HELP!!!!! MY clutch wont engage!!!!!!!

[BMWM3some]

So Im driving down the road today and all of a sudden I notice I cant shift, Its grinding and my clutch pedal feels like a feather. It goes to the floor with out even hardly trying. I shut down the car and resart and nothing, it wont go into gear, I looked at the linkages and there fine, it will shift into gear but if you disengage the clutch it wont take off of even go because the clutch wont engage. I dont think its the clutch because its new and it doesnt ever slip at all. So my first geuss is the slave cylinder on the tranny, well I go to get a new one and put it in, I bleed the system and what the hell it doesnt work!?!? Now when I start it the clutch will press in and just stick to the floor and you have to pull it with your fingers to get it back up! Did I install the slave cylinder wrong!? Can anyone help me Im so confused!

So in recent news now Im sitting here and my freind is pressing the pedal in the car down while I am under the car and everytime he lifts the pedal up I tighten the valve on the slave cylinder so it doesnt take in air. Im sure all the air is out now. So now its still the same, my clutch is like nothing, you press it and it jolts to the floor and stays there, you have to yank it to get it to come back up. When I installed the slave cylinder I made sure to get it in the fork in the tranny. I know I did because there was alot of resistance while holding it down and putting the bolts on. Can anyone help me, why wonly my clutch work? Just today it was working fine!

Thanks
Chris

Chris

[bimmer95]

Could be the master cylinder Look under the dash for brake fluid.

[BMWM3some]

no fluid under the dash, also if my master cylinder didnt work my brakes wouldnt work, isnt that right? Or am I wrong? Either or there was no brake fluid there so I dont think its that... Anything else?

[bimmer95]

Originally posted by BMWM3some
if my master cylinder didnt work my brakes wouldnt work, isnt that right?

Nope, there is a separate master cylinder just for the clutch. It's mounted under the dash on the firewall. Both master cylinders do share the same fluid reservoir though.

Try unbolting the slave cylinder, hold the piston/pushrod in with your hand while a friend SLOWLY pushes down the clutch pedal. If you feel pressure from the pushrod, yell for your friend to stop pushing the pedal immediately. That means that the master cylinder is okay... if he keeps pushing the piston in the slave cylinder will pop out and ruin it. Be VERY careful.

[Erik@EDGE]

Mine did the same thing when I bled the brakes. Took forever to pump the pedal to make the clutch work again.

[BMWM3some]

ok here is recent news, i took the slave cylinder out and my freind pushed on the pedal, sure enough it came out and it works fine. So I put it back in the car and I bleed the system. Now I start my car and the thing works, the clutch works and has a little hydralulic pressure. Well there is one problem, IT has pressure but not as much as it did before I was driving this morning and it broke or something. I can push the clutch in and out but I cant shift gears!!!! when the car is off I can switch through the gears but once I start it I cant shift into gears, I can start the car in first say, but then if I put in the clutch to go to second or just run through the gears its like the knob is permanently stuck there, i mean you can yank hard as hell and it wont move. Im so confused here, Its not the linkages or anything, and like I said I have hydraulic pressure in the clutch it just isnt that much where it was before it broke today. Taken in mind that I didnt nothing to provoke this, I was driving down the street and I didnt even hear a noise, I just go to shift to second, the clutch started to feel softer and bam, now I cant shift gears and the clutch pedal feels unuslally soft!

Chris

[Alan Taur]

I had very similar symptoms when I had the clutch master cylinder go bad. Replace it. Bleed the system. You're good to go.