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@Michael Yount This is the setup I have. It does have a proportioning valve. As you can see the brake and the clutch system share the same reservoir. The T56 internal throw out bearing.
Should be able to get air out of clutch set up no problem. So if air is out you need to confirm TO bearing is set up/spaced properly. Have I told you how much I hate hydraulic TO bearings? (Chuckle)
Quick update. I got my replacement caliper yesterday evening and swapped it out real quick. Once everything was swapped out I pressurized the system, cracked the bleed valve, and............brake fluid started coming right out!! Now I need to re-bleed everything 100%, and re-bleed the clutch.
One thing has given me hope on the clutch pedal. The BMW clutch pedal has two springs on it, one is a small return spring, and the other is a larger helper spring with a plastic rod inside the spring. Some time ago the rod snapped, and the large spring game out which is no issue. However about a third of the plastic rod never game out. I was able to get the rest of the plastic rod out which gave me a little more travel on the clutch pedal. So now I am hoping I can re-bleed everything, and with the correct amount of travel I will have working brakes and a clutch! Fingers crossed.
I got the brakes fully bleed and the pedal is firm from the start now. I also got the clutch bleed as well. While the car was up on the stands I decided to start the car and see if it would shift into gear. With the clutch pressed in the car went into gear without any issues. I am going to put the tires back on tomorrow, and see if I can get the car to move under its own power. Fingers crossed!
Well......no luck getting the car into gear with all four wheels on the ground. I fired her up, and with the clutch fully depressed I can't get it to go into gear. When I really try and force it in to gear the car starts rolling forward slowly. I am not sure what is going on, but it looks like I am going to have to pull the engine and trans to figure it out. Pretty bummed since I thought I had it figured out. Any suggestions are welcomed at this point.
Is there an access port of sorts where someone can look at what’s happening to the pressure plate when the clutch pedal is depressed all the way? I’d want that info BEFORE I pulled the tranny. If the TOB is moving, but simply not enough to fully disengage the clutch disc - then the spacing on the bearing is set up incorrectly.
Last edited by Michael Yount; May 28, 2020 at 08:22 PM.
Unfortunately the only access ports are where the clutch and bleeder hose come through between the bell housing and adapter plate. They are located at about 2 o’clock on the transmission (facing the drives side transmission tunnel). Not sure I can even get my phone in there with the camera on to see if the throw out bearing is working. I will
give it a shot tomorrow and see what I can find.
So I got the engine pulled, and it was pretty easy. I had everything out, and the trans off the engine in about an hour and a half. I would like to get your guys input on what could possibly be going wrong.
First the tips of the fingers on the pressure plate look to be blued. Take a look at the pictures below. What would cause this?
Second when I separated the transmission from the engine there were some very fine brass shavings on the tip of the trans shaft. Here is a pick of the pilot bearing. Also I noticed that some of the flywheel bolt heads have some marks on them.
Third I took a look at the throw out bearing, and nothing was leaking and the bearing moves on the shaft of the transmission.
Lastly the clutch looked to be good. No odd marks or anything.
Any help anyone could offer would be greatly appreciated.
Well I have determined the issue, and it is a product of my own stupidity and mongoloid strength.
When I was mating the transmission to the block I was in a rush because we had sold our house and I needed to get the car into storage ASAP. That meant I had to get the engine and trans in the car quickly. When I was mating the two together it took a good amount of effort to get the bell housing to mate to the block. I thought it was due to the pilot bearing being tight, but it was really because I didn't have the teeth full aligned from the shaft of the tranny to the clutch. Because of this I had smashed the clutch up against the flywheel, damaging the clutch and essentially rendering the pressure plate useless. You can see from the pictures below how bad I cracked the center of the clutch disc.
I purchased a new clutch, and installed it yesterday. This go around I took my time, and everything slid together perfectly. Everything is torqued down and the engine is ready to go back in the car. I am going to try and knock that out here in the next couple of days.
The bright side to all of this is that I have become really good at pulling the engine out of this car haha.
@Michael Yount I hooked the clutch up and bleed it to see if I could see anything. Take a look at the video below, and let me know what you think. in the last few second you can see the TOB pushing against the fingers of the pressure plate.
@Michael Yount The first half of the video is pretty useless, but at the 9 second mark and further you can see the TOB pushing against the fingers of the pressure plate.
Hope there aren’t other issues. Occasionally when a transmission/bell is “forced” into place with things out of alignment, the crank is forced forward. Sometimes bearings, especially the thrust bearing, can be damaged. Let’s cross our fingers that the pressure plate absorbed all the damage.
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