Hey guys, I was wondering if any of you have replaced your clutches and what extents you went to replace it. I was driving home from work for lunch when my clutch decided that it didn't want to work ...so I think it's time to replace it. :nutz:

I priced it at Calgary BMW and they quoted me for $870ish for parts, labour and taxes in. Tunerwerks helped me out a bit in quoting some stage one stuff and they even said they'd match the Dealer price for the OEM clutch assembly at around $310 (I'd have to get it installed elsewhere, or do it myself).

Any of you have any suggestions as to where I can possibly do any better or suggest another reason my clutch would be slipping? (ie - master cylinder, etc.)

If it helps, I was driving and shifting into 2nd at around 4k RPM and when I released the pedal, it didn't work so well. There were no signs of wear or slippage before this, it just happened, what it seems like, out of the blue. I already checked the fluid to see if it was low, but that was fine...so that's the only thing I can check off the list of things to go wrong.

I just replaced mine about a month ago. I bought the clutch kit from BMW and put it in myself.....big mistake! IF you are going to do it yourself I would recomend you look on pelicanparts.com for their clutch kits.

The reason being is it comes with alot more stuff you'll need than the OEM BMW one did(If you want to do it yourself). For example it comes with a clutch alignment(sp?) tool something I could not find in Edmonton and BMW would not sell me one. Pelican parts also does an awesome write up on how to replace your clutch.

Nice, I'll look into it and if I decide to do it, it'll save me approx. $500.

The dealership quote isn't bad at all, pretty standard.
I would suggest you have it done there.
The clutch isn't something you want to do on your own, if you don't really know what your doing.
Just save yourself the time and hassle, IMO.

Clutch doesn't usually just go all of a sudden. I would check the slave/master cylinders first. An independent shop quoted me $600 installed for my 320.
for that price its worth it. I've done a couple of clutches in the past and it is not a fun job. If you haven't done one before or don't have someone experienced to help you i would suggest just getting it done.

Thanks for the responses guys.

I should be hearing from Tunerworks today about a clutch and I'll probably start throwing it in tonight if they get it in. Might take a couple hours, but I think it's worth saving the money.

The dealer quoted 4 hours of labour to do my rear LCAs and I did them in 4.5 hours without pneumatics...so, hopefully it should only take me about 5 to 6 hours to do the clutch...wish me luck.

It took me a good 3 day weekend to get mine done, but it was also my first time doing it. Nevertheless good luck!

Yeah, I fully expect to put in a lot of time. Nothing ever goes as smooth as you hope...ever.

I have a buddy that has done a clutch before so it shouldn't be too sloppy. The Bentley manual and internet should provide enough guidance so I can get it done in a decent amount of time...

My buddy is starting a web page which organizes cars in a wiki format so I'm using my car as a guinea pig for him to get a procedure for replacing a clutch and pictures to back it up. Good thing for him that things keep breaking in my car...not good for my wallet though.

I was taking a look over the procedure to do the clutch and it looks like I need a couple 'special' tools to get the job done: A flywheel lock and an alignment tool.

Anyone know where I could get my hands on something like this? I know pelican parts sells the alignment tool along with a kit (just as MMmmmpower (http://forums.bimmerforums.com/forum/member.php?u=63254) said) but there are some instances where I don't receive one. There are ways that I could work around having these...but having them would be so much more convenient.

Any thoughts?

Well I went and bought a alignment tool from princess auto, I had to modify it a bit but it deffinitly worked out. It was a little to big so I used a dremel to shave it down and it ended up working fine.

The only place that I was able to locate a bmw specific one was on the internet.....both bmw dealerships in Edmonton refused becuase it was a "special tool"

PA is a good place for anything...thanks for the reminder. I'm pretty sure they'd sell human fetus there if it was socially acceptable...

Did you lock your flywheel at all when you replaced your clutch?

In my car, with a 5sp manual, does anyone know which tranny I have? (ie - Getrag or ZF).

In my car, with a 5sp manual, does anyone know which tranny I have? (ie - Getrag or ZF).

http://www.realoem.com/bmw/

Try that, its a great resource

^

He speaks the truth. You can always just look at it under the car.....mine had ZF written on the side of it

Effing fantastic resource...but I don't think it gives the type of Transmission. It gives pretty much every detail except for that...

Realoem = added to favourites.

^

He speaks the truth. You can always just look at it under the car.....mine had ZF written on the side of it

That probably makes the most sense...I'll take a look at it tonight when I start removing everything for the clutch swap. Thanks bubs.

So the clutch transfer is going pretty well. Had to drop the exhaust, remove the drive shaft and drop the tranny...started at about 1PM and I should be done tonight. I'm so glad I did this instead of taking it to the stealer...

Gross thing is, I had an appointment for May 24th to get everything done by them (I couldn't wait that long w/o having a car) so I was on a waiting list for a loaner while they squeezed my car in at random times. So I wasn't expecting them to call with a time/car anytime soon...well they did...as laying underneath my dismantled car. Why couldn't they have called a day earlier??! Fark.

Anywho, Just wanted to thank all you for your opinions and any helpful tips...I'll let you know what happens if I ever finish.

Cheers

Oh...and if anyone ever wants to tackle the same problem and can't find the appropriate write up (which there are tons of), I'm going to be making one complete with pics so people can follow.

Good luck!

So I did it in about 18 hours-ish. Everything seems to be working well (clutch wise) but now it's hard to put it in gear.

Maybe I put a linkage on backwards? What things would make it hard to put in gear?

Yeah it could be a linkage.....not to sure what else unless the tranny wasnt lined up properly but I doubt that. Good job on doing it, doesnt it feel better than taking it to the stealer?

BTW where did you get your clutch alingment tool from?

Yeah, the tranny was definately lned up...it's pretty hard NOT to line it up when it sits on guide pins. I'm still not sure if laying on my back torquing bolts for 18 hours was worth my $500, but it was a good experience nonetheless.

I actually had two alignment tools. I got one from a neighbour that may not have worked because it wasn't splined and I got another one with my clutch kit. I got it from Tunerworks and I'm not sure who supplied the clutch for them, but it came with everything I needed (Pressure plate, Clutch Disc, Bearing and alignment tool). Time to diagnose this sloppy shift...I can't handle it not shifting well.