E36 leaking clutch fluid from bellhousing

[P3Z]

Car - E36 320i 1992
Km - 250,000

the other day i jumped in my car to head off to uni but had no clutch pressure. it still sprung back, just no pressure behind it.
peeked under the car to find that it had drained the clutch fluid (brake fluid) onto the ground. noticed that it had made the puddle at the start of the transmission bell housing. presumed (always a mistake) that the slave cylinder had leaked internally to drip out the end because there was only a small amount of fluid around the slave cylinder mounts itself.
Bolted up a new one this arvo but its still leaking from the bellhousing seal.

Has anyone had any similar issues like this?
I'm hoping that its not, but could it be a gasket? I'm doubting that because it had happened too suddenly.
As for the picture, it looked like it was leaking from that bolt until I cleaned it up a bit and it showed that it was leaking from the seal itself.

[P3Z]

Update!

no luck in solving the issue but ive narrowed it down to something internal to the gearbox/ bellhousing after i went out to give the slave cylinder a good bleeding via pumping the clutch over and over.
The result was as if someone turned a tap on at that bellhousing seal. Fluid was everywhere!
next step is to hoist it up and disconnect the box and have a look around inside for something not quite right.

Still, any help is a plus at this stage, hopefully someone has a easier solution than to remove the box.

[hakhawk]

did you line the slave cylinder up properly? if you miss the pivot, it pops the slave cyldiner shaft out the first time you hit the pedal, and i presume would pour fluid out too.

failing that, would only really be input shaft seal i think

[P3Z]

thanks for the info
ill hoist it up and replace it again at eye level to make sure.
ill get back to you both in a couple days.

[P3Z]

finally found some time to get under the car again!
Removed the slave cylinder again and as you've mentioned, the rod has fallen out of its socket from the slave unit.
The rubber boot around the rod has given its self a small split. Will this cause issues with sealing it?



After reinstalling the slave again, i still had the same issues. seems like it must be a seal.
I was really hoping that it wasn't that.

[Harding22]

Try tightening the bolts around the bellhousing? I after having it parked for a month, I noticed the same leak the other day while on the hoist. I just tightened the bolts and the leak stopped

[Rebhecca]

Good Luck! I hope you can find your way to solve the problem..
__________________

[meech]

Is it a cheap slave? I usually go with oem, or some sort of german parts when it comes to hydraulics. its better to do it once the right way.

[P3Z]

Thanks for the help guys. Sorry it's been a while but I thought I'd post up my solution for anyone else with the same issues.
I had the car towed to mechanics so that I no longer had the headache. He replaced my new slave cylinder as it had broken an internal piston seal after my first failed attempt with a heavy duty slave. He then removed the new rod and dropped it by a engineer to fab up a longer rod by an extra 10mm. He had this done because he believed that I had actually bend the clutch fork plate when the original slave had killed itself.
He then bled the system and topped up the fluids and I haven't had any issues with it since.

Try tightening the bolts around the bellhousing? I after having it parked for a month, I noticed the same leak the other day while on the hoist. I just tightened the bolts and the leak stopped

Thanks for the tip! I thought this during one of the first attempts at fixing it. The lower bolt did feel slightly loose but as soon as I applied some pressure to it, I felt it begin to snap. I also thought, that if I'm having a leak from the lowest point of the bell housing, it's only due to gravity and it would be an internal issue.

Is it a cheap slave? I usually go with oem, or some sort of german parts when it comes to hydraulics. its better to do it once the right way.

That may have been some of the reason. I was led to believe it was oem by my supplier but I guess not.