New Clutch?!?

[GimpyMcFarlan]

I took the M3 into the dealership for "Inspection I" maintenance on Friday and was surprised to get a message from my service advisor later on that a new clutch was needed. At drop off I mentioned that over the past 3 years it had slowly been taking more effort to shift from 1st to 2nd but honestly it did seem that bad. (I almost didn't mention it at all.) There are only has 22K miles on it and I very rarely drive it in spirited nature. I'm shocked such a major component is requiring replacement so soon.

[Nick M3]

At 22K, the clutch is defective or the car was abused.

Provided that this is udner warranty, they may also just be trying to bill BMW.

Edit: And by "needs a new clutch," they probably mean "needs a new pressure plate, throwout bearing, or something like that. Maybe."

[Theo]

My 05 M3 had the entire vanos system repleaced at around 30K. Thats when I decided to get rid of it before the warrenty ran out.

[Nick M3]

Originally Posted by Theo

My 05 M3 had the entire vanos system repleaced at around 30K. Thats when I decided to get rid of it before the warrenty ran out.

I've just resigned myself to buying an S54 long block at some point.

[GimpyMcFarlan]

Originally Posted by Nick M3

At 22K, the clutch is defective or the car was abused.

Provided that this is udner warranty, they may also just be trying to bill BMW.

Edit: And by "needs a new clutch," they probably mean "needs a new pressure plate, throwout bearing, or something like that. Maybe."

I certainly believe it is the former and not the latter. All of my previous cars have been manuals (2 Hondas - 2 BMWs) and I've never experienced premature clutch/transmission issues with them. 95% of my driving is daily commute where I rarely get above 45 MPH and shifting is normal. Perhapts something I'm doing did cause it but I cannot think of what it would be.

The service advisor simly said the clutch was not engaging/disengaging correctly however he did not specify what parts wer going to be replaced. He didn't lead me to believe it was driver fault however he also didn't specifically say it was a manufacturing defect or equipment failure. I'll be sure to get more info on Monday.

[Nick M3]

Yeah, it's hard for it to be abuse if you haven't worn out the friction disc. (Race cars blow pressure plates, but you have to be pretty brutal to do that.)

[JST]

Originally Posted by Nick M3

I've just resigned myself to buying an LS7 at some point.

Fixed. And that will be quite a car, once you are done building it.

[GimpyMcFarlan]

Official description on the invoice:

"CLUTCH DRAG FOUND CLUTCH NOT FULLY DISENGAGED WITH PEDAL TO FLOOR-SLIGHT DRAG AND VERY HARD PEDAL EFFORT. REPLACED DEFECTIVE CLUTCH ASSEMBLY."

I didn't think the clutch pedal was difficult to press in but when I got the car back it was *a lot* easier to depress. Shifting from 1st to 2nd still feels notchy and awkward at time but I guess that is normal. At least it is officially noted in the log that I had it looked at.

[Rob]

I have never driven a BMW that wasn't notchy from first to second. At least you won't be on the hook for a bad clutch that was caused by a defect later on.

[GimpyMcFarlan]

Originally Posted by rwg

I have never driven a BMW that wasn't notchy from first to second. At least you won't be on the hook for a bad clutch that was caused by a defect later on.

Agreed! I thought the shifts in my 323i and 330Ci were quite smooth in comparison to the M but perhaps my memory is shot.