Boston area with DIS? Problem with clutch bleed adaptation on SMG

[MacCube]

I'm honestly tempted next time to just bite the bullet and buy a new OEM unit from FCP with the warranty.

Wow, buying a new hydraulic unit ($5280) could be a good idea if someone was 100% sure that that was causing the problem, but I would hate to think that the problem remained afterwards.

This is just an idea that may not apply to this problem and is something that I've not seen brought up before. After the discussion on how brake hoses can fail over time and cause internal problems that are not always detectable from the surface, I think that that could sometimes cause some of the mystery problems that are sometimes seen with the SMG system with the flexible part of the four supply lines. And some of our M3's are over 20 years old now. Not suggesting that this could apply to this problem, but it's something that I always consider.

[trigtm]

Received new (used but tested) accumulator and a new pressure switch. Rebuilt the entire pump assembly and tested/traced all wiring. Will be reinstalling the pump tonight and testing/bleeding everything...again.

[eacmen]

Received new (used but tested) accumulator and a new pressure switch. Rebuilt the entire pump assembly and tested/traced all wiring. Will be reinstalling the pump tonight and testing/bleeding everything...again.

Really hoping it works!!

[R1pilot]

Just read the whole thread and your ordeal. I cant help you as I am yet to touch anything on my system (160k miles ) but good luck!

Hopefully this fixes your problem.

[trigtm]

Rebuilt the pump again, this time with a new pressure switch and accumulator tank. Bled the system a bunch using INPA and the same issue arises. The Schwaben tool is failing to bleed and throwing a bunch of codes now, I don't know what that is about…

I am able to build and maintain hydraulic pressure with the pump but I'm not sure the clutch is bleeding out correctly tbh, even thought I get a green screen in INPA after 2 min.

I guess I can recheck the clutch slave is installed correctly and maybe just finish putting the car back together and see if it runs/drives. I wonder if I have air somewhere that I just can't get rid of.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[eacmen]

Rebuilt the pump again, this time with a new pressure switch and accumulator tank. Bled the system a bunch using INPA and the same issue arises. The Schwaben tool is failing to bleed and throwing a bunch of codes now, I don't know what that is about…

I am able to build and maintain hydraulic pressure with the pump but I'm not sure the clutch is bleeding out correctly tbh, even thought I get a green screen in INPA after 2 min.

I guess I can recheck the clutch slave is installed correctly and maybe just finish putting the car back together and see if it runs/drives. I wonder if I have air somewhere that I just can't get rid of.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

If you really think it's the clutch not bleeding you can always crack the hydraulic fitting at the clutch slave and run the bleed procedure. It will be messy AF but if there is any air trapped in there it will be the fastest way to get it out.

I've never been able to get Schwaben tool to work with SMG bleed/adapt.

[trigtm]

If you really think it's the clutch not bleeding you can always crack the hydraulic fitting at the clutch slave and run the bleed procedure. It will be messy AF but if there is any air trapped in there it will be the fastest way to get it out.

I've never been able to get Schwaben tool to work with SMG bleed/adapt.

Crack the fitting just so I get a drip then run the bleed proc? Yeah def messy but I'm out of ideas.

INPA occasionally give me a connection script error theme running the actuator bleed, maybe 1 out of 7 times.

I don't think it's a solenoid, I can use INPA to select all gears, engage the clutch, check patterns and all that. Accumulator tests out good. That does that leave me with? A bad SMG computer or air in the line I guess?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[trigtm]

Also what is the clutch bleed supposed to found like? With the actuator bleed, I get pump activations and a loud buzz for a few seconds then what sounds like fluid or air being pushed into the overflow tank.

With the clutch bleed I get maybe 10 pumps of the clutch and then it stops, waits a min, does that again and then it's completed.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[eacmen]

Also what is the clutch bleed supposed to found like? With the actuator bleed, I get pump activations and a loud buzz for a few seconds then what sounds like fluid or air being pushed into the overflow tank.

With the clutch bleed I get maybe 10 pumps of the clutch and then it stops, waits a min, does that again and then it's completed.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

The loud buzz noise is likely air. Is the buzz coming from the pump or from the trans? When they're is air in the system it basically causes the hydraulic lines to vibrate which is that buzzing sound.

Your description of the clutch bleed sounds correct. It basically just sounds like a manual clutch pedal being pumped.

Maybe record a video of what it sounds like?

