citroen xantia 1.8 clutch pedal how to change the plastic clip?

broraob, July 2008

I replaced it by sitting on the driver's seat with no stuggle at all.

Remove the instrument panel and behind it you will find a 5 cm hole.
With a long screw driver break the plastic clip from the pedal.
To fit the new one, tie it from the platic pin with a long piece of strong wire (vent wire) and pass it through the hole and onto the clutch pedal.
While holding it from the wire, with the long screw driver push the plastic pin in place.
To fit the cable, hold the pedal upwards and push the cable into the clip.

Noel Buhagiar, April 2012

I don't know if this would help anyone who is reading this, but I've just removed the clutch pedal, prior to changing the plastic piece and the metal clip. I did it, after reading all the above comments, and beg to differ as to the method recommended. I agree that the bolt holding the clutch pedal and spring to the pedal box has to come out, but it CAN be removed without either hacksawing the bolt or by removing the brake pedal. Might I suggest the following, some of which are obvious, but I'll state i anyway:

1/ Remove the covers from underneath the steering wheel; there are 2 of them; one's a soft carpet-like material near the pedals & the other's a plastic cover just in front of the ignition switch and wiper/indicator assembly covers. Their removal adds nothing to the job, but lets a bit more light on the situation!

2/ Lying on your back, with your head in the footwell, identify the long bolt that holds the clutch pedal in the pedal box, together with the return spring. The head of the bolt is facing the brake pedal & the nut is facing the middle of the car.

3/ Using a long 13 mm socket & a ratchet on the nut, together with a ring spanner on the bolt, loosen the nut and bolt. It is quite tight! Unscrew the nut and remove it.

4/ You will see that the bolt is free to move, but only up to the point where it collides with the brake pedal.

(now the clever bit...)

5/ Looking at the brake pedal that's blocking the removal of the bolt, there should be a small plastic clip on the driver's side of the pedal, which supports the wiring for the brake lights. Slide this wiring up towards the top of the car and it will come off the clip.

6/ This allows greater movement of the brake pedal towards the driver (i.e. NOT in the direction to apply the brakes) By moving the pedal towards the rear of the car the it will stop when it collides with the metal of the pedal box. When this point is reached move the brake pedal laterally (i.e. from right to left, as opposed to up and down)while continuing to push it towards the rear of the car and you'll find the pedal moves a little further to the rear of the car. This vital few mm is enough to permit the long bolt holding the clutch pedal in place to be slid out.

7/ Believe me, this works! It just takes a bit of fiddling! Once the bolt is out, put the brake light wiring back in place.

8/ As to putting the long bolt back, As has been stated earlier in this thread, put the bolt back the other way round, BUT put a nut onto the bolt and wind it up to the head of the bolt. Then slide the bolt into its housing, with the head towards the middle of the car (the other way round to that which it originally was) and place another nut on the end of the bolt. The reason for this is to prevent the end of the bolt protruding too far towards the brake pedal and fouling it.

9/ Tighten up both nuts, ensuring that the return spring is correctly seated and that the bolt does not foul the footbrake pedal.

10/ Put the kettle on, place bag in mug, remove milk from fridge and have a good cuppa!

Andrew Hutchings, June 2010

Hi Bert,
Do you know how long the 8mm bolt is?
I'd like to have that part ready before starting the job (it's a long walk to the shops)....!
Regards,
Steve

swiss_steve, March 2010

meteorcloud57(AT)hotmail.com. For pics and diagram of tool

CC, October 2009

I recently did this job myself (with the help from the above posts and others)
I removed the drivers seat and lay on my back to get at things. First I had to overcome the disorientation and claustrophobia.
I was able to get a socket at the head of the bolt and a spanner on the nut so was able to avoid the sawing that seems to be the main bit of this job.
On re-fitting, I put the peddle back with the plastic component in place.
I then pushed the cable into the plastic component.
I then had the brain wave of making a long metal tool to hold the Metal Clip. The tool held the clip and I was able to then push the clip into it's place in the plastic component. Job Done!
On the face of it it is a daunting job but once you've done it you realise there is no way a Citroen Specialist should charge a lot to do it. After all they would have the technique and the special tools to do this job.

You could make a tool a whole lot fancier than the one I made but I just used a flat 5 mil bar (About the same shape as a 1 foot ruler) I then used a thin hacksaw blade to cut a 10 mil slot in the end of the bar. The metal clip was then held in the slot and offered up to the plastic component.

Note that the slot you saw in the bar should hold the metal clip tightly but not so tight that you are unable to pull the bar free once it's done it's job.

Hope some of this makes some sense and adds to the knowledge base. I'd encourage anyone with a bit of savvy to do this job thenselves. There's better things to do with your money than give it to rip off merchants.

I took a few pics of the components and have a diagram of the tool for anyone that would like them. email me and I'll be happy to pass them on.

CC, October 2009

mick the xantia driver
i did exactly what ''BERT THE XANTIA MAN'' said and with a bit of patience did the job in about two and a half hours, new cable,newclip and all

''CHEERS BERT''
PS REMOVE DRIVERS SEAT FOR BETTER ACCESS AND COMFORT.

michael, July 2009

this is a pig of a job , the 1st time you do it. i have now got the time down to about 1/2 hour after the pedal bolt is replaced facing the other way round.
because of the pedal locaction ,get a good source of
light and something to make it commfy to lay on your back in the drivers footwell. now the cheating bit. -
you will see a 8mm bolt ( 13mm spanner + small socket/ ratchet will be reqd. ) this is the pivot bolt that the clutch pedal is mounted on.because the bolt is facing towards the steering column it cant be fully
removed. now follow these instructions. -
1 - undo the clutch pedal pivot bolt to show about 5mm of exposed thread.
2 - cut the head off from the pivot bolt ,( use a hack-
saw blade with some tape as a handle ) this takes
some patience due to lack of room.
3 - you will now be able to remove the pivot bolt
away ( leftwards ) from the steering column, remember
the order of the nylon bush and pedal spring.
4 - you will now be able to pull the pedal and inner cable towards you by a good few inches.
5 - you can now change the plastic clip with the pedal
out of the car ( the clevis pin is a tight fit )
6 - offer up pedal onto the end of clutch cable and snap in the metal fixing clip.
7 - refit pedal + nylon bush + spring , with a new bolt
to replace the bolt you cut out . this time fit the new bolt in towards the steering column
8 bobs your uncle, next time you can do this job in a
fraction of the time, because the bolt is facing the way it can be removed without cutting off the head
again, you just uno the nut.
- -----------------------------------------
i hope i have not made this job sound harder than it
really is ( a picture is worth a 1000 words )
good luck and have patience - this d.i.y job will
save you £££s see other links and what people have
paid to have this plastic clip replaced,£100-£200

bert the xantia man, October 2008

This "plastic clip" cost me £200 in total.... The garage that done mine said it was such a complicated job to put a new clip & clutch cable in, that they charged me £200 quid... Apparently a 2 day job even for them! I got it from the garage, and the same day it went again! I wasn't happy! They told me it may be a faulty clutch - I knew this wasn't the case, my clutch was fine when it went in... so i got them to fix it again (at no cost - which they weren't happy at)... I would say have a go yourself, I own a Haynes manual for for T-reg Citroen Xantia Hatchback and try and do most jobs myself - but there are some that should be left to the pros... (even if I was unlucky and didn't find "pros" myself!!!!).

Scott, August 2008