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E30 Clutch Master Cyl Rebuild/Bleed



The internal return spring in the Master Cylinder of my 1987 325is
stress-fractured in two places yesterday, rendering the clutch somewhat
inoperable.

Rebuild kits are available, and I purchased same for the master and
slave cylinders prior to pulling the unit, so I didn't know that the
spring was not the cause of the failure.  The spring is not available
separately so I bought a complete master cylinder from the dealer
for about $70.  Not too bad when you consider the rebuild kit was $25.

Installation of the Master Cylinder is one of the tougher jobs I've
tackled on the car thus far.  There's precious little room to work
and it's pretty frustrating.  But the most frustrating thing of all,
and my reason for posting this littany is that I cannot get the clutch
to build hydraulic pressure.  I've pumped and pumped, ensured there
is plenty of juice in the resovoir, and even put a miti-vac on the 
slave bleed screw to help things out.  

I get a little fluid, but not a good steady stream...it seems these
systems are very hard to get fluid through.  Pre-bleeding the master
before installation seemed out of the question as it would seem to
leak all over the interior of the cockpit.

Anyone been there done that?  

Sincerely,
TJ
"wishing I had my BMW to commute in"
- -- 
TJ Noto		Palo Alto		CA	USA		
http://www.rahul.net/tjn
Owned by:	95 Ducati 900ss		65 MGB	87 BMW 325is	70 
Triumph TR6
BMWCCA #105472
"Once again Yankee ingenuity Triumphs over British craftsmenship"