Driving my car earlier today (1998 Stratus 2.0L 5spd) I noticed the clutch making a funny noise when I depressed the pedal. It sounded like the familiar click of the self adjuster, which comes every few thousand miles or so, excepttoday it"clicked" multiple times in the pedal'sdown stroke instead of just once.As I attempted to shift 3-4 the shift lever did not seem to want to enter the gate for 4, or back into 3, and as I slowed down I could not shift into 2 or 1 either. Eventually as I coasted to a stop I resigned to leave it and walk home, only a mile or so from where I was, and make arrangements to flat tow the car home. When I parked the car I put the shift lever to first after theengine was stopped out of habit, and lo and behold I could select the gear as soon as nothing was spinning. So clutch pedal down I attempted to start the car planning to drive home in first, it turns out the starter is strong enough to turn the engine over enough to start the engine, while propelling the vehicle (I felt terrible doing this to my car). The fact the the car moved while cranking the engine (clutch pedal down as though disengaged) verified to me it was a clutch issue.

Once I was home I popped the hood and had my neighbor depress the pedal (engine off) while I observed through the cable inspection cover ontop of the transmission, there didn't seem to be full cabletravel. Then I noticed the noise I had heard seemed to be coming from the firewall, so I followed the cable back from the transmission and noticed that where it passes through the firewall (see picture) the metal sleeving on the cable was slipping through the firewall in the rubber grommet, the grommet appears to be two pieces, the center piece sliding with the cable. A quick look at the cable in my father's plymouth breeze, showed that the woundcablesheathing did not move through the firewall at that point, the "center" section of grommet did not move either, and that the travel of my cable end was signifigantly less than it should have been.

The "grommet" through the firewall protrudes maybe 1/2 to 5/8 inches from the firewall in front (I couldn't find a good angle to take the picture from), and I didn't tear the interior apart enough to find the backside, I have a suspicion it sticks out pretty far in back as well. My repair manual (Haynes) does not give a clear description of where the self adujuster is, the inner/outer design of the grommet makes me wonder if that is the self adjuster.

Doesanybody have other ideas what the problem may be?
Where isthe self-adjuster located and howdoes it work?
Could my semi-rusty car have had a chunk of firewall tear out that's hidden by the grommet?

Thanks for the help,
Tim


[IMG]local://upfiles/48566/037818CEBEF84AA1A839214D46D121DE.jpg[/IMG]

So the "inner" part of the grommet is the self adjuster, the loose metal sheathing I saw was part of the slef adjuster, and the self adjuster is an integral part of the cable. Anybody know what would make it fail. Gunk built up inside? A worn out collet that can't close on the cable? Something else I can't even fathom?

As far ast eh repair goes, no one had the part in town, no big surprise. New one is being ordered to a local dealership. Before I pay for the new cable I plan on at leasttaking the old adjuster apart. Anything anyone needs to know or wants pictures of from inside it?