Hi guys,

I need urgent help here. 3 weeks ago, I started driving my car and noticed the clutch would not spring back up so easily after being pressed down. It would just stay depressed. That happened for 30 secs, then things went back to normal.

Then starting last week, I noticed that it was getting HARD to shift the gears, VERY VERY notchy.

Then this morning, I started the car, pressed on the clutch, and it wouldn't come up again. And then, the shifter was STUCK! I couldn't shift AT ALL.

What happened?

BACKGROUND INFO:
1989 535i 5-speed.
I've had the brake fluid warning on for 4 weeks now. It has been cold ~20F in NJ for the past 3 weeks. Sorry if it's already in the forums, but I'm not mechanically inclined and just want to be informed before I take it to a mechanic.


Thanks,
Jack

Sounds like a master cylinder to me. Any fluid in your clutch reservoir?

Thanks for the quick reply. Don't know if there's any fluid, guess I'll check out Bentley manual to see how to check.

Do you think the master cylinder may need replacement? How much $$$ about?

Thanks for the quick reply. Don't know if there's any fluid, guess I'll check out Bentley manual to see how to check.

Do you think the master cylinder may need replacement? How much $$$ about?


Try bleeding your clutch before anything, could be air built up into the lines. Im going through this exact problem. I recently just changed my clutch but after a week it would stick to the floor like you described. I bled it 2 times after that and finally took it to my mechanic because it keeped doing it after 10 or 15 min of driving

I thought it was a busted slave cylinder, but it turned out to be the master cylinder. He quoted me $500 for the new part, labour and a power bleed to the brakes and the clutch

Real quick, What does it mean when you put the shifter into gear and it feels notchy? Mine does this when going into 2nd.

Yeah, my second gear has felt notchy from the beginning, when I purchased the car in 2000. But lately, ALL gears have felt notchy, and sometimes almost impossible to shift. Until this morning, when it BECAME impossible to shift!

I went through this issue... bleed the clutch lines.. you might have a leak in the slave or the master. You can easily do either job yourself for a fraction of the cost of an indy shop or the stealer.

Notchiness means that there's mechanical resistance somewhere in the works. It boils down to synchros not being able to do their job. This happens for two reasons, not mutually exclusive. If your clutch and shifter are fine, your synchro's worn. Particularly if one or two gears are tough and the others not. Options include: 1. sucking it up and probably damaging it further, since you kinda need to shift into 2nd, 2. sucking it up and double-clutching, or 3. rebuilding or replacing the transmission. However, a clutch that doesn't disengage fully can cause notchiness even with perfect synchros. Lack of disengagement means that the engine is still putting some power to the lead gears - power that the synchros aren't designed to overcome.