F10: Clutch Pedal-Pin Repair / Replacement [E60, E90, E92, F01 etc.]

SYMPTOMS:

• Clutch pedal appears to collapse / become loose / twist to one side suddenly when depressed.
• Clutch pedal feels loose / collapsed and will not depress properly.
• Engine will not start and dash displays 'Depress Clutch to Start Engine' message while clutch is depressed.
• Gears will not engage or only partially engage while clutch pedal is depressed.

CAUSE:

Heavy clutch use / clutch-wear causes undue stress to the pedal-box [2 in diagram] and causes the plastic pedal-pin [8 in diagram] to snap / work its way loose. There are slim plastic clips at the end that stop the pin sliding out, but once these start to break off the constant motion makes the pin slide out very easily. When the pin is loose the clutch-pedal wont depress properly, which means the car cannot be put into gear or even press the clutch-switch to start the engine.

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"GET YOU HOME" QUICK FIX:

1. Remove the trim-panel above the driver's footwell by undoing the T-20 Torx screws holding it in place. If you do not have tools to do this the trim can be forced off firmly and gently without breaking the plastic. The screw heads should pop out of the oblong holes in the panel, which can be bent back into place later and refitted.

2. Locate the end of the clutch pedal-pin where it has come out of the pedal-box, just to the right of the metal bar that attaches to the top end of the clutch-pedal.

3. Manoeuvre the clutch pedal back into position by hand, so the metal bar at the top of the clutch-pedal is straight with the eyelet either side of it in the pedal box and slide the pedal-pin to the left until it is fully into the far eyelet.

** This will get the car moving again to drive home, but the pedal-pin will soon slide back out. Reaching under the trim and locating the end of the pedal-pin will mean you can make sure it stays fully in place while stopped at traffic lights, so you technically run the car like this indefinitely. Still this is by no means a long-term solution. **

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REPLACEMENT:

** You will need 'Clutch Pedal Pin' BMW Part no. 35306761029. **

1. Remove the trim panel above the driver's footwell that surrounds the pedals using a T-20 Torx socket.

2. Remove the coin-tray / stow-box to the right of the steering-wheel by undoing the two screws in the upper corners with a T-20 Torx socket and lifting it out top edge first.

3. Remove the single screw holding the electronics module to the right of the pedal-box using a T-25 Torx socket, remove the module from its housing and rest it somewhere out of the way.

4. Slide the pedal-pin to the right until it is out of the pedal-box.

5. Remove the push-circlip from the lower side of the clutch return-spring using a small flathead screwdriver [the one at the end of the stud that attaches the spring to the pedal itself], slide off the plastic spring-mount and fully remove both springs. [**DO NOT attempt to replace the plastic pedal-pin with the spring still in place as it will likely damage the plastic pin!**]

6. Grease the new pedal-pin.

7. Manoeuvre the clutch pedal back into position by hand, so the metal bar at the top of the clutch-pedal is straight with the eyelet either side of it in the pedal box and slide the new pedal-pin in from right to left until it is fully clipped into the far eyelet.

8. Hold the spring assembly in position against the upper spring-mount and compress it by hand until the lower mount can be pushed back over the stud on the pedal. Replace the circlip.

9. Reverse steps 1-3.

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'DIY' PERMANENT FIX:
If you can't get hold of a new pedal-pin, or if the new one snaps too [which is likely to happen in the end as the pedal-box wears], then a long-term solution can be fettled with a long bolt.

CAUTION: The original pedal-pin is plastic and therefore designed to snap before the pedal-box does. Strengthening it with a metal bolt MAY cause further damage to the pedal-box over time, particularly if the eyelets are worn or the clutch-wear problem is not addressed.

1. Remove the plastic pedal-pin, as above.

2. Find a long M8 or M10 bolt and nyloc-nut. The bolt will need to be about 6 inches long. Any longer and it will foul things under the steering-column, but it needs to be long enough to reach through both sides of the pedal-box and get the nut on at least half a turn into the nylon. A 'shank' bolt [smooth down the shaft and only threaded at the end] is the best type to use. A flat washer on either side is also recommended, thin nylon washers being even better.

3. Take the plastic pedal-pin and drill the hole down the centre out: 8mm for M8 bolt, 10mm for M10.

4. Grease and re-insert the plastic pedal-pin to the pedal-box.

5. Grease the bolt and slide it in from the left side of the pedal-box, so the bolt is entering the far end of the pedal-pin, until the threaded end exits the right side of the pedal-pin.

