A little under a year ago, i sent my car to a mechanic in s.f. i blew a headgasket and had a new motor to be swapped. when motor was swapped, i got the car back to find that i have to jam the shifter in gear. Will not go in smoothly. Also, when car is in gear and clutch pedal is fully pressed, the car rolls as if the clutch is not fully disengaged. He made excuses saying that the flywheel was bent and i needed a new clutch kit. everything was working when i gave it to him. after time passed, i hear a sweaky sound from the rear as i slightly press and depress the gas. I think this was caused from the shifting. Me and a friend are pulling apart my motor this weekend to fix this problem and add a few things "6spd euro tranny, lsd diff, light weight flywheel,etc". I asked a friend who has worked on bimmers in the past and told me the problem for the shifting could be that he installed something in the clutch backwards. he told me the name, i can't remember, maybe pressure plate. As for the sweaking noise, i think it is a cable or something. Any suggestions on both these problems would help a lot.
thanks
car is a e36 325is

I dont know a thing about BMW's but it sounds like you have a slave cylinder that needs to be bled. I would give that a try before doing anything else.

I dont know a thing about BMW's but it sounds like you have a slave cylinder that needs to be bled. I would give that a try before doing anything else.

I concur. :) (again, going off of experience with other hydraulic clutch cars....)

yup and its ez to do.... go for it!!

Putting the clutch disc in backwards will definitely result in symptoms you're seeing.

Putting the clutch disc in backwards will definitely result in symptoms you're seeing.


dough....

thanks for the advice. I do not have much experience with repairing cars, my friend does who is helping me with the work. but, until the weekend, i would like to bleed the slave cylinder to see if i can fix the problem. I just need more info like how to do it. i did a search but couldn't find mucvh info. i'm pretty sure you bleed it from the tranny, but not 100% sure. and how do i manually bleed it. I probably need a bleeder. and should i fluch it out or just bleed it out a little bit. When i am done with bleeding it, should i refill it, if so, any suggestions on what to use to refill. and where do i refill it. Basically, i need a step by step guideline to do this. Any help would be appreciated. thanks
sam

Putting the clutch disc in backwards will definitely result in symptoms you're seeing.
what he said.

It is possible to install the pressure plate backwards, but the clutch will not work at all; if you tried to push the clutch pedal in it will be completely hard (wouldn't move).... so that couldn't be the problem.

It is possible to install the pressure plate backwards
Only if you pick up some 4" long bolts :confused:

The clutch pedal goes all the way in. the shifter shifts, however, my problem is that i have to jam the shifter in gear. it will not go in smoothly. aand the car moves when the clutch in fully pressed. clutch is not disengaged when pedal is fully pressed. so, can this be the clutch disk backwards. Hammdy says that if the clutch disk was backwards, then the pedal would not go down. however, all you other guys say this could be the problem. I am confused. what else could it be.
thanks for all the replies

The clutch pedal goes all the way in. the shifter shifts, however, my problem is that i have to jam the shifter in gear. it will not go in smoothly. aand the car moves when the clutch in fully pressed.
thanks for all the replies

This is why we suggested bleeding the clutch slave... The pedal goes to the floor, compressing the clutch master cyl, but the fluid has air in it, so it compresses somewhat rather than moving the slave cylinder (and therefore, the clutch itself) as far as it should. In effect, you are only putting the clutch in halfway. (Normally, with the pedal halfway up, it's hard to shift, and the car would move forward in gear... get it?)

Hammdy says that if the clutch disk was backwards, then the pedal would not go down. however, all you other guys say this could be the problem. I am confused.
Let me help you with this, "Hammdy" doesn't know WTF he's talking about. Less confused now?

if this is the case. save some money for a fly wheel too.... oh i forgot to pull the bentley and scan those pages for you. will do tonight

It is possible to install the pressure plate backwards,



<img src="http://i23.ebayimg.com/02/i/01/fe/6d/6f_1.JPG">




good luck

where is the slave cylinder. I got everything up on jackstands and am ready to work at it. eric was going to send some info on the slave cylinder and how to bleed it tonight. i am anxious to get it started on today. Does anyone have any suggestions on how i can resolve this problem through the slave cylinder.
some of the questions are:

where is the slave cylinder, wht does it look like

do i need special tools, bleeder or can i use a screwdriver

how much should i bleed. do i need to refill

if i need to refill it, how much and from where

thanks a lot. you guys helped me out a bunch.
sam

where is the slave cylinder. I got everything up on jackstands and am ready to work at it.

http://www.pelicanparts.com/BMW/techarticles/E36-Clutch_Slave/E36-Clutch_Slave.htm

(They use a power bleeder, but a friend in the car pumping the pedal is just as effective for the clutch.)

