Clutch Problem?

[Red556]

So I will try and be as detailed as possible in this post which is going to make in a bit long. Sorry in advance. I have a 2000 528I with and M52 and a Z3 (5 Speed) transmission and 190K miles and it is not my daily. I had the clutch die and replaced it with a Valeo clutch and single mass fly wheel. Now, less than 75 miles later I am having the same problems. The quick version is this. At low speed 10-15 around my parking lot, no issues. On the road, when I shift gears and it feels like someone is hitting the brakes hard (not enough to lock up the tires but enough to drastically lower speed) then when I release the clutch, the RPMS spike. Eventually, at about 60MPH, my speed decreases and even with the pedal to the floor, nothing changes and I cant go above like 15. I blew out the clutch trying to get home. After going less than a mile I turned around and within 100 yards I had smoke pouring out and I couldn't get the car in gear. Now, one new clutch and less than 75 miles later, I am seeing the same problems. Both times there has been zero clutch slippage or rattles or any other bad or odd noises before total failure.

I had ankle surgery and couldn't drive it for about 6 months. I maybe drove it once on the road after that so it basically sat for another 4 months. I live right off a Parkway so getting to a parkway wasn't a long drive. I started driving it around my parking lot in my apartment complex every week or so after that sitting period so I would drive it around at about 10 mph for 10-15 minutes. It was having issues running in the cold so after my surgery it didn't move again until around April this year.

First time I had an issues I took it on the parkway to go to the store and noticed, at higher speeds (50-60mph) when I slowed down for a light I would take the car out of gear and it would feel like someone had pushed my brakes hard and my car could slow down fairly rapidly. I pulled off as soon as I could find a parking lot and assumed I had some kind of brake issue. I left in a Walmart parking lot and just waited about 40 minutes but was able to get it home. I pulled the brakes and greased the pads and made sure the piston depressed. Suspiciously, no issues found but hey it sat for a while and it drove in the parking lot fine so I called it a day.

Maybe a month later I drive it on the parkway again to pick up dinner and I made it maybe 2 miles out and everything was fighting me as if something was holding my car back again. This time, when I hit about 55mph, the car wouldn't go any faster and started to slow down. No dash lights no signals. I think "well, I guess I can downshift and turn around" and I noticed when I take the car out of gear, the RPM's spike from around 2300 to like 6K and it does this every time I go to shift. Not good but I get it home and no dash lights so I let it sit and took my daily to get dinner and promptly ignored the BMW and let it sit for the night. For the net few weeks it has no issues driving around the lot and gives no lights or any other issues and no fluid leaks either.

After probably 5-6 times driving around the lot I think "time to try the parkway again!" and again same issues as last time and I barely make it 2 miles from my garage. I go to turn around and she was pissed. It didn't want to accelerate, RPM spikes every time I take it out of gear (in gear around 3K spike to 6-7k). I turn it around and make it a few hundred yards and smoke just starts pouring through the vents and from under the hood. Great I blew the clutch. I assumed it was from sitting but I didn't think too much else of it as I knew at this point the clutch is gone.

I decided to go all out for this. I pull the motor and trans together and did a good amount of work with things like PCV and oil pan gasket etc. I decided to go with a Valeo single mass flywheel and clutch, new pilot bearing, throw out bearing, slave cylinder, and transmission seals. Due to having the transmission at an angle when removing the seals I lost transmission fluid so I did a fluid swap with MTV-LV fluid. Put it all back together and it moves into every gear with no issues so I button the whole project up. Start up first time and purrs like a kitten, shifts perfectly with no rattles or sounds and I am happy as hell. I drove around maybe 20-30 miles and no issues just smiles. I spend the last month or so ironing out some A/C issues so it hasn't been driven hard or a lot.

Today, I drive down the highway and come back, 25 miles per the odometer. Left the car idling and got a phone charge from my daily and hop in to get some coffee down the road. Maybe 5 miles down the parkway and I come to a light and I notice the car is pulling hard when I come out of gear and the RPM spike happens.......... I limp it another 100 yards down the road so I and utilize a turn lane as my own personal breakdown lane and it came up at just the right time as my speed went from 60 mph to just steadily decelerating. Learned my lesson this time and called a tow back home. No issues driving it into the garage, clutch didn't shimmy or shake or anything but I didn't want to totally blow it.

