Clutch Pedal linkage failure RX Turbo .

discopotato03 · Post by **discopotato03** » Mon Jan 07, 2008 6:48 am

Hi all , had a squeeky clutch pedal for a week or so and the pedal developed a fair bit of freeplay which was adjusted out via shims and the clutch pedal switch/stopper .
Went to drive home from friends place last night , pushes clutch which goes bang and pedal now stays on floor ie can move its full travel with no resistance . Bugger .
Going back this morning to pull the thing to bits to see what gives/gave .
My factory WSM shows that the pedal assembly linkage is different on turbo cars and involves another shaft and plates which actually pulls the cable . I'm not sure how the pedal arm operates this gadget but I'd say its at this point that something either broke or disconnected itself .

Later , cheers A .

Fatz · Post by **Fatz** » Mon Jan 07, 2008 6:50 am

I had the same problem with mine a few months back.
My issue turned out to be a broke pivot arm. I got a replacement, but can be fixed with a welder and some bending.

discopotato03 · Post by **discopotato03** » Mon Jan 07, 2008 7:45 am

The manual calls the turbo type secondary gadget "Lever CP" which I'll assume means lever clutch pivot . It sort of looks like a steel bushwith a short arm and pivot which supports a roller with small needle roller bearings inside it . The other end of the bush has a longer arm on it with a clevis pin and circlip which retains the cable end fork . Possibly one of these arms has detached itself from the bush and needs to be welded back in place .

Later , cheers A .

AndrewT · Post by **AndrewT** » Mon Jan 07, 2008 8:50 am

Sure u havn't just snapped the clutch cable itself?

SUBYDAZZ · Post by **SUBYDAZZ** » Mon Jan 07, 2008 8:55 am

That'd be my first guess having had this happen several times myself. The initial adjustment was likely the cable stretching slightly as the fibres break just before it went.

Let us know either way. I've had a clutch fork fail in an L-Series before though too. That was different, pedal still worked but can't change gear.

discopotato03 · Post by **discopotato03** » Mon Jan 07, 2008 11:51 am

No I was right , the turbo cars use a different system and unfortunately the part thats broken is not available through Subaru in Australia ATM .

Whats happened is that the bearing in the roller has siezed and been rubbing instead of rolling on the clutch pedal arm above its pivot . I'd say the high loadings and friction caused by the frozen roller has overloaded its spigot and torn it from its arm .

Taking it to my rally fabrication specialist who will no doubt make or reconstruct something to do the job .

Cheers and get back this evening , A .

BlackMale · Post by **BlackMale** » Mon Jan 07, 2008 12:13 pm

discopotato03 wrote:No I was right , the turbo cars use a different system and unfortunately the part thats broken is not available through Subaru in Australia ATM .

Whats happened is that the bearing in the roller has siezed and been rubbing instead of rolling on the clutch pedal arm above its pivot . I'd say the high loadings and friction caused by the frozen roller has overloaded its spigot and torn it from its arm

Yes that is it and when they go they tend to go with a bang, well at least mine did. They are more prone to busting if your using a heavy duty clutch/clutch cable. Are you sure that you can not get a replacement? I was able to get mine replaced within days.

discopotato03 · Post by **discopotato03** » Mon Jan 07, 2008 10:19 pm

Well the Subaru parts supplier in this disttict said none available in Australia .

Anyhow what my wizzards did was deduce that this piece of linkage has been welded back in place before only the weld only penetrated about a third of the way around the back of the rollers spigot pin .
The answer was to remove the frozen needle roller bearing and lightly machine the section where it had been as it was damaged . The remains of the non std weld were ground off the arm and the pin Mig welded in place properly . AJ of SWR turned up a bush from some form of self lubricating delrin like material to replace the bearing and carry the hardened roller bush than runs against the top of the pedal arm . Its been greased and now all back together thank god .
I never did like being on my back in a foot well and needing three hands while not having room for one .

Anyhow the clutch is much lighter to use now plus the gears are changing more easily as well .

Cheers A .

P.S Yes it did go with a bang and seemed a bit mysterious until I noticed the sheared off spigot pin/roller assy sitting on top of the foot rest in daylight .

