The engine of your car is sophisticated, it is not always easy to understand all the symptoms it sends us. However, it is certainly necessary to try to stay on alert for the slightest indication of weakness in your vehicle to limit the risk of serious complications. If you have the feeling that your clutch is slipping on your BMW i3, you’re right to have started examining. It’s a defect that must be taken into account as soon as possible, otherwise you could end up with an useless vehicle. To help you in your way our team has decided to produce this guide which should allow you to see more clearly and make the right choice to avoid aggravating the problem and ensure that it is indeed the trouble you are victim of. To do this, we will first check out what a slipping clutch on BMW i3 is and how to check that this is what is happening to you, and then, what actions can be taken to correct the problem.
What is slipping clutch on BMW i3 and how to identify it?
A BMW i3 with a clutch that slips
The clutch of your BMW i3 is the component that allows your automobile to change gears. It is placed between your gearbox and your engine. It is the component that comes into contact with the flywheel which is located on the engine side and which will collect the power transmitted by the clutch. With wear, the clutch of your BMW i3 slips because it is made up of notches that engage in the flywheel, and with wear and friction it wears out. It is said that the clutch slips when its teeth are too overused for it to engage on the flywheel.
How to identify clutch slipping on an BMW i3?
There are several methods to find out that the clutch of your BMW i3 is slipping. You can carry out all of these tests yourself.
You can simply find out that your clutch slips when you accelerate and your engine revs up, but your car does not speed up, you may as well encounter a burning smell.
To validate the first statement, you can stop, pull the hand brake, engage the first one, accelerate reasonably by releasing the clutch of your car gently, if your engine motor rises in revs but the BMW i3 keeps stationary it is the indication of a dead clutch.
Finally, you can put yourself, still in third gear, with the handbrake on, and by releasing it, your vehicle should stall, if not, your clutch is probably dead.
What should I do if my clutch slips on my BMW i3?
Limit the wear of your BMW i3 clutch
We will now give you some tips to limit the wear of your clutch and avoid your clutch slipping on your BMW i3. To begin with, it is wise not to leave your foot on the clutch pedal, regardless if the pressure you apply is very mild you will pre wear the clutch release bearing which will sooner or later end up in a total change of the clutch kit. Another point not to be neglected, do not over-accelerate when you start, your acceleration must permanently be adapted to the speed of your engine motor. If you are at a standstill accelerate slowly, if you are at medium speed accelerate gradually when you release the clutch pedal of your car so as not to make it slip against your engine flywheel.
Replacing your BMW i3 clutch
Finally, in this last part, we will address the repair part. In circumstance the clutch of your BMW i3 is useless, you might be stuck at a standstill and have no other choice than to call the tow truck, because a dead clutch no longer allows the transmission to transfer power to the wheels. If this is the circumstance, bear in mind that you will have to change the complete clutch kit, this repair necessitates quite a few hours of work and is estimated to cost between 500 and 1200 euros according to the engine and the workshop.
If you need more guides on the BMW i3, go to our BMW i3 category.