I have been working on cars for the better part of 15 years for fun. I am not a mechanic and this is my first time ever working on a transmission. No issues or cares working on head gaskets or anything else but this is the first time and project I have ever just been completely stumped. Did I just blow a clutch after 70 miles or am I missing something?

[bmwdirtracer]

Welcome to the forum.



Forget the clutch for the moment: you've got a serious engine issue -- the revs going to 6k when you shift to neutral indicates a problem with your throttle assembly, cable, etc. An M52 indicates you've got a cable throttle, right? This would have to be step 1 in your diagnosis - look for binding and misrouting of the throttle cable.

Start here.

EDIT: Remember that any unauthorized air to the engine is the same as opening the throttle, so a large intake leak is the same as a foot on the gas.

[Red556]

Thank you Chris! I was assuming that it was due to a clutch slipping issue as it never gave me any problems before it started having issues. It didn't rev spike for the first 60 some miles before it started having issues again. I have no check engine lights so I wasn't paying attention to them at first. I did run a plug in scanner and got a P1510 and P0101 and I will address those issues. If none of the dash lights are illuminating I am wondering if the car put itself in limp mode and I just forced it too hard the first time trying to get home and burnt out the clutch. Hopefully this time I didn't damage anything.

[dworthy]

Also if you throw it in neutral, and the car is still dragging/slowing down take a look at your braking system. I suspect that you have a dragging caliper, the easiest way it to just look at the rims. The rim with the most brake dust, that's a clue. Raise that wheel up and see how hard it is to turn. Another way is to use a thermometer gun to see which rotor is the hottest. If it has been doing this for some time now, you will also notice a bright red rust color on the edge of the rotor itself too.

[Red556]

So I have taken off all the brakes and cleaned all the caliper brackets and made sure all the pistons were depressing without issue. There is some drag on the front wheels when I turn them manually but overall the do turn and I don't have to lean into them too much. Despite finding the two codes yesterday (P1510 and P0101) I decided to drive it around the parking lot this afternoon. No issues shifting or going over 20 mph or 3K RPMS. My Service Engine light did come on after driving almost a mile around the lot. I stopped to check it and now have 4 codes P1510, P1423, P1421, and P0101.

Darin: it does feel like it is pulling when it is in neutral as well so I have checked the brakes twice now with no luck all these symptoms seem to come on all at once and when I am in the left lane of a the parkway.

Chris: I have checked the cable and I found no issues with it as of yet. Also, staring at the tach and thinking about things not when my car was actively trying to kill me in the left lane of traffic, I would say the RPM'S were close to 4-5K. Still high but not red line plus, just for clarification, the RPM's would drop down again after they spike up. They didn't hold at that number they just bounced up then started to come down.

A bit of back story on this car that I remembered today. First of all, it was a beater car that I bought for 1K having 180K miles. Orignially I wanted to turn it into a drift car and kill it within a year so I never really stayed on top of this car. I never ended up being able to drift it as it started having issues before I could even start modifying it.

This car has had some issues with stalling out before. Maybe 2 years ago (around October / November 2020) it died while I was driving into work and sat in the parking lot there for probably 5 days. It just shut off and I coasted to the side of the road, started it, and got it to go the last 2 miles into work. I can't recall the exact codes but I feel like it was something to do with the air flow or air sensor. So I drove it back on the weekend and made it like 12 miles down the highway when I started having the same loss of power but no brake pulling or engine revving. I had it towed back and played around with whatever vacuum lines I could find that seemed dry rotted as some of them were in really bad shape. By then it is starting to get cold and I started having issues with the car running in cold weather. It would start and then the rev's would bounce between 1-2K and the engine would basically rev up and down for 3-5 minutes then die. I tested fuel pressure, spark, spark plugs, new coil packs, and eventually, it got warm and the issue resolved itself. Worked great all summer then started again when it got cold. Because of this issue, I decided to pull the motor and trans when I had to put in a new clutch last month. Just made it easier to do the clutch without a lift as well as a cold weather CPV and VANOS rebuild along with taking care of all the little oil leaks these motors have.