Brakes & Clutch

[irish]

Brake pedal is soft (goes to the floor sometimes when I am stopped with my fooot on the pedal) and if I sit for a minute or so with my clutch depressed, the clutch pedal doesn't return by itself when I lift my foot ..... I have to pull it off the floor ....... this doesn't happen during regular shifting when I depress it only long enough to change gears ....

Question .... are these related problems ......can I fix it myself ..... I have an '87 325ic

 

[xLibelle]

They arent related other than you might have two of the same problem.

If you were to detatch the master cylinder piston rod from the clutch pedal, you would see that the spring load will pull the pedal to the floor after depressing 2/3's way. To the fact that if you hold the clutch in for a while and have to pull it back means that your master cylinder needs to be rebuilt or just get a new one because the seal leaks, thus no return pressure.
I dont think its anything past the master, closer to the slave becuase air would be introduced and youd have no clutch at times. Someone correct me if im wrong.

The brake pedal problem could be the same thing, that the brake master is broken, but it could be air in the system, old spongy brake lines or even leaking lines. You need to get the brakes checked before something serious happens.

 

[Ben]

Heh, I had my clutch master cylinder go out when i was in the middle of nowhere in upstate NY (about a 2 hour drive away from my house) the problem was, a bunch of friends and I had gone up there for a concert and my car was one of 3 to transport 15 people around for the weekend. Well, i ended up learning very quickly how to drive a maunal without a clutch, and its not all that hard, as long as theres no stop and go. I also found that if i pulled the clutch pedal off the floor and then pushed it real hard, it would disengage the clutch for about 1/2 second, which was nice because i didnt have to turn the car off and on everytime i wanted to start in first. the only problem with that was that in orded to keep it from stalling when the clutch decided to engage was to give it quite a bit of gas, which resulted in massive burnouts. Other than that, the weekend was fine and i didnt have any problems getting home on the highway, except at the toll, where traffic was backed up about a 1/2 mile. I couldnt use the clutch at all because i didnt want to do burnouts when there were so many people around, and i was scared i'd hit someone. so i had to turn the car on and off, on and off. by the time i got to the toll booth, my battery was just about dead, so i said screw it and i laid a nice long set of tracks away from the toll...........

Irish- before you make any assumptions, pull the boot back on the clutch master cylinder. if its wet, get a new one or rebuild it. as far as brakes go, try bleeding them and also check for leaks. if bleeding it doesnt work, and there are no leaks, you need a new master cylinder.