopping. If you have to stop put it in neutral and coast to a stop. Then start in first or second as we said earlier.

Adam's friend is right it is nowhere near as hard or complicated as it sounds. It is just as smooth if you get it right.

Fiat used to have lot of problems with clutch cables, It sounds a good idea using a rod. It sounds like they have copied dual control cars and kept the original L/H drive cable.

 

[Paul_C]

I had to do just this with an acquaintances' car a few months ago when the clutch cable snapped about 20 miles from base. Once you get the feel of the road speed to engine revs for the paritcular car, it's not as bad as it sounds. (O.K., I did crunch it a few times, but it wasn't too bad!).

The couple of miles through town at rush-hour was the awkward part. As stated above, if you can slow down and try to catch the lights at green to avoid stopping, it makes it easier, otherwise into neutral, coast to the light, switch the engine off. and engage 1st or 2nd gear. Fire up the engine on green, and away you go again.

 

[andy]

last year me and my dad went to help my grandad with his milk round. 1/2 into it (at 6AM) the clutch pipe burst so we had to finish the round w/o the clutch. fortunatly my dad was drivin and could drive w/o the clutch

 

[AdamW]

There is another use of starting the engine in gear, taught to me by my mother. If you stall/break down on a level crossing, then put the car in first and turn the key to START until the starter motor has pulled you clear.

Also, this could be applied elsewhere, on a car that doesn't start in a hurry, doing this would be quicker than starting the engine then using that to pull away.

Wouldn't advise doing it on a regular basis mind!

 

[david and julie]

And undoing stuck wheel nuts and front pulley bolts, but you have to be very careful, and remove a wire to stop engine starting.

 

[AdamW]

Not sure I would want my hands anywhere near a pulley with the engine moving. I knew a guy who lost about a centimetre of his index finger after sticking it too close to a cam-shaft pulley. Put him right off the idea of being a motor-mechanic, decided to be a barman instead!

 

[david and julie]

You don't do that Adam. You use a strong arm (long socket wrench) and rest it on the floor then flick the key.

I wish I hadn't said it now, any mechanics allready know how to do this and I suppose it could be dangerous if you don't do it right.

Sorry.

 

[masona]

Thanks lads, good details here.

There is another use of starting the engine in gear, taught to me by my mother. If you stall/break down on a level crossing, then put the car in first and turn the key to START until the starter motor has pulled you clear.

A useful information for emergency reason.

Right now then you clever lots, is it illegal to drive with no clutch because the way I see it, you don't have full control of the car ???

 

[TexMex]

It's a shame they don't supply cranking handles anymore. What does it cost, just a cammed nut on the crank pulley, and a hole through the rad and grill. With one of these you could start the vehicle single handed even with a flat battery. I know they think it is dangerous, but how safe is it, to push a car down a hill, with no-one in the drivers seat, and hope you don't trip over before it carears out onto the main road?

These were also really usefull for getting trucks up sand dunes. I saw it once on a film. Can't remember it's name though. So what would you do now, if you found yourself in the middle of the Sahara, with a clapped out engine, a German spy and a flat battery? You'd have to modify it into an aeroplane and fly the b*gger out, that's what. And you think you've got problems with a snapped clutch cable

 

[chainsaw_masochist]

It's a shame they don't supply cranking handles anymore. What does it cost, just a cammed nut on the crank pulley, and a hole through the rad and grill. With one of these you could start the vehicle single handed even with a flat battery. I know they think it is dangerous, but how safe is it, to push a car down a hill, with no-one in the drivers seat, and hope you don't trip over before it carears out onto the main road?

It would probably put the AA out of business for starters. Most of there callouts are to folks with flat batteries. More seriously though a modern car's engine management system would be unlikely to be configured so as to accomodate a manual crank start. Also remember even bump starting can wreck the catalyst as it takes in unburnt fuel.

 

[Malc]

As well as level crossings you can use the first gear and starter motor to get you out of fords when you have gone in too fast and water has done for the electrics.

Also, for flat batteries I have one of the those starter boxes that you clip on. They're fairly cheap these days. AFAIR mine was under 20 quid. Good xmas present for someone who has a iffy battery, or leaves their lights on