Clutch pedal helper spring necessary?

[dlhoovler]

Near home tonight, coming to the end of an off ramp, I went to push in the clutch and could hardly depress it at all. I forced the car out of gear and kept trying to push the pedal with more force. Suddenly something let go and several things fell down on my feet as the pedal went down. The shifter went into first, so I drove it home very gingerly with no further problems--clutch and shifter operation seemed normal.

After some examination, I found that the pin/bolt running through the center of my clutch pedal helper spring had jammed somehow, bending slightly before snapping off. The spring, plastic retainer, washer and pin were what rained down on my feet when the pin let go.

So my question is: Is that spring necessary? I have only been able to find two posts through search that seem to indicate that it isn't (they were related to auto-to-manual swaps), but I wanted to be sure.

Thanks,
-Dave

[SpecM]

I don't have a helper spring, but mine is a swap. Its OK for driving, only my pedal has a bit of play when the pedal is up.

Sent from my Ally using Tapatalk

[sticksdaman]

Dont need the spring, the hydraulic pressure brings the pedal up, you'll be fine.

Mine is also an auto-5spd swap, though i'm certain that makes no difference as its not needed in any of the other bmws ive worked on.

[mr.vang]

the spring its a back up if your hydraulic fail.

[SpecM]

^ thats a good point

its a BITCH to bleed without that spring (pedal just sits on floor!)

[MR 325]

My 1990 with a 5 speed swap had no spring.

It was also not a bitch to bleed.

[99em1]

I don't know how its supposed to be a back up if the hydraulics fail. If your hydraulics take a shit, your clutch does not care whether you have a spring attached to the pedal.

I have an original 5 speed and can vouch that spring is not necessary. I did not encounter any difficulty bleeding using a pressure bleeder aside from the general pain in the ass that the process is.

[jlevie]

The spring's purpose is to return the pedal to the stop. The clutch will work just fine w/o the spring, but cruise control may be disabled because the clutch switch won't close.

[dlhoovler]

Thanks for all of the replies! I won't worry at all about replacing it, then. I have a pressure bleeder, so I doubt I'll have trouble with bleeding the system, and I also don't have cruise.

-Dave

[99em1]

Pressure bleeder is a lifesaver, but keep in mind mine wasn't done until I manually bled the slave. Compress the slave, open screw, press clutch pedal, close screw, decompress slave. Rinse repeat like 3-4 times.

[jlevie]

You don't need anything to bleed the clutch. Grab the pedal and give it 50-75 full pumps. It will self bleed.

[Bimmerfreak87]

I broke that spring pin also and just bought a new one from the dealer for $75. Maybe I can take it back... :-|

[herlsy]

Glad i found this. Pulled in my driveway the other day and when getting out of the car my foot slid on the pad below the pedals. Upon further inspection i realized that the spring had come loose and sheared off the plastic elbow that connects to the master cyl. Guess i'll probably eliminate this part.