Technical Multipla JTD 1.9 Clutch Replacement (in progress...)

[MultiplaAbarth]

Getting there....track rod ends are ALWAYS a pain, some have Allen key holes on the ends, these of course are made of putty.
But also to stop them spinning most have been machined so that you can get a spanner, cant remember what size, guessing 17mm, on what you think will be a round surface on the other side of the "bolt" ie next to the rubber boot, very thin space to get in by the ball joint, but it's there...if you keep your multipla for a few years this will be handy to know as these bl@@dy things are almost a service item..

 

[MarkX]

Thanks MultiplaAbarth. Don't know about the track rod ends, but I found spanner flats at the back of the drop links, but it requires a thin spanner. The nuts were very very tight, too tight to undo all the way, so I sawed the bolts off. I don't have a Dremel, but for next time I wonder if you can get little cutting discs for B&D portable drills?

Weather looks good this weekend. Hopefully I'll be nearly finished by the end of Today. Looking forward to firing up the engine for the first time in 6 months...

Wondering whether to have a go at the front wishbones - whether my back will take it! I've bought the 'bones and downloaded a step by step guide off the 'net.

Also I've got to cobble together new screen washer tubing for MOT purposes.

The front of my house/street looks quite naked without a big green (pea green) monster sitting in front of it.

 

[MarkX]

OS driveshaft back in, had problems, will tell fix later.

Just for completeness... The other day, I couldn't get the bl**dy OS driveshaft all the way into the gearbox, it was about 1/2" through the OS driveshaft seal, and the whole OS inner driveshaft bearing was about 2mm OS of/outside the holder, so the driveshaft was 3/4"/18mm, say from being completely home. There seemed to be an obstruction somewhere. Got a bit worried, local garage man wouldn't come out to have a look.

So I thought well the hub is pretty heavy and I'm having to lift that up and shove it in, I'll jack up the hub to the same level as the driveshaft and the jack can take the weight as I'm pushing in... Bingo! It took 2 sharp pushes and the driveshaft went home. It must've been the weight of the hub pulling in the opposite direction that stopped the driveshaft going in. Phew.

 

[MultiplaAbarth]

Never seen cutting discs for BnD drills, but have had my £20 small disc cutter for years, very usefull for cutting and grinding in small spaces, I never want to use a mini hacksaw ever again, or a large hacksaw for that matter.
Which model multi have you got, I used to have a green 105jtd, nice darkish green colour, very subtle and frog like..was tempted to colour code the bumpers and lower sills...never got round to it...
Suns out today, YAY!...

 

[MarkX]

JTD 110 51 plate. Light green colour. I think the paintwork is in amazing nick for its age. Very little, hardly any rust. It was previously owned by a vicar. When the garage I bought it from told me that (the b*stard must have known the clutch was on its way out, "Oh, the front discs might need replacing before long..." Yeah? What about the clutch you f*cker...), I thought yeah right, and before that it was owned by some nuns who don't get out of their nunnery much... but I checked and indeed the previous owner before me was a member of the clergy. Wonder if he was a careful owner too...?

 

[MultiplaAbarth]

Must be the nuns dark side, drive like demons probably, revving up at the lights, frying the clutch, drag starts, yeah seen it all before mate, vicars not much better, tearaways the lot of em!
They probably prayed that the car would get them to the dealer before it give up, bet they part ex'd for a scooby! With remap of course.

 

[MarkX]

Must be the nuns dark side, drive like demons probably, revving up at the lights, frying the clutch, drag starts, yeah seen it all before mate, vicars not much better, tearaways the lot of em!
They probably prayed that the car would get them to the dealer before it give up, bet they part ex'd for a scooby! With remap of course.

B*stards!

 

[MarkX]

Which reminds me of a religious joke, well several in fact...

The Mother Superior gets up one morning in her convent and as she's walking along the corridor to breakfast, a nun passes her and says: "Did you get out of bed on the wrong side this morning, Mother Superior?". Mother Superior is bemused and carries on walking. A short time later another nun passes her and says: "Did you get out of bed on the wrong side this morning, Mother Superior?". Mother Superior is a bit irritated now but carries on walking. A little further on another nun passes and says: "Ah, did you get out of bed on the wrong side this morning, Mother Superior?". By now Mother Superior is fuming, so she stops the nun and says: "WHY ON EARTH DID YOU SAY I GOT OUT OF BED ON THE WRONG SIDE THIS MORNING?!!". And the nun says: "Because you're wearing Father O'Malley's bedroom slippers!"

This whole clutch replacement mallarkey has just been a ruse to start unleashing old jokes on the unsuspecting public...

 

[MarkX]

Front exhaust is on...

