Problems engaging first gear

[maahny]

The car has been used to commute this week by the other half and after being stuck in some traffic 1st gear and reverse become really hard to engage. This has only happend to me once before after some very spirited driving, chasing Steve1 at the Cotswold meet. Any ideas?

[KIDDLE]

Clutch? Sitting at the lights in gear holding back 325bhp ... that would not help if the other half has that habit ... Gearbox is always a little tight until warm ... but mine is great once run for about 10 mins ... sometimes when cold second then first helps rather than pure force ...

[BEN]

used to happen to mine a lot in traffic, just used to repress the clutch and it would slid straight in!

but i always leave the clutch down and in gear in traffic!

[danp]

My E36 M3 is like this when hot, solution (hopefully, having it done next week) is to have a braided clutch hose fitted, got the part from BMW (£60 ish)...not sure if they do similar for the Z3M, as not heard of the problem before.

Aparently the standard rubber hose gets too hot and warps, the fluid doesn't go where it should, thus shifting not gr8.

[r80ter]

Braided clutch line dude.

And i never sit in traffic with the clutch down... but i bet my mrs does too!

[maahny]

Ah thanks guys. Goodridge braided hose it is then. It should be the same as the E36 M3. Will let you know how I get on.

[maahny]

For future reference you can get the required braided hose from http://www.hampshirehose.co.uk/. They had made a run of them for a stealer who was charging £60 per hose! Buy direct and get it for £30.

[coupe]

Hello to everybody,
I own a S54 Z3 and sitting into traffic I have huge problem to engage the first. How did you fix it please? I tried to found a braided clutch line but I do not know which one I have to replace. On realoem there are more than three clutch lines!
Please help me!
Thanks and regards

[kwoffa]

I bought a stainless braided clutch hose from Earles £16...www.earls.co.uk............even tho i do not have a problem as new clutch,gearbox overhauled new bushes etc,storm gear knob....as i have mentioned before when i first bought my car my gearchanges wer terrible seemed like i was driving a shagged out ole tractor...! now silky smooth and no problems...having looked at my old packaging from earls my trace number was 099686 not sure if this helps....Mel

[coupe fan]

I bought a stainless braided clutch hose from Earles £16...www.earls.co.uk............even (http://www.earls.co.uk............even) tho i do not have a problem as new clutch,gearbox overhauled new bushes etc,storm gear knob....as i have mentioned before when i first bought my car my gearchanges wer terrible seemed like i was driving a shagged out ole tractor...! now silky smooth and no problems...having looked at my old packaging from earls my trace number was 099686 not sure if this helps....Mel

As per ZZZEMMMCCO's recommendation, I bought same.
Earls of Silverstone tel 01803 869850
Product Code CBMWZMROADCRC
£21.15p including delivery.

Works well.

[coupe]

Thank you very much.
I've bought this morning the clutch line from Earl's, hope will fix the problem!
thanks again for quick answers.

[pdwarren]

Clutch? Sitting at the lights in gear holding back 325bhp ...

Maybe this is a stupid question, but why does the engine's power, or sitting at lights with the clutch fully down cause a problem? Why would sitting in neutral be any better?

I used to have this problem when driving in slow traffic in hot weather. I always assumed that the clutch (and fluid) got hot because I was doing a lot of gear changes and never driving fast enough to create air flow to cool it off.

Paul

[c_w]

Maybe this is a stupid question, but why does the engine's power, or sitting at lights with the clutch fully down cause a problem? Why would sitting in neutral be any better?

I used to have this problem when driving in slow traffic in hot weather. I always assumed that the clutch (and fluid) got hot because I was doing a lot of gear changes and never driving fast enough to create air flow to cool it off.

Paul

I would agree the power has nothing to do with it (unless they are "riding" the clutch which is bad for any clutch) but I never hold down the clutch when stationary as it's just loading and spinning on the release bearing unecessarily. Sometimes holding a hyrdraulic clutch down in traffic seems to lose it's pressure, either by pipe expansion or flow back (I'm not sure) and it tends to be better if you release it and press it down again. I've never had hot gearchange problems though but I have changed my clutch hose to a normal brake hose that doesn't have the restrictor at one end (on the factory clutch hose one end is smaller than the other). The factory clutch hose is also very soft and visibly expands when the clutch is pressed. The brake hose (can find the part no; it's about £10 from brakeparts.com) I've replaced it with is much much stiffer, that couple with a straight through design makes the clutch nicer to use IMO.

[coupe]

Can you have a look on this please?

http://www.bimmerfest.com/forums/showpost.php?p=3468894&postcount=1

Diagnosis 1 is my problem!!!
Thanks and regards

[pdwarren]

Any of their listed causes are possible. The alleged usual cause on the MC is that the clutch line expands, stopping the clutch from moving far enough to disengage. This is much the same as (D) - air in the line stopping the clutch from disengaging.

The braided clutch hose should stop the clutch line expanding. The other theory is that replacing the clutch host will also be the first time that the clutch has been bled properly in a long time, so although it appears to fix the problem, the original cause was in fact air in the line.

Paul