6. Fit the nyloc-nut, ensuring the thread is into the nylon by at least a half-turn, as the constant pedal motion will work it loose otherwise. DO NOT over-tighten or put stress on the pedal-box!

Thread I started about this on Bimmer-Forums - http://www.bimmerforums.co.uk/forum/f15/2012-f10-530d-clutch-pedal-pin-snapped-twice-t494842/

E53 X5: 3.0D get on to DIS!

Had the keys to a nice 52-plate X5 belonging to an X-colleague, actually Ant brought it into work for us to diagnose and it is fly as heck with 22s from an X6.

It's been struggling to start, particularly when warm, so our first guess was a dodgy cam or crank sensor. An independent BMW garage had already said it was the starter-motor solenoid, but we couldn't see this being right as the starter is turning fine, the engine just doesn't fire for a while.

I plugged it into DIS and here is what came up:

120001 General malfunction at engine.
120002 No engine start possible.

A test-plan of 120001 showed up the two DDE error codes - 

09F6 Fuel rail-pressure monitoring, where the pressure was too low. This tends to come up when the engine isn't firing anyway and is unlikely the cause of it. There is a chance that rail-pressure is low enough to not start the engine, but no cutting out or lack of power issues are reported.

3505 Glow-plug system. This turned out to be related to the glow-plug circuit rather than the plugs themselves and was no present when tested, quite normal for a 99k M57.


A test-plan of 120002 did not mention the DDE issues and offered several explanations for the non-starting, these included -

Starter / Ignition Circuit - Fault not currently present. The starter is also turning fine.

Immobiliser fault in key - Not currently present and nothing found when DIS ran a test.

Gear-select Park switch - This only affects automatic boxes, which need to be started in P. It couldn't be this as the starter is turning and that would lurch the car forward anyway if it were in Drive. We ran a test anyway and it worked perfectly.


So we are none the wiser really. The only short-term suggestions are to try the spare key and see if that starts it quicker, though this is a long shot, and to hold the key in ignition position 2 for a while before trying to start the engine. If the latter works then it suggests a fuel-pump going dodgy, we will have to wait and see. I deleted the fault-codes so maybe Ant will being it back and get it on DIS again.

Other fault-codes that came up on DIS were:

EHC [Electronic Height Control] - 01 Ride-level sensor, left.
This is down to the whopping 22" wheels and tyres from a much newer X6 wreaking havoc with the complex suspension systems, so if your 5, 6, 7 or X Series has bigger wheels on then it will probably be throwing this up.

ZKE [Central body electronics] - 89 Central-locking drive, driver's door, open circuit.
This is an annoying one as it causes sudden loss of the driver's door controls, which come back t random. It also stops the door-lock activating from the button and makes the alarm go off when opened with the key. Hopefully it's a break in the wiring at the door-hinge and can be fixed easily, rather than something inside the dash.

SZM - 17 Undervoltage.
This refers to the Central switch center-module, which is working fine so who knows.

IHKA [Integrated automatic heating and air conditioning system] - 1E Auxiliary-water pump - Short circuit to positive.
This is  a pump on the cooling-system to aid the flow of hot water round the heater system. The BMW documentation describes its function as 'The ZWP enhances hot water flow (1 - outlet, 2 - inlet) and ensures the minimum flow rate, particularly when the engine is idling or off (residual heat function).'
The PDF of the BMW documentation covering the entire IHKA system is on BimmerFest here.

E60: New Engine finally running!

Changed the injector seals last Sunday and gave the ports another good clean. The mist has stopped, but it still did not want to fire. There is fuel to the injectors and the timing is spot on, so this could only mean 2 things - something electronic isn't working properly, or the entire DDE module has fallen out of sync with the engine...

I don't even want to know what the latter option entails, so carried on swapping sensors on the new engine for those that worked on my old one. I found the crank-sensor was completely covered in dirty oil, in fact the whole slot was filled with it. Engine sensors are funny things and I can see how the oil could stop it from seeing the notch on the flywheel, but it doesn't explain why the engine would not turn over well using a can of Easy-Start. Either way, with the crank-sensor from my original lump in place it fired up straight away! Result.

[Video is with EGR-pipe disconnected and no air-filter / muffler fitted.]

