[ArsakE46]

Hey guys,
I’m having some strange troubles with my E46 and I can’t seem to backtrack the problem. Basically the car doesn’t want to go into gear or come out of gear when the clutch is fully pressed in. However, it can forcefully slip into first gear after already rolling by being pushed. Once moving the car has no problems shifting through gears. I had a shop install a Clutch Master Fx250 kit on the car, including clutch disk, pressure plate, HD throw out bearing, lightweight fly wheel. My mechanic thinks it could be my TO bearing, shift fork or pressure plate. I thought it was my slave cylinder because I lost some pressure. My mechanic also removed the slave and said it’s not cracked or leaking so it’s not that. The kit is brand new and just broken in ~1000 miles. If anything it could be the shift fork because that hasn’t been replaced. I’m also thinking it could be something related to shifter bushing? What do you guys think it’ll be? PFA

 

[Sapote]

With engine off, if you can shift into any gears then the shifter is fine.
Jack up the rear wheels, engage 1st gear, then press clutch and start engine. With clutch pedal down, do the wheels spin with engine rpm? Increase the rpm higher with clutch pedal down, do the wheels speed up with higher rpm? If yes then clutch is dragging and need to be fixed.

 

[ArsakE46]

With engine off, if you can shift into any gears then the shifter is fine.
Jack up the rear wheels, engage 1st gear, then press clutch and start engine. With clutch pedal down, do the wheels spin with engine rpm? Increase the rpm higher with clutch pedal down, do the wheels speed up with higher rpm? If yes then clutch is dragging and need to be fixed.

Thanks I’ll have to give that a try.

 

[CaptainBruh]

Hey guys,
I’m having some strange troubles with my E46 and I can’t seem to backtrack the problem. Basically the car doesn’t want to go into gear or come out of gear when the clutch is fully pressed in. However, it can forcefully slip into first gear after already rolling by being pushed. Once moving the car has no problems shifting through gears. I had a shop install a Clutch Master Fx250 kit on the car, including clutch disk, pressure plate, HD throw out bearing, lightweight fly wheel. My mechanic thinks it could be my TO bearing, shift fork or pressure plate. I thought it was my slave cylinder because I lost some pressure. My mechanic also removed the slave and said it’s not cracked or leaking so it’s not that. The kit is brand new and just broken in ~1000 miles. If anything it could be the shift fork because that hasn’t been replaced. I’m also thinking it could be something related to shifter bushing? What do you guys think it’ll be? PFA
View attachment 939407

It seems like the clutch is not disengaging. Does the clutch pedal feel like brake pedal, meaning there is no travel? If that's the case, then you're slave cylinder is making pressure but not the clutch is not disengaging. When I improperly installed my oem clutch, I removed the SAC alignment plate before the install, so the clutch was not disengaging and the clutch pedal felt stiff like a brake pedal.
I believe it could be the pivot pin (if plastic) or one of the pressure plate failed. But the trans have to come out sadly I guess. Good luck!
I'm about to buy same exact clutch kit with aluminum flywheel for my 6 speed, how is it? any noises or how bad is the chatter?

 

[ArsakE46]

It seems like the clutch is not disengaging. Does the clutch pedal feel like brake pedal, meaning there is no travel? If that's the case, then you're slave cylinder is making pressure but not the clutch is not disengaging. When I improperly installed my oem clutch, I removed the SAC alignment plate before the install, so the clutch was not disengaging and the clutch pedal felt stiff like a brake pedal.
I believe it could be the pivot pin (if plastic) or one of the pressure plate failed. But the trans have to come out sadly I guess. Good luck!
I'm about to buy same exact clutch kit with aluminum flywheel for my 6 speed, how is it? any noises or how bad is the chatter?

Ah I see… The thing is the clutch pedal does not feel like the brake pedal, it has the normal travel it should but the pressure seems a bit lower. I’m having thoughts about the pressure plate too maybe it has cracked or is a faulty part but I doubt it. Looked pristine before the install at least and ClutchMasters is a solid company, I have not heard of this issue. Besides this problem, when the car was running the clutch kit is such a big upgrade from stock. Soft enough for daily driving but aggressive for spirited driving. 10/10 recommend.

 

[CaptainBruh]

Ah I see… The thing is the clutch pedal does not feel like the brake pedal, it has the normal travel it should but the pressure seems a bit lower. I’m having thoughts about the pressure plate too maybe it has cracked or is a faulty part but I doubt it. Looked pristine before the install at least and ClutchMasters is a solid company, I have not heard of this issue. Besides this problem, when the car was running the clutch kit is such a big upgrade from stock. Soft enough for daily driving but aggressive for spirited driving. 10/10 recommend.

If the clutch pedal feels good, then maybe bleed the clutch before removing the trans. If there is air then it might not disengage completely bc the clamping force is twice the oem. Also try doing what @Sapote mentioned as well. Check the slave cylinder to make sure the piston/fork can't be pushed in easily because it should have the fluid pressure (don't press the clutch pedal bc it might shoot out the piston). If it does it, then the slave cylinder is bad/broken internally.
I'm excited for this kit, how bad is the chatter when in neutral before this happened?

 

[ArsakE46]

If the clutch pedal feels good, then maybe bleed the clutch before removing the trans. If there is air then it might not disengage completely bc the clamping force is twice the oem. Also try doing what @Sapote mentioned as well. Check the slave cylinder to make sure the piston/fork can't be pushed in easily because it should have the fluid pressure (don't press the clutch pedal bc it might shoot out the piston). If it does it, then the slave cylinder is bad/broken internally.
I'm excited for this kit, how bad is the chatter when in neutral before this happened?

