Google Search Click Here Ron Stygar Carl Buckland -- 3-Series 5-Series 6-Series 7-Series 8-Series M Cars Z Cars X SAV -- 84-91 3Series 92-99 3Series 99-05 3Series 76-81 5Series 82-88 5Series 89-95 5Series 97-03 5Series 96-02 Z3 00-06 X5 All Click Here E12 E28 E30 E34 E36 E39 E46 X5/E53 All What's New Search (Google!!) FAQ BulletinBoard Classifieds Garage Images Books Tools Parts Used Cars Links FTP Advertise Search Amazon.com All Products Books Popular Music Classical Music Video Toys & Games Electronics Software Tools & Hardware Lawn & Patio Kitchen   Unofficial Homepages: [Home] [E12] [E24] [E28] [E30] [E34] [E36] [Z3] [E39] [E46] [X5/E53] [ALL] [ Ron Stygar ] [ Carl Buckland ] [ Forums ] [ Help ] Date: Wed, 17 Mar 1999 01:10:19 -0700 Unofficial Homepages: [Home] [E12] [E24] [E28] [E30] [E34] [E36] [Z3] [E39] [E46] [X5/E53] [ALL] [ Help ]

At 11:02 PM 3/15/99 -0500, you wrote:
>Harmon Fischer wrote:
><6. When you renew brake fluid, ALWAYS
> bleed the clutch system at the same time>
>
>I bled my brakes last weekend, too, with Steve's pressure bleeder (which is
>the kind of practical luxury I really appreciate), but I didn't do the
clutch.

>Coupla questions:
>
>1. Does the clutch have a bleeder valve like the brakes? If not, what do I
>look for?

The clutch does have a bleeder valve just like the brake calipers.

>
>2. Where is the bleeder thingy, whatever it is?

The bleeder valve for the clutch is located on the end of the clutch slave.

NOTE: BLEEDING THE CLUTCH SLAVE CAN BE VERY FRUSTRATING, SO HERE IS HOW TO DO IT WITH EASE.

The BMW's are notorious for clutch bleeding difficulty. This is mainly due to the fact that BMW puts the bleeder screw on the underside and not the top of the slave. With the bleeder screw on the underside of slave you have mucho difficulty stopping the air from leaking up into the slave during the bleeding process. The bleeder screw also makes it virtually impossible to remove any residual air trapped in the slave. So with this in mind and not knowing how well the Steve D pressure bleeder works on BMW clutch systems I recommend ALWAYS using a syringe (60cc approx) for the clutch bleeding process.

Back bleeding a clutch with a syringe is simple. You will first want to remove any of the old clutch fluid by opening the bleeder screw allowing the fluid to drain until clean fluid runs out. Close the bleeder screw and fill your syringe with the fresh brake fluid of your choice. Note: you will want to have some sort of flexible rubber tubing on the end of the syringe (12 inches of 4mm vacuum tubing is ideal). Once your syringe is full tap the sides of the syringe to get any air bubbles to the top so that they can be removed from the syringe. Then connect the syringe to the bleeder screw via the rubber tubing. Open the bleeder screw and inject the fluid back through the clutch slave system. Just before the syringe is empty close the bleeder screw (by closing the screw while the bleeder system is under pressure you can prevent any air from slipping back past the threads of the bleeder screw).

Again this style of bleeding may or may not be useful to those using the Steve D pressure bleeder, but it will do wonders for all of those who are doing the bleeding the old fashioned way. Every mechanic that I have shown this technique to has requested my hand in marriage. Thankfully I am already happily married and no longer a mechanic (my apologies to happy mechanics).

Josh
Eurosport
(801) 463 4919