Suby Wan Kenobi · Post by **Suby Wan Kenobi** » Tue Jan 08, 2008 1:04 am

Only recently had to do the same with mine but i used bronze for the bearing and fitted a grease nipple

discopotato03 · Post by **discopotato03** » Tue Jan 08, 2008 8:54 am

Yes we would had used bronze as well but they didn't have any on hand at the time . Thats going to be the long term fix if I can't locate a std link in good enough condition to fit new bearings to .

Seems like a common problem in high mileage cars which they all are now - RX's that is .
I guess if spares became non existant we could use the non turbo type pedal box and fittings which would be easy to get from wreckers .

Lastly I did notice my 3 plug 86 RX has a microswitch on the throttle pedal assy , anyone know what this does ?

Cheers , A .

BlackMale · Post by **BlackMale** » Tue Jan 08, 2008 1:48 pm

Good to hear that she’s all sorted and that job will not need doing for a long time (if at all).

Suby Wan Kenobi · Post by **Suby Wan Kenobi** » Tue Jan 08, 2008 10:27 pm

I will be pulling my pedal arangement out soon and making a copy of it to make another but change the ratios on the throw to something i like better.

Yeah the switch on the throttle is the throttle pedal switch

discopotato03 · Post by **discopotato03** » Tue Jan 08, 2008 10:35 pm

I'm not with you here , I know the TPS has idle and about half throttle contacts (turbo 3 plug TPS) but what circuit does the microswitch on the pedal switch ?

Cheers A .

P.S , you would have noticed that the longer arm on this linkage has a second hole though I'd reckon at that lever ratio it'd really load up the roller spigot on the shorter arm .

discopotato03 · Post by **discopotato03** » Wed Jan 09, 2008 9:14 am

Also the current part number for this linkage part is 36037GA601 , original Pt no was one less so possible update for this issue ?

Cheers A .

steptoe · Post by **steptoe** » Wed Jan 09, 2008 9:15 am

pin 17 GY Clutch Switch, what the ecu does with it I know not, maybe cuts something out if combined with boost on ?

edit >> wo, look at the times of posting , great minds thinking alike ?

Gremlins · Post by **Gremlins** » Wed Jan 09, 2008 10:27 am

discopotato03 wrote:but what circuit does the microswitch on the pedal switch ?

Not 100% certain on this one as it is purely my interpretation on my observations but I think the switch on the accelerator pedal has something to do with the ecu cutting the injectors with RPM a certain amount above idle and throttle closed, ie when throttled off going down hill. From memory if you're monitoring the output of the oxy sensor with an air/fuel ratio meter it will basically read nothing (0 Volts) on throttle off down hill indicating the injectors are cut, but if you very slightly press the throttle enough to actuate this switch but not enough to open the throttle you should notice the output on the oxy sensor will come up to fairly normal readings indicating the ecu is again firing the injectors. I'd say the switch is one of the conditions the ecu evaluates to determine if to go into injector cut mode.

SCOOBIDOO · Post by **SCOOBIDOO** » Wed Jan 09, 2008 7:42 pm

discopotato03 wrote:Yes we would had used bronze as well but they didn't have any on hand at the time . Thats going to be the long term fix if I can't locate a std link in good enough condition to fit new bearings to .

Seems like a common problem in high mileage cars which they all are now - RX's that is .
I guess if spares became non existant we could use the non turbo type pedal box and fittings which would be easy to get from wreckers .

Lastly I did notice my 3 plug 86 RX has a microswitch on the throttle pedal assy , anyone know what this does ?

Cheers , A .

this is the fuel cut on over run..for the ea82-t subaru designed the ecu to cut the signal to the injecters at anything lower than 2000rpm with no throttle..then signal is restored at around 1200rpm with no throttle..these specs are only for the 3 plug ecu as far as i have learnt..

Gannon · Post by **Gannon** » Wed Jan 09, 2008 8:06 pm

Ive read somewhere that the 'clutch switch' or was it the 'neutral switch' the ecu changes the idle speed to reduce load to transmission

It was something along the lines of that

SUBYDAZZ · Post by **SUBYDAZZ** » Wed Jan 09, 2008 9:13 pm

Clutch switch also kills cruise control and can be a starting inhibitor switch (ie clutch must be in to start), though I'm not aware of that model having either?