Dragging clutch on a E36 328is

[snaponbob]

Just finished a clutch replacement on a 98 328is. All SEEMED to go well, but not so. While the box can be easily shifted with the engine OFF, NOT with the engine running. The clutch is dragging when the pedal is to the floor. If I start the car IN GEAR, the car will start to lightly creep, and I can't easily get the car out of gear until the engine is turned off. When IN gear, I can start to release the pedal with not change in the amount of creep until about half of the outward travel.

Although I have bled the slave both ways, no change (as expected). The clutch kit is a Sachs with a new throw out. I can only assume that I have screwed up and placed the clutch friction plate in backwards.

Questions are basically - what does this creeping sound like? Did I screw up? Or does this sound like something else? Not my first clutch job by any means, and NEVER ran into this before.

[jrushman]

Sounds like the master or slave is not working correctly.

Bleed some more, look for a strong steady stream with no bubbles are breaks in pressure.

[JDStrickland]

If the car moves with the clutch pedal on the floor, then you put something in wrong and the pedal cannot go far enough to disengage the clutch fully. Whatever, it is a problem that is caused by you. The only thing you can do is do the job over again.

[UnderCoverGuy11]

+1 on bleeding better

[flyfishvt]

Whatever, it is a problem that is caused by you. .


WHEEEWWWW!!!! That's a load off my mind. Glad its not MY fault. :redspot

[JDStrickland]

WHEEEWWWW!!!! That's a load off my mind. Glad its not MY fault. :redspot
Did you coach him to use LL-01 and distilled water?


+1 on bleeding better
My gut feeling is that this will not be fixed by bleeding. That's the first diagnostic to perform, but my gut feeling is that nothing will change.

[D. Hitchcock]

We're going to bleed the slave again ...

Then we're getting the tranny jack back from the rental shop.

Not our first rodeo, but the first e36 bronc we tried to bust.

[flyfishvt]

Well we need more info to answer this correctly. Did you disconnect the slave from the hydraulic hose? if you did then bleeding it again will probably help. If you left the slave attached and just set it off to the side like i did then you can't possibly get air into the system and your problem is probably somewhere in the clutch itself. JD maybe correct on this if you didn't disconnect the slave or drain any fluid from the system.

[snaponbob]

If the car moves with the clutch pedal on the floor, then you put something in wrong and the pedal cannot go far enough to disengage the clutch fully. Whatever, it is a problem that is caused by you. The only thing you can do is do the job over again.

I'm afraid you are correct. If there was air in the system, ALL the pedal action would be close to the floor. It isn't. I am afraid the clutch plate is reversed. Mother f$cker, huh?

Again, the system was bled both directions. The hose was replaced for an upgrade hose. The system was pressure bled DOWN, and then UP. NO change. The clutch drags for the lower half of the pedal travel and then engages smoothly. It clearly is not releasing as it should. I'll be bleeding it again in the AM. If that does not change stuff, the box comes out again. If the clutch plate is not backward, a different clutch will go in. I do NOT plan on "perfecting" E36 clutch swaps, if you get what I am laying down !!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[D. Hitchcock]

Today ...

We check the slave for proper function and rebleed the system one more time.

If no progress, then we pull the gearbox and doublecheck the installation.

[D. Hitchcock]

Our problem turned out to be a bent friction disc in the Sachs clutch kit we had purchased.

A 2nd clutch kit was installed and everything works great!

[snaponbob]

I told you that it wasn't a frisbee when you tried to see how far it would fly.

[flyfishvt]

Bent disk? That's a new one. Glad you figured it out. Too bad you had to pull the tranny again. You are now an official expert at it.