It's amazing how many of us chose to "ignore" that little voice in our heads when we KNOW we should stop and explore further during a repair. Or the other mental hazard of "it'll be fine like that".. I know I've done that and have always been burned with my decision. It appears that we often are presented with these situations during a repair. Our "little voice" says to us "this isn't right" and the evil little voice counters with "it'll be fine". Being a naturally impatient person, it's even harder for me to listen to my rational side.Amskeptic wrote:
Wasn't even the clutch cable's fault . . . it was the Bowden Tube and the fight I had in November to reinstall the original cable where I laboriously threaded the entire clutch adjustment threads through the Bowden Tube not asking myself why, and more importantly, not inquiring further.
My last example was when I bought my bus and had the engine disassembled on the floor to reseal the oil cooler that was causing a leak. It appeared the seals where not causing the leak from it by I "over rode" those thoughts and only changed the seals vs. inspecting or pressure testing the cooler. I was rewarded for not listening to my rational thought by having to pull and tear down the engine a second time to change the leaking oil cooler...
Those Bowden cables can really make an impact on the clutch system I learned. When I bought my 67 bug, I was shocked at how hard it was to push the clutch in. I suspected an issue with the pressure plate. Whenever I buy a used VW, I always change the clutch cable and inspect the clutch pedal hook on the pedal assembly. I also change the throttle cable too. When I pulled the pedal assembly off, the hook was about to break due to the excess wear. I couldn't pull the clutch cable through the Bowden tube and had to cut the cable off. After fixing the clutch cable hook on the pedal and installing the new clutch Bowden tube and cable that were nicely greased, the clutch was beautifully smooth and easy to depress.