help 325i cab broken down, no clutch????

[MrSport]

Was driving to wrk this morning and car broke down, clutch pedal went really really hard and i couldn't get car into gear.

Kept on pressing the pedal and finally it went all light again and seemed ok.

Drove a little more, stopped at lights, presed pedal and it was so light it slipped off my foot and bounced up.

Basiclly its like its disconnected itself from the clutch or something,

When i press the pedal its very very light an soft and just bounces up an down and will not engage the clutch so i can change gears.


The clutch seems fine cos i tried to start and was able to drive the car in 1st gear, its just i have no clutch.


Anyone know whats wrong or what i need to do to fix it, a picture of the part thats failed? it had full level of clutch fluid aswell.


help please folks, stuck its my daily driver

cheers in advance

[bootyman]

I've had this before. BM's have hydraulic clutch and not cable and from what you've said, it sounds like your Master or Slave cylinder has gone. I'm no mechanic, but what you've said is exactly how mine was and tha was the problem. I'm sure other will shed light on it soon

Hope you sort it out

[MrSport]

slave cylinder is near the gearbox? wheres the master cylinder?

Or is this allk just one thing? clutch slave cylinder?

cheers

[bootyman]

One is under your cover that goes under the steering wheel panel

[MrSport]

any tests or way to check for definetes what the problem is or that has happened? want to replace the part and get back back on the road asap

cheers again

[bootyman]

My mechanical knowledge is 0 mate. I only know about your problem cause i had the same thing hapen to me and with mine it was one of the cylinders that was gone. Soort mate

[dazleeds]

check for leaked fluid in drivers footwell from the cylinder
if not check in engine bay where cylinder comes thru bulkhead

[Brianmoooore]

This is PROBABLY a failed clutch master cylinder, but will need a bit of investigating to make sure something nasty's not happened to the clutch operaring lever inside the bell housing.
If you replace the master cylinder, replace the slave as well, because it will almost certainly fail in a couple of weeks.
This needs to be in tech help, as well.

[MrSport]

Fluid is still all there and topped up in the little pot.

No fluid leaks

no leaks near drivers side footwell or anything

whats it sound like now as the fault?

cheers

[Ant]

had one like these before on mole325i's sport, on his the symptoms were exactly the same, turned out the pressure plate "fingers" had distroted and were causing the issue

however.......


you need to test the hydrailcs 1st, trace the hose from the bulkhead on drives side, to the slave cylinder, the flexi section near the gearbox needs to be clamped off, so mole grips+ cardboard if you have no real tools, or ideally a brake pipe clamp( few £ from halfords, they do stock them now ! ) clamp hose, try pedal from inside car, pedal rock solid= master cylinder fine, dont push to hard or it will be damaged dude !!

next option is change the slave cylinder, easy enough DIY job, bleed all the air out, try again

If you are unsure post back up, or see if a local zoner may be able to diagnose for you.

** add your location in profile mate, helps a lot in these situations ***

[MrSport]

at one point when the problem occured the pedal went very hard and no matter how much i pressed the pedal was rock solid and would not do anything.

So i pressed harder nd then it became all loose and started bouncing back up and being all light after that. This is how it sits now in my drive way since the prob

i think dips is close to me, will try and get him to take a look at it for me if he's free at any time soon

anymore advice?

[Globulator]

anymore advice?

I had my master cyl go, it felt a bit rough and I saw it had left loads of black 'dirt' in the little fluid pot. The prev owner had had the slave changed.

If you think your hydraulics look shiny and new then you may have mechanical issues -

however:-
it's not too difficult to change both master and slave (ECP does a good price - I got the cheap alu master) so you may just as well change them first anyhow - then you'll know, and have brand new parts even if the clutch does need changing.

Sort of the 'I'm not sure what it is so change the easy/cheap bits first' approach.

[MrSport]

still haven't had any time to investigate an repair the problem.

Was trying to work out the problem before i started purchasing replacement bits.

-The clutch fluid level pot is still full

-no fluid leaks as such underneath

-the pedal is still light and like its not connected to the clutch system. It rests in its standard position, if i push it down its very very light and kinda of slips of ur foot and bounces back so it sits inline with brake pedal.

-the car starts and drives if i start her up in 1st gear already, basiclly driving in 1 gear and u have no clutch

Finally the clutch pedal has no resitance in it or pressure or getting stiff and hard to press, its just simply light as a feather.

Hopefully this well help the technical folks get a better understanding of the problem as i've had a look round the car and read up on the net, and quite a few people say the slave cylinder, master cylinder and i am quite lost. However i don't just wanna give it to a garage to repair i want to fix her myself, so i know whats happened and how its been fixed for my own peace of mind sorta thing, and its a little sense of achievement, lol

fire away folks

[MrSport]

took the slave cylinder off today, and the little piston rod thing in the middle was missing, think its fallen into the bell housing. Took the plate off that covers sump to expose flywheel and see if i can see the bit in there but no luck, don't seem to be in the way though.

Going to drian old fluid out get new slave cylinder bleed it and see how it goes from there.

cheers