changing of master and slave cylinder

[fiky]

hi guys can you please tell me is it a huge job to change the master and slave cylinders on a 320i its a e30...does part of the gearbox need to be removed

[Touring Whore]

I've just done this, and whilst it's a bit fiddly getting the master off, it's not too hard a job. To make it easier, I have the following tips.

1. Disconnect the throttle cable at the throttle body (? The engine end of the accel cable that sits on top of the intake manifold). Then it will be slack enough to easily move out of the way when taking the fixing bolts off of the master cylinder.

2. I also removed the clutch fluid resevoir so I could pull the feed hose through the bulkhead, to give me more manouverability in the footwell for fitting to feed line to the master cylinder.

That's it really, tools used were 10mm socket (and extension bar and ratchet), 13mm socket, 17mm spanner, 13mm spanner, 11mm spanner and 7mm spanner. Took me about 4 hours all in, and I'm a novice.

The only other thing I would say is take your time when bleeding it, it's a pain in the arse having to get the car back up on stands and getting back under the car, for the sake of spending another 10 mins under there in the first place.

Here is the thread I started when I did it the other day, it also has some useful information about the dangers and accuracy of metric/imperial conversions

[Brianmoooore]

The only other thing I would say is take your time when bleeding it,

As in once today, and once tomorrow. The fluid gets full of microscopic bubbles that won't bleed out properly. Leaving it half bled for several hours allows the bubbles to collect together into larger (bleedable) ones.

[Touring Whore]

Ahhh... Thanks for that Brian, didn't realise that's what happened. Will finish mine off (properly) when it stops raining.