Gotcha, I’ll have to see if that method has been tried. The slave cylinder could possibly be internally broken, kind of hoping it is the slave cylinder so it’ll be a more straight forward fix. You should be excited for the kit! I love it honestly. With stock motor mounts there is little to none chatter when in neutral which is awesome. My friend is running the same kit with solid mounts and the chatter sounds like a tractor when in neutral lol

 

[CaptainBruh]

Gotcha, I’ll have to see if that method has been tried. The slave cylinder could possibly be internally broken, kind of hoping it is the slave cylinder so it’ll be a more straight forward fix. You should be excited for the kit! I love it honestly. With stock motor mounts there is little to none chatter when in neutral which is awesome. My friend is running the same kit with solid mounts and the chatter sounds like a tractor when in neutral lol

Good luck man! I hope its the slave cylinder as well. Thanks for clearing up my questions on the kit, I'm buying it. I'm gonna install it along with m3 rear diff and subframe this thanksgiving weekend.

 

[ArsakE46]

Good luck man! I hope its the slave cylinder as well. Thanks for clearing up my questions on the kit, I'm buying it. I'm gonna install it along with m3 rear diff and subframe this thanksgiving weekend.

Thanks man and no problem! I appreciate your help as well. That’s going to be a sweet setup, I’m planning to do this same. I’m willing to bet it will perform like a beast. Hoping that swap goes smoothly for you. Can’t wait to do the same and get rid of the weak open diff.

 

[CaptainBruh]

I just installed the same fx250 clutch and flywheel from clutch masters. I have the same exact problem. @ArsakE46 did you figure out what the problem was? I drove around 20 miles with no issues but the clutch did not engage suddenly. Help pls.

 

[Ivan-san]

I just installed the same fx250 clutch and flywheel from clutch masters. I have the same exact problem. @ArsakE46 did you figure out what the problem was? I drove around 20 miles with no issues but the clutch did not engage suddenly. Help pls.

Did you install and torque the pressure plate correctly? I had the same exact issue as you guys described and I also switched out a perfectly fine slave. When I took out my tranny again, it ended up being that 3 of my pressure plate bolts were sticking halfway out my presure plate and the other 3 were hand tight. Make sure you torque those bolts to 25 ft lbs. I even added a small amount of locktight just in case after torquing them down.

Side note when I first installed my clutch max kit, everything was perfectly fine but slowly over the course of a week the bite point got lower and lower until I was at a gas station and the clutch wouldn't disengage.

 

[CaptainBruh]

@Ivan-san I installed everything right. I did torque the pressure plate bolts to 20ft lbs as the instructions said along with threadlocker. Thanks for the response.
I found the culprit the same day. I started bleeding the clutch but that was good already. The actual issue was the clutch pedal range, the pressure plate starts to engage the clutch as I press the pedal all the way in. There seems to be a point while pressing down the pedal when the clutch engages again. My theory is that, since its aftermarket clutch setup, the pressure plates fingers are pressed inwards beyond a point. So, the clutch starts to engage. I solved this by adding a clutch pedal stop. I used a 3/4'' diameter, 1" length bolt as a pedal stop ($3 @ home depot). Clutch pedal stop is a must for all manual e46, really helps especially with a stage 2 clutch.
I hope this information help anyone else in future

 

[Ivan-san]

@Ivan-san I installed everything right. I did torque the pressure plate bolts to 20ft lbs as the instructions said along with threadlocker. Thanks for the response.
I found the culprit the same day. I started bleeding the clutch but that was good already. The actual issue was the clutch pedal range, the pressure plate starts to engage the clutch as I press the pedal all the way in. There seems to be a point while pressing down the pedal when the clutch engages again. My theory is that, since its aftermarket clutch setup, the pressure plates fingers are pressed inwards beyond a point. So, the clutch starts to engage. I solved this by adding a clutch pedal stop. I used a 3/4'' diameter, 1" length bolt as a pedal stop ($3 @ home depot). Clutch pedal stop is a must for all manual e46, really helps especially with a stage 2 clutch.
I hope this information help anyone else in future

Yea that's great. Actually the torque specs that I found were 25 ft lbs but I'm sure it's not too big of a difference with locktight. And yea I need to get a clutch stop or make a makeshift one. My clutch engages very very early on and most of the time I half clutch my pedal and everything works just as well as if I was to push the clutch all the way in. Thanks for the feedback too. Good to know what potential issues can come up.

 

[Sapote]

The actual issue was the clutch pedal range, the pressure plate starts to engage the clutch as I press the pedal all the way in. There seems to be a point while pressing down the pedal when the clutch engages again

It’s called over extended pressure plate diaphragm. When extended beyond that point the diaphragm reversed its motion.

To adjust the pedal correctly, park on slope driveway or hill with 1st gear engaged, no brake. Then slowly press down the pedal until car starts rolling, make note where the pedal, then adjust the stopper for 1 or 1.5” more pedal travel.

 

[Ivan-san]

It’s called over extended pressure plate diaphragm. When extended beyond that point the diaphragm reversed its motion.

To adjust the pedal correctly, park on slope driveway or hill with 1st gear engaged, no brake. Then slowly press down the pedal until car starts rolling, make note where the pedal, then adjust the stopper for 1 or 1.5” more pedal travel.

So then it's fine that my clutch travels like 1 or 2 inches before it fully let's go? So roughly 3.5 to 4.5 inches of total travel range should be what my setup probably needs

 

[Sapote]

So then it's fine that my clutch travels like 1 or 2 inches before it fully let's go?

Pedal should be stopped after 1.5” more travel from the point car starts rolling.