• PAS-pump sounds like it's dying - extreme whine / groan when the wheel is turned - and is now the only thing keeping her off the road. Will try bleeding tomorrow and maybe fresh fluid, but failing that the pump could have packed in or, worse, I've damaged some of the piping / rack while lifting the engine in.
• Rear rubber exhaust-hanger missing. TIS says to remove the screws holding the hanger-bracket, not remove the rubber. I cut mine off to hastily get the exhaust down and will have to buy and annoyingly fit a new one.
• Front exhaust vibration-damper simply will not fit. When fitted to the exhaust, the eyelets on the two connecting-rods are way off the studs on the gearbox-bracket. The left-right rod is only about 5mm out, but the front-rear rod is miles off. I will have to remove the rear and centre brackets and try to relocate the exhaust a bit.

Other than that, no iDrive messages, no engine-management light, no 'Increased Emissions', no leaks, no mist and no funny noises. The gearbox and clutch are working fine and the car is desperate to be driven. Curse that power-steering fault!

E39 530d: Replacing the Camshaft Position Sensor [M57]

About four months after I bought the car it suddenly refused to start after having been turned off for about 20 minutes, even thought it had started fine on the short trip out. The starter motor was turning but the engine wouldn't fire. It started after about 30 minutes so I assumed it was because the car was low on fuel and the problem didn't return for a number of weeks.

When it eventually became regular I noticed that it only seemed to be when the car was left to cool for a while. The car would start fine from cold every morning or soon after being turned off, but left to cool for half an hour and the engine was dead for, at the very least, 4 or 5 hours.

Asking around on forums brought up several possible culprits - a fuel-pump, most likely the pressure-pump under the passenger seat, low fuel-pressure caused by, at the worst, a cracked injector (gulp), or an engine-position sensor on the camshaft or crank.

After a while we took a guess at it being a sensor, as the car would sometimes start after being rolled a little while in gear, which seemed to rearrange the engine and get the sensor going again. Thankfully I eventually got some diagnostics, which confirmed it was indeed the camshaft-sensor.

It was tricky to diagnose, but if you have the same symptoms then this is the first thing to look at. The replacement sensor I got from eBay wasn't too cheap either at £60, but its a brand new part and guaranteed.

Removing and refitting the sensor couldn't be easier:

1. Remove the beige centre-section of the engine cover by first undoing the single bolt to the rear with an M4 allen-key and then pulling it up towards the front until it comes away from the stud at the front.

2. Unplug the camshaft-sensor by pressing the latch of the clip inwards and sliding the wire-connector off the sensor.

3. Remove the single screw securing the sensor in place using a T10 torx-head wrench.

4. Gently twist and pull the sensor clear of its base on the cylinder-head.

5. Insert the new sensor into the cylinder-head, remembering to replace the old rubber O-ring if it doesn't have a new one fitted, and make sure it is well seated before replacing the torx-head screw.

6. Reverse steps 2 and 1.

E39 530d: Fuel Boost Pump Problems

Symptoms:

The car refuses to start.

There is a loss of power when driving, particularly common while going uphill.

The engine is losing revs and stalling.

BMW Parts-Diagram: [From RealOEM.com - http://realoem.com/bmw/showparts.do?model=DL72&mospid=47545&btnr=16_0432&hg=16&fg=15]

No.	Description	Supplement	Qty	From	Up To	Part Number	Price	Notes
01	Rear fuel pipe		1		05/2001	16121184768
02	Rear fuel pipe		1		05/2001	16121184768
03	FRONT FUEL RETURN LINE	I	1		05/2001	16121184777
04	FRONT FUEL FEED LINE		1		05/2001	16121184774
05	FRONT FUEL RETURN LINE	II	1		05/2001	16121184780
06	DISTRIBUTION PIECE		1		05/2001	16121184632
07	Fuel hose	8X13MM	?		05/2001	13537563456	$44.77
	Rape methyl ester capability (RME)
08	Hose clamp	L12-15	?		05/2001	07129952104	$1.18
09	Diesel pump		1		05/2001	16126756157	$363.20
	For vehicles with Rape methyl ester version (RME)	S201A=Yes
09	Diesel pump		1		05/2001	16126756157	$363.20
10	BRACKET FUEL STRAINER	D=55MM	1		05/2001	13321702583	$16.33
11	Fillister head with washer	M6X25-Z1	1		05/2001	07119920161	$0.38
12	Vent pipe		1		05/2001	16111183301	$20.23
13	Fuel pipe		1		05/2001	16111183297	$19.50
14	Universal socket housing uncoded	2 POL.	1			61138373332	$2.70
	only in conjunction with
--	Socket contact ELO-Power 2,8x0,63	0,5-1,0 MM²	2			61138364832	$0.35

Items pictured but not listed are not installed on your vehicle.Notes

• Items pictured without a number are listed on another diagram.