TJAY Stang

K I'm new to this forum and I'm hoping that somebody can help me with my mustang problems. I just changed the clutch for all new parts, and now the car won't change gears when the engine is running >:[ I think it might be the clutch cable so I'm wondering if I have to replace that or if it might be something else. I'm on a very tight budget considering I'm only 16 and don't have a lot of extra cash so please give me the cheapest ideas you can think of . Thank you for all help u may provide!

TJAY Stang

Oh also the sleeve that the release bearing sits on is loose and makes a lot of noise (sounds like bad throw out bearing but it's not) does anyone know an easy way to fix this piece?

dawson1112

You need to set the preload on the cable. Right now the clutch is not disengaging fully .
From under the dash at the top of the clutch pedal there is a nylon quadrant with a bunch of little teeth on it. It will look like the picture.


Push the pedal to the floor and note the movement of the quadrent gear ( its the one that pulls the cable ) With the pedal to the floor you need to find a way to hold this in place , usually there is a little hook that you can press up to hold it, but a big screw driver works as well. You need to hold this in place while you lift the pedal up , you will hear some clicks . You want about 3 clicks , then you can realease the gear and allow the pedal to return to the up position. This sets the preload on the throw out bearing. It will alleviate all that rattling and noise and at the same time will set the pedal position. The more clicks you move it up the sooner it will fully disengage the clutch from the flywheel. Be careful that you don't over load the tob, other wise your clutch may slip I always start with 2 clicks , if it still is hard to put in gear repeat and do 1 click at a time till it will fully disengage and slips into gear easily.

TJAY Stang

Thanks a lot for the tip ill try that. So with the throw out bearing I forgot to mention that it made that noise b4 we changed the clutch that's why we changed it, we thought it was throw out bearing. I noticed that the sleeve had a couple spots where it was worn down so do u think ill have to replace this sleeve or will your solution still fix the problem?

BabyGT

Or you can just pull up on the clutch pedal, that causes that small plastic piece to let go of the quadrant the cable is connected to and the spring will pull it tight on the cable. That's what it's supposed to do from the factory anyway. Look up under your dash and make sure the plastic parts aren't warped or broke.

dawson1112

You do that it will release all the preload off the cable. That is how you adjust for clutch wear, but a new clutch need to have the preload set so it will disengage.

TJAY Stang

I tried pulling the clutch up like it says to in the manual and that didn't work so i'm hoping that Dawson is right I'm gonna try that today. Anyway thanks for all the tips guys they are very helpful!

dawson1112

Yea that pulling the clutch pedal up is only for adjusting the clutch as it wears down to keep it from slipping .

Your having the opposite problem. The clutch is not fully disengaging and wont let the trans go into gear. So in order to get it disengage fully with a stock cable preload needs set .

TJAY Stang

Ok so I tried this I went 8 clicks and it still wont shift while the car is running. Is there something else that could be going wrong or should I just keep going until it shifts? Also is there like a max # of clicks I should do b4 I need to stop doing it?

dawson1112

Did you get your retainer sleeve put back on? If not it probly wont shift because the throwout bearing is all over the place.

You could have a completely stretched out cable. But some times you have to bring the pedal almost to the top. Just keep doing a few clicks at a time till you can feel the clutch disengage you will feel it in the pedal as it starts to release because it will get stiffer as you push it down.