Magic fix or doomed for the worst?(clutch pedal stuck)

[boardburton]

Well my clutch pedal had been shuddering a little when I let it out sometimes. I was worried but too lazy to actually get someone to look at it or look at it myself. The other day driving to work I shifted and it just didn't come back up from the floor. My clutch was fully engaged but the pedal was at the floor. I could start it in gear and powershift(shift w/out clutch) enough to get home.

When I got home me and my dad looked at it. He pulled the pedal out with his hand and it is working fine now. No shuddering, no problems whatsoever.

Is it possible I just had something jamming the slave cylinder down? I had it replaced about 5k miles ago. I'm hoping it's not gone bad again....

[Ross]

I doubt this is a hydraulic problem. Look for something askew in the pedal assy. or perhaps the clutch pressure plate is broken.

[boardburton]

would it drive like new if the pressure plate was broken though...?

[Rigmaster]

This happened to me on 2 different E30's and each time it WAS a hydraulic problem- the clutch master cylinder was bad.

I believe BMW uses some sort of spring on the clutch pedal, and if there is no resistance from the clutch master cyl, it sort of holds it to the floor after it gets about 1/2 down.

See if you can manually pull it back up and then what happens when you push it in again.

I'd vote for clutch master cyl........


Bret.

[colo525i]

Sounds like a dead master cyl to me. Haven't seen it on my e34 but i am willing to bet there is a spring that holds the pedal up on the high end of a travel and the same spring pushes it down when it is on the low end of travel. My clutch can shudder when cold, so maybe the master cyl is about to crap on me!

[Kalevera]

I think Bret's on the money with this, but it would be smart to check the pedal mechanics first. With an overly enthusiastic bottoming out of the clutch pedal, the spring can go past its pivot point and hold the pedal to the floor. This may also indicate a bent or metal fatigued spring perch. I've also seen the spring and holder break from being slightly out of line, but that only seems to happen when the clutch pedal is out of line (can also kill a master). But I think it's likely a dying master. At 180k, it's a good idea to replace it anyway.