I butchered the front rubber hanger on removal, so I've replaced it with cable-ties for the time being.

Shouldn't need to get under the car again hopefully. Not much left to do.

Frozen right upper back is hurting bad. Need a physio.

Mark

 

[MarkX]

Progress Today...

- Front exhaust on
- Gear linkage cable bracket and cables installed
- Clutch slave cylinder installed
- Gear box oil leak?

Front exhaust on: Described in previous post.

Gear linkage cable bracket and cables installed: Just when you think you're on the home straight you get bitten on the a**. I struggled with installing the cable bracket until I realised how to reinstall it. When I disconnected the cable bracket originally, I removed the small gear cable pivot/tube from the bracket first to improve access to the 3 bolts securing the bracket to the gearbox. So on reinstallation, plan A was to reverse the removal process: so I installed the 3 bracket bolts first, then tried to install the small gear cable pivot/tube. Result: couldn't do it. Once I'd installed the bracket onto the gearbox, I found it impossible to mount the pivot/tube back into the cable bracket because it's such a tight fit into the bracket, and there is no room for manoeuvre. The 2 seals on the end of the tube kept dropping off as well. Very frustrating.

So plan B, which is how I did it, is to fully install the pivot/tube into the bracket first, including the long central bolt, tightened to spec. Then I installed the cable bracket on the gearbox. All 3 bracket bolts are accessible, however, access to the top left bolt is restricted by the pivot/tube. Access to the other 2 bolts is no problem. To tighten the top left bolt, I started by screwing it in by hand as far as I could, then used a 13mm ring spanner which, due to the restricted access, can only be turned through 1/6 turn at a time. When the bolt is all the way in, I found it just possible to get a 3/8" drive socket and torque wrench on it. I think a 13mm ratchet ring spanner would be ideal for this bolt, and a small diameter 13mm socket.

I then jumped into the car and tested gear selection. No problem with selection of gears 1 to 5, but Reverse was a bit crunchy. See if things improve once I've got a running engine.

Incidently, I was able to reattach the gear cable end sockets onto the gear lever balls by hand, without needing any tools. They went on quite easily by hand. Before I did that I removed the rust and muck from the balls with a plastic scouring pad.

Clutch slave cylinder installed: 2 x 13mm bolts. No problem. The piston obligingly pushed in no problem when I pushed it against the end of the clutch lever to line up the slave cylinder with the 2 mounting holes in the bellhousing/gearbox. I then jumped into the car to test the NEW! clutch operation. Pushed the pedal down and it feels... light, smooth and silent! Quite a contrast to when the clutch broke 6 months ago. Also when the clutch broke it felt and sounded like the master cylinder was scr*wed as well. Tonight's demo showed me that the master cylinder is probably OK. I had forgotten my digicam so couldn't see/record the clutch slave cylinder/clutch lever working, maybe try it tomorrow.

Gear box oil leak?: While I was doing the above, a noticed oil dripping from the bottom of the bellhousing. Colour (clear) and smell told me it was gearbox oil, not engine oil. A relief that it's not engine oil, because that could've meant that the (new) crankshaft rear oil seal was leaking. So the other possibilities are: a) The OS driveshaft oil seal (new), b) the gearbox input shaft oil seal (new), or... c) maybe I overfilled the gearbox/diff? The drips are closest to the OS driveshaft oil seal - directly underneath - so that's my guess, or I overfilled. The owners handbook states the gb/diff capacity as 1.98L as I posted previously, but I drained out only 1.75L of old gearbox oil in total, and refilled with just short of 2L (new). By the time I'd finished working on the car Today, the leak had stopped. Will have to investigate. If it's the OS driveshaft oil seal at least I can get to the seal w/o removing the gearbox again, and I do have a spare seal. Hope it'll get through the MOT.

Think that's the worst of the reinstallation over with. The remainder tomorrow is all straightforward - the battery stand I have tackled before so shouldn't be a problem.

Mark

 

[MarkX]

Progress Today...

Well I was hoping to report that everything had been done, and I've fired up the engine for the first time in 6 months, however I...

- Reconnected the gearbox earth
- Installed big hose at back of engine
- Installed air filter box bracket
- Installed inertia switch
- Installed intercooler pipes
- Installed battery tray
- Attached fuse box to battery stand
- Installed MAF sensor, air filter box and pipe
- Installed engine soundproofing cover
- Installed battery

So everything is back in/on the car. I cleaned pipes and things before installing, doesn't take long, saved me getting messed up when I put things back.

And then I turned the key to fire up the engine...

Result: Nothing. Lights came on on the dash but nothing else. Didn't hear the starter motor cranking over at all.

