Clutch Master Cylinder and Slave

[transatlantic0207]

Ok my car was sitting for 17 days and I went to drive it today and I couldn't shift into gear, ANY GEAR inc Rev.....the car inched as I was pressing against the gear (1st) but it wouldn't engage....so I let it roll down my driveway and when it was on the ground I got under it to see if there were any leaks and none....there were also no leaks inside the car around the c pedal.

I called my friend and he came over and helped me bleed the system and fluid shot from the slave as usual but now my clutch pedal has no spring and I have to bring the pedal up with my hand each time its pressed.
And like I said there is pressure as fluid is shooting from the slave....and even though I have to bring up the pedal with my hand, every time I do it i can see bubbles coming from the brake fluid res.

As far as I can see, the hard lines are secure and there are no leaks from them also and they're relatively new as of last October

I am leaning towards the CMC but I am not too sure, am I even on the right track for diagnosis? What do you all think?

Also, Does anyone have exactly the pn's of the parts I need to buy to replace the CMC and/or sc....I see on bav auto that you can buy them but I am wondering if I need to get any gaskets or anything like that or if I can use existing bolts

[Knockenwelle]

Sounds like the clutch master is most definitely at fault. They're easy to rebuild, and the kit only costs like $40 from BMA.

[transatlantic0207]

Today I began to remove the master while I wait for the parts to come (thurs) I have the 13mm nut off of the eccentric 17mm and the 2x10mm bolts holding it to the pedal....much fluid should I take out when I remove the braided line going to the master? how should I take the fluid out? and basically am I at the point where the only thing now I can do is wait for the parts to get here or are there other things I need to do?

I haven't taken off the hard line closest to the firewall yet because of my fluid question

(The slave I am doing on thursday when I have access to a lift)

[jlevie]

All of the fluid will drain out of the clutch side of the reservoir when you disconnect the soft line. So have a catch bottle handy.

[transatlantic0207]

Ok I removed the master cylinder completely and even though I started with a full resevoir,when I pulled the rubber hose from the master cylinder, barely any liquid came out! After tilting the resevoir a little I ended up with just under 1/3 of a heineken bottle....i was expecting a rush of fluid. Also I removed the hardline from the rubber hose that connects to the slave because it was easier to pull the master out with the hard line attached and once again barely any fluid came out. Is this normal? Can someone briefly explain why there was no fluid, so I can fully understand instead of jsut changing the part?

(i am disconnecting the slave tomorrow when all of my parts come...I was just doing whatever I can while waiting for the parts and not having a lift yet)

[transatlantic0207]

ok I installed the slave and master but I still can't engage the gears with the engine running...I don't know what else to do WTF!!!

everything is bled and installed properly

[sharky]

clutch fork? maybe it isnt derprssing the presure plate and clutch enough

[smooth]

Mine just started doing this yesterday. Today the peddle dropped to the floor with no pressure at all. I'll let you know what I figure out.

[jlevie]

If you have normal pressure and motion of the clutch pedal and a fully bled clutch system and are having trouble engaging first or reverse with the engine running, you probably have a worn out clutch. If that is the case, it will be easy to engage those gears with the engine off and hard to do so with the engine running and the clutch disengaged.

[transatlantic0207]

oh man I was waiting for this answer last week on bf.c when there was a lot of activity....I am diving into it in the next few hours...wish me luck!

[ob_318is]

I have somewhat of a similar problem, I was driving (in 2nd gear) and suddenly something went loose I heard a quick rev or something spinning out..I notice I was unable to accelerate. I tried different gears I was unable to engage the gears, I even came to a stop and tried reverse... that did not work.

Since then I have been following your thread, this happened two Saturdays ago, July 11th to be exact. When I got the car home my brother-in-law and I decided to diagnose this problem.

Process of elimination:
clutch slave cylinder = no, because the pedal was steady and returned to normal position

with car in air, and in gear, we were able to turn rear wheel freely, so clutch not engaging with tranny, so no engine contact....

bang on transmission to see if something will go loose, well that did not work.

The car is a '91 318is, so decided I was going to change the clutch, since I bought the car over a year now, I have no record of the clutch being replaced, also I wanted to do the m20 flywheel conversion.

My progress, still trying to remove the effen exhaust.... hey transatlantic0207, update me on your progress and what you think the problem is.

[transatlantic0207]

ok I only had the time to remove the exhaust, tomorrow I should be really getting into it. I'll update tomorrow evening

[ThreeTwentyFissel]

So what happen? Did you solve your problem? I have the exact same problem! I also notice that the B-Booster has a lot of play everytime I press on the C-pedal. Check that too just in case and keep us up to date with your findings.

[transatlantic0207]

ok so I FINALLY got a few hours to fix this issue....The pilot bearing was fubar(kinda like driving without one), the clutch fork was bent, the little nipple was non-existent, the clutch was essentially welded to the flywheel.....but I suspect the pilot bearing was the main issue for the problem and I think divine intervention prevented me from screwing up the bellhousing...anyway I am going to button it all up tomorrow...I'll update after that

[ob_318is]

Okay, so a weekend spent fixing the problem. We managed to drop the transmission without removing the exhaust (cat. converter section). **Note: 318is.** Seem to have the same problem the pilot bearing was gone.

So proceeded onto doing the m42 light mass flywheel conversion. Thank you Sticksdaman (brother-in-law) for the help... and to ItSnOtAnM for supervising.