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Thread: E46 M3 Clutch Issue

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Apr 2018
    Location
    CA
    Posts
    4
    My Cars
    E46 M3

    E46 M3 Clutch Issue

    Picked up an 05 M3 6-speed manual vert w/50k on odo three weeks ago.





    Stock outside front brake upgrade and the wheels. It's a beautiful car. Feel very fortunate to have it. Got a weekend out of it before losing clutch hydraulics. Drove like an absolute dream for about 100 miles. May have done a few hard pulls and danced around in the red but no 5-mins-at-9k-up-a-canyon runs. Just generic getting to know the car nonsense. Haha.


    ISSUE: On the highway I lost all gears inside of, hell, five minutes? I was (admittedly) zipping through them when I suddenly couldn't get into gear. Went from 'hmm, this is odd' to 'oh, this is an emergency.' Smelled clutch while I struggled with it. Next thing we're off to the side. Had to pushstart into gear to exit the highway.


    Bought a new slave. Bled. Cranked (while on jackstands) and it got into gear! Rears spun in air. Sweet. Get car back on the ground. Gears go in with engine OFF (1st, 2nd easily only), will not engine ON. I do get resistance. (No leaking from master.)


    Will take any advice! Thanks regardless.

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Apr 2018
    Location
    CA
    Posts
    4
    My Cars
    E46 M3
    Tried to get what clutch feels like right now. (There's a sound issue. Think I was referring of how far down I have to push to turn the car on.)





    Ah. Forgot, has short-shifter too. Going through the gears just now.





    Here's a shot of the MC.


    Attachment 629259
    Attached Images Attached Images

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Jul 2011
    Location
    Arlington, VA
    Posts
    9,933
    My Cars
    2018 BMW M240i
    I’m wondering if the clutch master cylinder is toast. What was the smell like? Acrid?

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Jun 2002
    Location
    Aberdeen, NC (yes, again)
    Posts
    23,673
    My Cars
    E39M5, E500 4WD
    When you bled the slave cylinder and the clutch hydraulics, was the slave detached from the bellhousing, turned upside down, and held with the bleed screw as the highest point? You can't effectively bleed the clutch with the slave mounted, because the bleed screw is the lowest point, instead of the highest. The air goes to the top. If you bleed it dismounted, as described, it's a simple gravity bleed.
    Last edited by bmwdirtracer; 05-11-2018 at 09:15 PM.

    Chris Powell
    Racer and Instructor since, well. decades, ok?
    Master Auto Tech, owner of German Motors of Aberdeen
    BMWCCA 274412
    German Motors is hiring ! https://www.bimmerforums.com/forum/s...1#post30831471

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Jul 2011
    Location
    Arlington, VA
    Posts
    9,933
    My Cars
    2018 BMW M240i
    Good point, Chris.

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Jun 2002
    Location
    Aberdeen, NC (yes, again)
    Posts
    23,673
    My Cars
    E39M5, E500 4WD
    When I change slave cylinders, I let the new one gravity bleed, bleed screw upwards, for ~10 seconds. Then I mount it, and I'm done, unless there's another issue.

    Chris Powell
    Racer and Instructor since, well. decades, ok?
    Master Auto Tech, owner of German Motors of Aberdeen
    BMWCCA 274412
    German Motors is hiring ! https://www.bimmerforums.com/forum/s...1#post30831471

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Jul 2013
    Location
    Casablanca, Morocco
    Posts
    780
    My Cars
    2001 e46 323i
    The exact same thing happened to me, with the exact same symptoms, and it turned out the clutch disk was gone.

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