[eacmen]

You could also crack the fittings on the actuator too and run the bleed procedure.

Also jacking up the front of the car may help get the bubbles to flow up.

[trigtm]

You could also crack the fittings on the actuator too and run the bleed procedure.

Also jacking up the front of the car may help get the bubbles to flow up.

I've had the trans hanging down for about half the bleeds and how it's bolted back up with everything else under the car buttoned up. I removed and reinstalled the clutch slave again and then re-ran bleeds through INPA and the Scwaben tool this morning along with a trans adaptation that worked fine. Still haven't cleared the clutch adaptation and that fails pretty quickly in INPA and Schwaben.

Trying to get ISTA-D up and running but I am having some trouble with the computer loosing connection with the keyboard when the KCAN cable is plugged in. Hopefully I can push through that and run some tests there and see what the hex values returned are.

Short of a complete new SMG computer or a new pump unit (not sure that would do it), I'm really at a loss for what the problem can be at this point. It's probably something little and dumb that I can't wrap my smooth brain over at this point. I don't want to manual swap just to never have figured out this problem but I don't love throwing good money after bad at this.

I've using the CSL reservoir which I had some trouble getting the bubbles out of the long hose but that should be sorted now. I hate to say it but what about relocating the entire unit - that might save me time in replacing but that's just another pile of cash that won't fix my issue.

I'll take some video the next time I have a chance to work on the car of the bleed procedures using INPA also and most likely crack the clutch slave line when bleeding and wear a raincoat...

[MacCube]

You may have already read this, but if not I would make sure that this is not what is causing this problem before throwing more money at it. The SMG to manual conversion is not without its own set of problems.

https://nam3forum.com/forums/forum/main-forum/e46-2001-2006/196337-smg-slave-cylinder-removal-install

[trigtm]

You may have already read this, but if not I would make sure that this is not what is causing this problem before throwing more money at it. The SMG to manual conversion is not without its own set of problems.

https://nam3forum.com/forums/forum/m...emoval-install

Anything can have problems, but the SMG is very complicated and error prone I guess. I know some have never had issues and some have issues early on, but when the issues to arise, its complicated to troubleshoot and expensive to replace parts. Manual seems cheaper overall to maintain and less error prone. I still like the SMG and want to save it though but at a certain point, it would seem crazy to keep throwing money in a hole.

[trigtm]

UPDATE: The car is fixed, adaptation procedures cleared and the car runs and drive (put on 30mil this afternoon problem free).

Since I was still having the adaptation issues as late as yesterday, I decided to put the car all back together and if I can't figure out out, take it to a local shop and see what they think.

Once I got the car back together, I decide to run it and see what it did without scanning for codes or any other service procedures. I put about 15 miles on the car and the only thing I could tell that was not normal was the clutch engagement. As soon as you put your foot on the gas, the clutch engaged pretty hard and the car was moving, there was no real smooth engagement like the car used to have. I though "whatever, let's ride". Once I got home, this is where the magic happened. I decided I didn't want to drag out the laptop and INPA again and just used the Schwaben tool since I had it with me just in case. Plugged it in and since I had bled both the actuator and clutch a hundred times recently, I skipped over those. I went into Service and hit "Adapt transmission completely" and after selecting all the gears, I got an error which didn't point me anywhere. After that, I ran the other two procedures in Service>SMG>4. After exchanging transmission, hydraulic unit>t. Teach in clutch-valve characteristic values...and that passed. I was surprised as I hadn't gotten this far before. I then ran 5. Teach-in clutch slipping point and had to turn the car on. That passed also pretty fast.

Since I had passed those two, I decided to run the Full adaptation again and this time it passed! The cog light went out on the dash and I took the car for another long drive and 0 issues or lights on that drive. I can only guess that since the car was cold and had no adaptation values stored in the computer, I was never able to teach it anything. After getting the car hot and running it for a while, I think it was able to build it's own adaptation learned values and when I ran the last two procedures, it basically just modified what it already knew. Either way, it's a win. Did I spend more $$ than I needed to on this job? Yes. Was it worth it? I guess so since I know have so much knowledge about the SMG system in general. I almost want to relocate the pump now but I also don't want to touch it and scare any voodoo that may be holding everything together.

Thanks to everyone who chimed in or even read this thread! I wouldn't have gotten this far without the forum and other members. I'm going to update my first post with a timeline, bulleted list of events and items purchased to hopefully help anyone else in the future with a similar issue.