Calling All Car Mechanic's

mysticsniper · 6 Dec 2006 at 13:17

I have noticed that when I am driving along the Battery light appears on my dashboard, I have slowed down or changed odwn a gear then it goes out. Does anyone know why this is happening and is this the start of some thing serious?

My Clutch pedal is now a little higher then before, I used to just put my foot on the pedal and change gear, but now I have to lift my foot onto the pedal to change gear? Will I be needing a new Clutch?

BTW My car is a Rover 420Sli 1997

TIA

paradigm · 6 Dec 2006 at 13:25

Altenator, or cabling/earthing is on the blink.

The clutch may not necesssarily be on the way out, it could just need the cable adjusting (assuming that rover use a cable operated clutch on these, and that they aren't auto-adjusting).

jpmonkey69 · 6 Dec 2006 at 13:37

I had this with my Rover 620Ti, i put some vaseline around the terminals / cables that connect on to the battery and after 20/30 mins of driving around at ~3-4k revs on the motorway it stopped.

I'm guessing there was moisture getting to the battery or something like that. /shrug

D4VE · 6 Dec 2006 at 14:15

Its a cable clutch on the mk1 400, maybe the mk2 (yours) is the same, but there isnt much adjustment. There is a way of adjusting the pedal - look for a screw underneath it. Didnt help much on my 420 turbo though

4T5 · 6 Dec 2006 at 14:28

Alternator light is One of two things.
Either the belt is slipping or the Brushes inside the alternator have worn down and are not making a good enouth contact.
Check the belt for slack, if slack then slacken alternator and adjust up. Don't over tighten belt though as it will stress the bearings and make them fail prematurely.
If the belt is good and tight then it'll be the alternator.
In the old days you used to be able to get the brushes for less than 2 quid and fit them yourself. Nowadays it's a new alternator or a scrappy. Chances are from a scrappy it'll be half dead anyways so i would go for a new one. Don't go to Rover though go to your local car spares place for the cheaper option.

The clutch.
Get someone to operate it and you look under the bonnett and see if you are getting all the travel on the lever. If so no probs ignore it till it gets worse. If not adjust cable or better still refit a new one.

mysticsniper · 6 Dec 2006 at 16:16

Cheers for the replies.

What price range will I be looking at in the Alt and the Clutch cable?