Hydraulic clutch leaking

[priest 008]

Heey guys, sorry it's been a long time since I last posted; I had stored my BMW E21 320 (1982) away several months ago, but before doing so I realised that the clutch fluid (I use dot 3) is leaking out over a period of time and whenever I go to refill it the fluid always remains trapped in the filter, so I have to put my hands in the filter and lift the filter, then the fluid moves down into the reservoir as usual, why does it not pass through the sieve/filter when the filter is in place? And 2) does anyone have a diagram as to where the Hydraulic clutch line goes? Thanks.....

[trash-berd]

My car is LHD, if yours is right it might be different. But there was a clutch fluid line that runs down the left side of the engine compartment that runs into the slave cylinder that bolts into the tranny underneath.

[Jeroen]

Not sure about RHD cars, but on LHD cars it is like this: there is a line from the brake fluid container that runs to the clutch master sitting behind the clutch pedal. From there you have a line to the clutch slave on the gearbox bell housing.

Not sure if the viscosity of DOT3 is very different or that your can of fluid is old, but I've always used DOT 4 or 5.1 and that never causes issues. Don't see a reason why you would still use DOT3.

[priest 008]

oh. I use dot.3 because I think it says to use it, is it old? Should I use dot 4? And another thing, some one told me to pour Automatic transmission fluid into the crank and it will mix with the oil and help the engine work better whilst also cleaning it up...... is this a fact?

[Jeroen]

DOT3 might be mentioned in the manual, that was written in 1974 or 1975. No big deal but I was amazed by the fact that people still use this stuff. I've been working on cars for almost 30 years now and from the very beginning I've always used DOT 4, also on E21's.

When you want to clean up your engine (don't expect miracles to happen) I'd rather use one or two cans of engine flush just before an oil change.

[priest 008]

Dot 3 is that old then lol, well I use it on my 1960 Morris traveller, so I just always keep it handy but I'll try the Dot 4then, surely it's improved. Regarding Engine flush, what do you mean by 'Don't expect miracles?" I love miracles What stuff could I use to expect a nice miracle ? thanks

[johne21]

google dot 3