Clutch Hose (Series 1) 'Red Clutch Hose Syndrome'

Clutch Hose (Series 1) 'Red Clutch Hose Syndrome'

One of the biggest bugbears of Series 1's is the inability to select gears, particularly after long runs and/or during warmer weather. The biggest single factor for this is down to the plastic red clutch hose.

The original cars were shipped with red plastic clutch hoses (if you open the front service bay and can see a red hose, then you still have one fitted!) These seem to be sensitive to softening with temperature and age, meaning that during hard runs and/or during the summer months it becomes difficult to select gears (particularly 1st and reverse). On some cars the hose is tywrapped to the coolant hose in the sill which makes the issue worse. The gear selection problem is quite subtle and is not necessarilly a gear crunching problem, but is often as if the lever is blocked from going into gear when stationary. The solution which has been carried out on the majority of cars already is to replace the red plastic hose with a braided hose.

Note that some Esprits suffer the same issue!