Good luck. I hope for your sake it's just the slave. :)

http://forums.bimmerforums.com/forum/showthread.php?t=133197&highlight=clutch+bleed

pumped the clutch, attached hose to bleed nipple, and nothing. I thought i read somewhere that i don't need a power bleeder, but maybe i read wrong. Can this be done without a powerbleeder. If so, what am i doing wrong. Thanks
Sam

not to be an arse, but you opened the nut right? its not much differ than doing brakes

so i looked at the links and found that these links are helpful if i had a power bleeder. how do i bleed without the power bleeder. i can't figure it out.

If the clutch pedal isn't sticking to the floor then it's, at least, mostly bled. Try the hnd bleeding technique that I linked you to. If you can't figure it out from there, go have someone do it for you.... I really don't think it's going to solve your problem anyway.

O.k. So, from the links, it showed how to blead with a pump. I didn't have a pump so i loosened the bleed nipple on the slave cylinder and let it come out like that. I don't know if i did it right or not but thats what i did. I pushed the clutch down a few times, then tightened the nipple again. I lowered the car and saw it did the same thing. I went over this process over and over again until now when the pedal just sticks to the floor. I pumped the clutch pedal about 40 times and now it is back to normal and springs back up. This did no fix the problem. car still moves when clutch pedal is fully pressed.

Did i do this right. if so, could the only other prblem be the clutch disk on backwards. Thanks
Sam

I had a problem when I 1st replaced my clutch. I put the thrust bearing in at the 3'o'clock position instead of the 12'o'clock position. I couldn't get it in gear, it would make a grinding noise. So, I removed the gearbox again to find the problem and gave myself a slap on the forehead for my efforts.

car still moves when clutch pedal is fully pressed.


Sam


Sam, thats what its suppose to do, are you talking about sliding or are you talking about moving via engine power? Please reread what you type. i'm confused. when bleeding are you using a tube submersed in fluid?

I'm quite sure he means the clutch is dragging and the car is still moving under engine power with the clutch pushed in. I highly doubt that further bleeding is going to help at all.

I'm quite sure he means the clutch is dragging and the car is still moving under engine power with the clutch pushed in. I highly doubt bleeding is going to help at all.


i can't remember, is there an opening in the bell housing to see the clutch itself? I just did a honda job, and u can see it

There is, but you can't see enough of it to determine if the disc is facing the right way... which I suspect it is not. Two other possibilities are that the pressure plate is not torqued down all the way (twisted) or the disc is warped.

nevermind not thinking straight, void my last comment, you can prob. only see pressure plate.


Dude, I think this is over your head, no offense. take to a tranny shop and get the clutch looked at. get eveidence and make the other mechanic pay for it.

Sam,

i can't scan the book for you now.. we had a major storm that wiped out a lot of my crap!! looks like it took the scanner too!

see thread


http://forums.bimmerforums.com/forum/showthread.php?p=2475580#post2475580

item no 6 can cause these symptoms when broken
but you have to take tranny off
check also cluch bearing, is it properly mounted?
http://www.we-todd-did-racing.com/wetoddimage.wtdr/wNDUwNDQ5NnM0MTNkZmQzMXk1NDE%3D.jpg

If you put the disc in backwards it wont release at all.

If you put the disc in backwards it wont release at all.
You've driven an E36 with the clutch disc installed backwards.... when?

Could be a bunch of things. Check out the clutch replacement article:

http://www.pelicanparts.com/bmw/techarticles/E36-Clutch_Replace/E36-Clutch_Replace.htm

http://www.pelicanparts.com/bmw/techarticles/E36-Clutch_Slave/E36-Clutch_Slave.htm

-Wayne

guys, thanks for all your help. especially those who went out of your way to try to make things easy for me. I am a hand on guy and enjoy taking things apart, seeinghow they work and putting them back together, but, i think i am going to have to let this one by. I bled the slave and it did nothing. I don't have the resources to repair thje car either so it's gotta go to the shop. Thanks for all your help. i am going to try to drain my tranny fluid and refill and see if that does anything. Thanks a lot guys.

i am going to try to drain my tranny fluid and refill and see if that does anything.
Don't bother, it's not going to help at all. If you really want to change the lube, do it while the gearbox is out of the car... because it's definitely going to come out to fix the issue.