Jason Schwanz dot com

Gunky Clutch Cable

Filed under Grown Up Stuff

Got my car fixed. And the bill wasn’t too painful, which is always a bonus. That little bracket I mentioned was what connected my clutch pedal to the clutch cable to the . . . wait for it . . . clutch! A “few” dollars later and I’m driving again. My old clutch cable was all gunky (technical term) and hard to move back and forth. The new cable is clean and smooth, so I don’t have to push as hard now to shift. My left leg will start to atrophy sometime soon. Bad news is that my clutch is nearing the end of its life. But still, 145,000 miles on the original clutch cable, and I believe it’s the original clutch, too. Those parts have served their time well.

[tags]car trouble, clutch[/tags]

Who Needs a Clutch Anyways?

Filed under Grown Up Stuff

This is what I had planned for this evening:

• dinner with my parents, 5:30p
• worship rehersal for Sunday, July 23, 7p
• softball game, 8:45p

This didn’t happen. Instead this is what went down.

• dinner with my parents, 5:30p
• while driving home my clutch pedal broke, 6:45p
• call Mauri (got Sherry) to let him know that I won’t make rehersal, 6:50p
• my parents pick us up and take us home, 7p
• call insurance for towing, 7:05p
• drive back to the “dead” car to wait for tow truck, 7:25p
• tow truck shows up, 7:45p
• tow truck leaves with car, 8p
• go out to softball game, 8:20p (we won)

We were driving home after dinner, and as I pushed in the clutch to down-shift for a set of corners I heard a little pop and THUD as my clutch pedal slamed to the floor. I instinctively went to push the clutch in but couldn’t find it with my foot. I started looking down and it was just missing! Where could it be? That’s when I saw “it.” A little metal bracket, with a break down the middle, was sitting on the floor under my feet.

I laid on my back feeling around the pedal trying to find where it came from, the whole time thinking I could go get the part from Napa or AutoZone and make the quick fix on my own, but I just ended up with grease covered hands. Fortunately we have towing coverage with our insurance, so the car is now sitting at a repair shop. And fortunately the clutch itself isn’t damaged, just the thing that makes it engage.

[tags]car trouble, clutch[/tags]