I've just repaired my son's escort 1.8 LX on a '98. The clutch pedal clicked, hit the floor and stayed there. It gave all the symptoms of a broken clutch cable but it wasn't. The clutch lever on the gearbox would not move in any further with a lever bar either and gave the impression that it was jammed. I pulled the clutch out and found that it wasn't worn out. But the release bearing had gone to the end of the bearing slider nose and kicked over and then jammed. We fitted a new clutch kit anyway but then found that the pedal was low to the floor. The pedal has a manual adjust allen bolt and by turning this in it brought the pedal up.... But it still wasn't right. Further investigation and standing on my head under the dash!! revealed that the plastic cable retainer/adjuster quadrant had split. A new quadrant will now cure the problem.
My main point of replying to this is that I think with the manual adjust pedals, as the clutch wears the pedal gradually gets higher. If it's not de-adjusted or lowered then this will allow the pedal to travel further and actuate the thrust bearing in further against the clutch pressure plate fingers until it 'bottoms out'. If it 'bottoms out' then this will put more strain on the cable and plastic quadrant, hence in my case the failure of the quadrant. Hope this helps with any diagnosis of this type of problem. If you've got a manual adjust clutch pedal - Make sure that you adjust it if it's too high or you could get the same proble as me. If you have to change the quadrant then rather you than me.......... It's a pig of a job!!
Cheers
Graham, June 2008
