ZOMG! Clutch leak

[87_black_325is]

Well I was driving to work late last week, went to leave a stop light and the clutch didn't want to come back up from the floor, rev-matched to shift up to 3rd and get it down the road to a shopping center where I could get it off the road and look around. Couldn't figure it out, pulled the clutch pedal out and was able to finish my drive to work, although I had to pull the clutch out from the floor with my foot a few times.

Now the clutch will not take any fluid, and I am confident that there is a decent leak as the night it crapped out, I got down next to the car while pumping the clutch and heard the fluid squirting out.

I have not found fluid inside the car, so I'm going to check the lines and slave first. Just wondering if you guys have any advice, as I'm attempting this one over spring break, with limited access to tools.

I have done a lot of searching and it seems that if one goes the other is likely to go soon afterwards, and that it's a common problem on higher mileage e30's.

[blefevre]

Check the clutch slave first. I just had to replace this on mine. The same thing happened to me. Cheap part, easy to replace.

[87_black_325is]

Turned out to be an obvious leak from the clutch slave and a not so obvious leak from the master as well.. Replaced slave with new part and rebuilt master.

Cool part is I used a coupon for $50 off of any $100 dollar purchase at advance and got both for basically 50 bucks!

Edit: For those who end up doing work on the hydraulic clutch system in these cars: 50-100 pumps doesn't even begin to bleed this system (if it goes completely dry), you're looking at a lot more (I lost count, by the time I was done.) You will absolutely know when you finally just go from the clutch pedal "slapping back and forth" to suddenly feeling it come back to life.. Seriously, the last 6-7 pumps are the only ones where it feels any different than just dead.

Just hang in there and keep pumping!!

[bmwcalvin]

Awesome! I just had the same thing happen to me on the 405 on the way to work. I was able to pull the pedal up and get it to barely engage enough for me to get to work. We'll see if I can get home since it normally takes an hour with stop and go traffic. I might wait until later tonight when traffic dies down...

[E30Gus]

"Just hang in there and keep pumping!! "

Thats what she said!

[brutus87]

"Just hang in there and keep pumping!! "

Thats what she said!

major lulz