fun with a falling and sticking 325e clutch

[eppy]

I was sitting in a little stop and go traffic yesterday afternoon when my clutch didn't return, and after a moment of the clutch being stuck to the floor while in first gear, it was as if the transmission popped into gear. The car skipped forward and stalled.

I pushed the little guy to the side of the road and noticed the brake fluid level had lowered past master cylinder line. Had a shop on the corner from me bleed and fill.

It was working again for about two blocks. Then, same symptoms. I also noticed another symptom that one of you might know as the red flag for a the issue. When the clutch pedal is pressed slowly, it looses pressure about half way and sinks to the floor. If it press it quickly it returns as normal, but will eventually stick to the floor and cause the transmission to pop into gear.

FYI, the slave cylinder was replaced when I purchased the vehicle, 1000 miles ago and the work was done by a BMW pro. I hate to GUESS, but I think my issue is with the master cylinder, which is leaking down it's bottom side like in this video below and has the same chewed up rubber grommet.

https://youtu.be/_7j8wTiBDo0?t=5m31s

I think it's obvious to replace the master cylinder because of the visual wear and tear as seen in the video below. Would love some thoughts in the meantime while I try to find the parts to do the job locally.

Is it strange that low fluid would cause the master cylinder to finally fail, or am I just correlating to things that just so happened to occur simultaneously? The fluid being low and the master cylinder failing?

[hotdish]

Is it strange that low fluid would cause the master cylinder to finally fail, or am I just correlating to things that just so happened to occur simultaneously? The fluid being low and the master cylinder failing?

The most common reason the fluid would be low would be because of a clutch or brake cylinder failing, but a leaking line is possible. The clutch cylinders should be replaced together as a new one on one end seems to make the older one fail. It's happened to me 2/2 times I've only replaced one at a time on an e21 or e30.