soft clutch

Tue Nov 10, 2009 2:36 pm

hi guys ive got an e30 320 and ive noticed that sometimes the cluthch is very soft almost like there is no cluthch at all ive topped the cluthch fluid up and then pumped the cluthch a few times and then it was ok...but this morning was the same problem at the traffic light it did not want to select 1st gear ,again after a few pums to the clutch is was ok......can you guys please help me out with this problem

Tue Nov 10, 2009 2:42 pm

slave cylinder, get it changed!

Tue Nov 10, 2009 2:44 pm

yep slave it is. my old 318 had this issue

Tue Nov 10, 2009 2:47 pm

It is not possible to say for certain it is the slave cylinder as it could also be the master cylinder.
Get them both changed at the same time as if one isn't yet buggered it almost certainly will be shortly after you change just the one of them.

Tue Nov 10, 2009 2:53 pm

SPADGE wrote:It is not possible to say for certain it is the slave cylinder as it could also be the master cylinder.
Get them both changed at the same time as if one isn't yet buggered it almost certainly will be shortly after you change just the one of them.

I can personally vouch for this - I initially changed the slave cylinder and all was perfect for about 2 weeks, and then I noticed the clutch fluid slowly disappearing from the reservoir. There were no obvious leaks in the interior at the clutch pedal (which I had been wrongly advised was always the case with a fubared master cylinder). So I changed the master and all is now perfect.

This is def your problem and you should 100% change both and check the pipes also.