PART 3, BMW Z3 Won't Shift Into Gear

Now I have Identified the issue a Bad Seal on the Slave Cylinder, I purchased the part for $62. I jacked the car up, and now I'm ready to change out the part.

First I need to BENCH BLEED the new part. SO I take the new part out and pour fluid into the fluid line connection point and work the plunger to create suction that pulls fluid into the part. I do this until no more air comes out. You'll still have a little air BUT it can be bled once the part is install. Next I need to remove the old part.

1. Two bolts to transmission. 2. Flange fluid line connector. 3. Bleeder screw

Unbolt the two bolts (#1) that hold the slave cylinder to the transmission housing. Once it is disconnected the part will slide our and the plunger will be sticking out, you can see how the plunger goes into the part and how it rests on the inside of the transmission to acuate the clutch. Pay attention to this step so you can reassemble later. Next with the part disconnected it will hang down connected to the fluid line. This makes it easy to disconnect and reconnect the new part because the fluid connection is upright and fluid will not pour our of the new part when reconnecting the line. NOW with the new part close by and the main BRAKE FLUID RESEVOIR TOPPED OFF disconnect the fluid line flange nut, use the correct size nut so you do not strip this fitting, then reconnect the fluid line to the NEW part. Once tightened, you can insert the plunger into the opening on the transmission housing and push it in to reattached the two nuts onto the bolts that are cast into the housing. There may be some preassure since the part has fluid in it and needs to be bled BUT pushing it in far enough to get the nuts started shouldn't be difficult. Once the nuts are started tighten them down and then you can begin the bleeding process.
Bleeding the clutch is similar to bleeding brakes you need to be able to pump the clutch up to some pressure and then while the pedal is depressed. open the bleeder screw to let out the air in the system. You will repeat the process a quite a few times to get almost all of the air out. (most systems will also remove air over time so the more you get out now the sooner your clutch will really tighten up.) I know what your thinking I have to pump up the clutch, I get pressure then I have to keep it depressed and crawl back under the car to open the bleeder screw. Well you need to rig up something to keep the pedal pressed in OR you need two people. I tried a bleeding kit but didn't have any luck (maybe because I wasn't too familiar with how to use it) regardless it is easy to do once you figure out how to keep the pedal depressed. One thing to remember is that when you keep the pedal depressed with pressure on the system, once you open the bleeder screw fluid will shoot out. When there is AIR in the system it will be a pulsating flow of fluid. Make sure you keep the resevoir FULL and bleed the brakes till you have minimal pulsating fluid when the bleeder screw is opened. This may be a good time to drain the system which can be done just like this while opening the bleeder screw and draining the fluid without and refilling the resevoir until all new fluid is in the system.

PART 2, BMW Z3 Won't Shift Into Gear

So I reserached the clutch problem and found that it is probably a few different things. 1. Master Cylinder is leaking and needs replaced. 2. Fluid lines are leaking and need replaced. 3. Slave Cylinder is leaking and needs replaced. All three of these should be easy to do UNLESS it is just one of the things wrong. First thing to do is narrow down the leak. SO I needed to look under the car. If your like me you don't have a lift in your garage SO I needed to get my floor jack under the car and since it is so low I had to improvise. I had to drive the FRONT wheels onto two-by-fours to get it up that extra inch. Once jacked up I was able to look under it and see if I could find the leak. Immediately I could see the dripping onto the crossmember.

1. Main Drip Point. 2. Crossmember

SO I wiped it down, refilled the fluid and drove it again to really pin point WHERE it was coming from and I found that is was coming from the Bellhousing where the transmission bolts up to the engine.

As you can see from the WHITE Arrow this is where the leak originates and then goes to the Main Drip Point #1 then onto the cross member in the right side of the picture. SO with this info I immediately thought I would check the Slave Cylinder which is the small actuating cylinder bolted onto the transmission itself. The Master cylinder pushes fluid to the brakes and down to the Slave Cylinder to presurize the clutch.

1. Bolt to the transmission housing. 2. Fluid Line. 3. Bleeder screw.

So NONE fo the connections were leaking everything on the slave cylinder was dry. SO this to me meant a bad thing, since the fluid was coming out of the bell housing and not around the slave cylinder I immediately thought the worst. I thought that something internal to the clutch or transmission was bad and then leaking out the bell housing. BUT a call to preferred auto guys told me differently. They said NO it is still the slave cylinder BECAUSE the seal on the inside where the plunger is, is broken and leaking in the inside and then going down and the only place to come out is the bell housing. SO this was actually good news. I won't quote their price here because ALTHOUGH very fair and reasonable It may change over time and I'm sure this post will be out in cyberspace for awhile. However I will tell you as of this date of this post the new part at Advanced Auto (which was in stock) was $62.19 with Tax. Look for POST 3 for the Removal and Install of the Slave Cylinder.