I think the battery could be knackered. Normally with my charger when you first connect the battery the gauge shows 1 amp, say, going into the battery, and the needle drops as the battery charges, falling to 0 amps when the battery is fully charged. I noticed Today that the needle is staying at about 1 amp, so I guess the battery isn't charging. I hope the problem is just a duff battery, it's also not been used for 6 months.

The other possibility is, I don't know, does a security mechanism engage when the car hasn't been used for a while? The owner's guide mentions an emergency startup procedure where you enter a key code...? Never had to do it before. If it's relevant, my car key was able to engage/disengage the alarm system...

Mark

Note: Installing the battery tray - while a pain, it gets easier with practice and the right method and tools. What helps: I installed it before I installed the airbox to improve access, kept the inertia switch out of the way (only one 10mm bolt to undo), cleaned up the battery tray bolt threads with a wire brush on my portable drill, and used my stubby 3/8" ratchet wrench plus 6"/15cm and 3"/7.5cm extensions to reach all the bolts. The hidden bolt - low back right - I found I could reach with my left hand under the tray holding the stubby wrench with the 13mm socket on the end of the 3" extension. Easy peasy, at last.

 

[widemouthfrog]

How long has it been since the battery was last used? Also, how long have you had it on charge, and is it a trickle or a fast charger you're using?

 

[MarkX]

How long has it been since the battery was last used? Also, how long have you had it on charge, and is it a trickle or a fast charger you're using?

How long since last used? - 6 months, since I last used the car.

How long on charge? - At least 2 nights, and during the day.

Trickle or fast? - Does both, and I've tried both.

 

[widemouthfrog]

Mmm. If that's the case after charging for 2 days, it doesn't sound good. I've had extremely flat batteries that show very little current when first put on charge, that then pick up to around 1 amp after 2-3 hours on the charger. Any idea how old the battery is?

 

[MarkX]

Not really. It doesn't look very new. Looks a few years old to me. I'm going out to the car later so I'll see if there is a date on it.

Just checked and Halfords do a battery for about £50 which seems to be the going rate. I can afford it, but it's a lot of money to me at the moment.

 

[widemouthfrog]

Have you got a multimeter to put across it?

 

[MultiplaAbarth]

Sounds like a duff battery, batteries dont like lying round doing nothing, they get bored and cark it, especially after 6 months..
Probably not practical for you to test the battery on a used starter motor or other car before you buy another battery, jump start?
Could be bad earth connection?
Bad battery terminal connection?
Doubt very much its immobiliser based, if its the right key, and the key fault light isnt showing on the dash, it should be fine, I used to make and program car keys!
Theres also the thin cable that attaches to the starter motor (above the thick red positive) cable that energises the starter motor solenoid, is this attached, as its a bit fiddly to put on, you should at least hear a small click-solenoid.
Does the radio work, headlights work?
Put on main beam, if its bright and doesnt lose bricghtness quickly, sound like the battery might be ok, full beam takes a fair bit of current.

 

[MarkX]

Yes, I've just dug it out.

Looked on WikiHow just now, it says: If your (fully charged) battery is in good condition, the voltage should be between 12.4 and 12.7 volts. Will test it shortly.

I've had my charger for years and know how it operates, and normally as I said the charge drops to 0 amps when the battery is fully charged. The needle doesn't get anywhere near 0 with this battery, needle not dropping at all.

 

[MarkX]

Thanks for the info both of you. Will report back when I've been out to car.

Completely different topic which one of you mentioned in a previous post - the clutch fork top bearing which was bronze/brass-type metal (now plastic) appears to have worn the bellhousing hole it sits in. With the clutch slave cylinder off, the clutch lever/top bearing/bush wobbles around in the top hole. It's definitely not the fork to blame as both fork and top bearing/bush are brand new.

I'm thinking that as the top fork bearing can be replaced without having to remove the bellhousing, how about getting an oversized top bush made to be a better fit in the worn bellhousing hole than the standard replacement bush? The bush is a relatively simple design - just a cylinder with a wider rim round the top, and a locating lug. Just need to get the internal and external diameters right. Or... could use an extra, thin sleeve around the original replacement - if you could guarantee it wouldn't disintegrate and/or drop into the bellhousing...

Mark

 

[MarkX]

PPS. Another hot topic discussed previously... wear on clutch fingers/does the release bearing contact the clutch fingers when you're not pressing the clutch pedal?

I think the answer must be YES.

Reason: Before I reinstalled the clutch slave cylinder, the clutch lever was completely free to move, when I installed the slave cylinder, there was resistance from the clutch lever which could only have come from the clutch fingers/ springs pushing against the release bearing which pushes against the clutch fork which pushes against the clutch lever.