Clutch issue

[Brendanmck]

Hi all noticed recently after getting the car back on the road the operation of the clutch has become loud and clunky at crawl speed when I come on to the brakes and then back on to the gas it's the operation of the clutch disengaging and engaging that's loud and clunky. One theory I have is that the car was sat up over the winter and the battery went flat would I need to reprogram the software controlling the clutch ? Or is it something more sinister ?

[chrisburns]

Hey Brendan, I'd go with the gearbox being needing re-calabrated. Think I need to get the same done myself.

Are you on FB ? If so PM me your name

[Brendanmck]

Hey Brendan, I'd go with the gearbox being needing re-calabrated. Think I need to get the same done myself.

Are you on FB ? If so PM me your name

Hi chris not on FB mate .are you having the same symptoms ? My car runs fine otherwise . I'm sick spending money on it. It's a lucky car I like them so much or it would be gone long ago

[chrisburns]

No worries, it was just there is a private group there for local car nuts you might like.
Yea I get the same Brendan, and for the same reasons - i.e sorned for 6 months

[JBird]

Also just got back on the road after a few months with the battery out. I have also noticed the clutch is a bit jumpy when driving from a standstill to a low speed in first (eg in a car park or whatever).

I thought a good drive would sort it out (thought perhaps some surface rust develops on moving clutch parts ???), but still seems a little nqr.

My clutch is only 12months / 1500 miles old.

Admittedly I didn't think of trying the simple smg reset (pull oth paddles back while coasting in N). Might give that a go this arvo.

Could the SMG really forget its settings by disconecting the battey for an extended period and need a full reset? Perhaps someone with a bit more post-winter-battery-out / disconnected experience please post their thoughts. I know most ppl use trickle chargers, so wouldnt get this effect.

[chrisburns]

The pulling the paddles trick doesn't really work I don't think.

As far as I know it needs to be calibrated again properly. When the battery runs completely flat the car looses all the settings and defaults to factory

[digi]

I often disconnect my battery and when reconnecting back, the SMG dosen't slur etc. Do get the thud thing but it only happens if I had it sitting around for a couple of weeks. For me the SMG has always been a little mechanical when I let her sit abit. After a few blasts I don't really notice anything unusual from no battery power except the crisp SMG shifts. :smokin:

My input probably isn't much help but I've always found the SMG to be a bit clunky at low speeds.

[Brendanmck]

No worries, it was just there is a private group there for local car nuts you might like.
Yea I get the same Brendan, and for the same reasons - i.e sorned for 6 months

Thanks anyway chris . I'm gonna throw my car up to German motor works they can have a look and sort it out il let you know how I get on . By the way is it safe to be driving like that I'm not gonna do any harm ?

[shimmy]

When my car was used daily, it used to slur after awhile and if left slur, it wouldn't stop. Needed a couple of clutches (thanks to BMW)

Since it has been used for fun and trackdays, never had an issues as the hard driving seems to sort it out and with less item between hard drives it hasn't got time to learn bad habits

[Mark CSL]

The clonk can be down to a worn prop shaft donut
i had this replaced and it helped a lot.

Also why dont you lot invest in the bmw tool easy to use and you can teach
the gearbox shift bite in every gear it also does a lot more all you need is a laptop and this cable its £37.99

http://bmwcables.moonfruit.com/

:thumbs:

[JBird]

Agreed Mark, I brought the cable yesterday after realising this is gonna have to be done yearly.

Also agree with the previous post that in some aspects shifts have improved since the accidental factory reset as 3rd, 4th, 5th and 6th are all nice and crisper than before winter, just clunky at low crawling speeds in 1st and 2nd which need sorting. I suspects that since my clutch is basically brand new, the factory defaults aren't too far off, and that it had learn't some bad habits commuting leading up to winter which have now effectively been erased.

So when our cars go in for service, presumably the battery is disconnected. Is an SMG teach performed after reconnecting? Doubt it. May be contributing to all the clutch issues over time.

Solution = Get your own cable, do a reset, take it for a hard run / td.

[JBird]

Hi Mark, I forgot to ask, when you say prop shaft donut, do you mean the fwd coupling shown as item 2 in the diagram. (Also discussed at length here (http://www.cslregister.com/forum/showthread.php?t=11670))

I recently replaced the rear joint, just fwd of the diff (Item 14 in diagram, part Nr 7 841 003). That took away 70% of the driveline play I'd say.

[Mark CSL]

yes it takes up any play on the prop and can crack with age :supz:
This part

[digi]

yes it takes up any play on the prop and can crack with age :supz:
This part

this part seems to always break. Had to replace it a number of times on my E36 ///M3. Only replaced it once on the cesil though. It was not visible, was a hairline split. Once it was off, the thing fell apart. LOL

[shimmy]

Changed mine last week, it was fooked good and proper

[cantfind1]

Clutch problems! always the same lol.....most often you will find that it is this part causing the problem, it is what the clutch slides on and should be replaced everytime you replace the clutch it wears out and gets grooves in it causing the clutch to stick, slur, not engage smoothly, clunky operation as the hydraulics sense resistence and are fooled into thinking clutch is fully engaged when its not.

BMW recommends when you replace the clutch to not lubricate this part, however from past experience I have found using copper grease is very effective in keeping this part functioning correctly.

If your car has been sat for a long time over winter then it could have become corroded from moisture. This causes the calibration to be incorrect in the SMG ecu as the clutch no longer moves like it used to before you parked it up!

Only way to solve this is gearbox out inspect and replace part or lubricate depending on condition or you could try driving it with some hard full throttle shifts in order to smooth out some of the sticky sections along the shaft.

Part I am talking about is number 1 in the diagram.

http://www.realoem.com/bmw/showparts.do?model=BL96&mospid=50641&btnr=23_0219&hg=23&fg=15

[AlexGTT]

The clonk can be down to a worn prop shaft donut
i had this replaced and it helped a lot.

Also why dont you lot invest in the bmw tool easy to use and you can teach
the gearbox shift bite in every gear it also does a lot more all you need is a laptop and this cable its £37.99

http://bmwcables.moonfruit.com/

:thumbs:

Mark, how does this work and is there software to download?

[Rick H]

Mark, how does this work and is there software to download?

Got mine from www.cable-shack.co.uk

Inpa etc came with it.

[JBird]

Mark, how does this work and is there software to download?

Alex, See posts from Tom (NZ_M3), keywords GT1, cable etc. I should have mine by next week and will do a write up if I have any success. Not sure if I am game to do a reset unless i'm sure i know what im doing, but a bit of a looksy at the current offsets can't harm!

Before I do go screwing with it, i'd still like to know for sure that disconecting the battery does actually wipe the SMG settings. It seems odd to me that it would, as disconecting a battery is a common service thing to do. You'd expect a warning lable on the battery terminal or something if that was the case.

Shimmy or digi, could a layman see the cracks in the fwd coupling, or do you have to half pull it apart to see if its fooked?