Doing a clutch job in a few weeks

[1999 540i m]

What's the deal with the impulse sensor? The TIS says I need to check the depth with a gauge and shim as needed. Is this essential?

Not needed as far as I know, I put a new crank sensor in mine there was no shim and it works great

[waters17]

Oh, cool. Thanks.

Whelp, it's time for another pizza break. I think the worst part of wrenchin' is the cleanin'.

I got the trans cleaned pretty okay. The coolant oil/coolant sludge there had me a bit concerned.
20170527_212057.jpg
20170528_131000.jpg

I also replaced the input shaft seal and the gear select seal. -both had developed small leaks. I opted out of doing the rear seal because It doesn't show any signs of leaking, and it's somewhat easy to get to if it does start leaking later.


On to the flywheel!! What mysteries does it hold???

NOOO! It went all Garbage Pail Kids on me. As soon as I removed the flywheel, I got a strong whiff of burned oil. So it looks like I'll also be replacing the rear main seal, and the coolant plate gasket. -after I spend a good 5 hours cleaning it.
20170528_160740.jpg

[gmak]

I don't think that anyone commented on the driveshaft entering piece (the one that someone used bread to get out). You can use water and a metal dowel that fits inside the piece. I put tinfoil on my dowel (I don't remember what I used as one) to get a better seal. By tapping it down, the water - which doesn't compress, will push out the centring piece.

[Mach540]

Your transmission looks like the underside of my lawn mower......... WTF.

[waters17]

I did the driveshaft centering piece a few months ago when I replaced my CV joint and CSB. The paper/water trick did not work for me, and I ended up cutting it out. However, I was successful using this method for the pilot bearing. I originally tried using grease, but the grease would just squeeze itself through any little gap it could find, so I started packing in wet printer paper and paper towels.

It made a neat little car tampon.
Attachment 601300

Your transmission looks like the underside of my lawn mower......... WTF.

Hahahaha! It does kind of. Some of the crud down there had a similar consistency to the crud you'd find on the bottom of a lawn mower.



At around 1am this morning, I was finally ready to put the transmission back on the car. When I stuck in the alignment tool for the clutch, it seemed to have required some effort, but the splined shaft on the transmission didn't seem to have any trouble finding its way home. Felt too easy. -and that makes me nervous. I was able to get 4 or 6 bolts on the transmission before calling it quits.

[waters17]

Finally done! The new clutch is grippy too. I killed it 4 times during my test drive.

In all honesty, it was not an enjoyable experience. I really hate wiggling around on my back, and constantly getting out from under the car. A creeper and power tools would have made things better.