Almost 8 years I have a 328 and it works perfekt with 71k km on the odo. I never replaced the clutch cable do they often brake?
They can break. Two things to check. Make sure the pulley it rides over is not seized (near the engine). You should be able to rotate the pulley easily. Lightly oil the pulley bearing. Check for broken cable strands near the clutch end of the cable. If there are any broken strands, replace the cable. The cable is not very expensive (as I recall) and if it breaks, you are on the side of the road.
Mine broke years ago pretty far from home late on a Saturday afternoon. I got good at rev matching to driver her to town to a dealership. After convincing a local Ford dealer that it was only a car & simple clutch cable and that he could help me, he sent a mechanic out to the local ACE hardware store for some cable & a couple of binders. It wasn't pretty, but it got me home. I was able to replace the cable in about 30 min and wow, the under carriage cable pulleys were severely gunked up.
Yep, they break; and if it's when your pulling up to a stop light it can get interesting. Your first symptom will be an ever heavier feeling clutch as it wears a grove into where it goes through the chassis. You can change where the cable wears on that point by putting a shim under the part that screws in from below. I do this every couple years to get more life out of the cable. A good lube is PJ1 chain lube. BTW, I carry a spare cable
