[DervJim]

Hi guys

Just had my car for about a month now (2005 E90 320D SE), very low mileage on it, and last week it juddered a couple of times pulling off a halt sign, then again once today or yesterday.

I wondered at this stage if the CDV needs removing/modding (no warranty so probably just remove it).

But then the clutch began to slip a little bit in 4th gear and higher when accelerating.

It's only done it a little bit (for a second or so about 3 times) and I'm wondering now if there's any possibility that the CDV could be what's causing the clutch to slip?

If the clutch is dead after 30k miles I'll be gutted as i've spent more buying this car than I normally would do to try and make sure I had a nice car that 'might' last longer before I have problems with such low mileage but I guess these things can happen.

But has anyone else had clutch slipping due to the CDV (on acceleration rather than just when releasing the pedal after a gear change)?

Thanks for any info
Jim

PS - I hope this post is in the correct subforum, and apologies if it's not!!

[F32Fleet]

CDV by design allows a little slip but it's not something you would necessarily notice.

[DervJim]

The car has been remapped so that would make it more likely to slip if the clutch was about to fail anyway, but would it be possible that with the combination of remap and Cdv that slipping would happen?

I know the previous owner of the car wouldn't have driven it badly to cause premature clutch carnage, but I do not know about the owners prior to him admittedly.

How hard a job is it to replace clutch and dmf for a competent home mech?
I have a well equipped workshop and have changed some clutches in the past, although I do not have a car lift.

[DnA Diesel]

Clutch slipping in 4th or higher when fully engaged is a sign of either a badly worn clutch or a failing/partially failed diaphragm spring.

[hotrod2448]

I can't imagine the CDV would have anything to do with the clutch slipping in higher gears after the clutch has been released for a while.

[DervJim]

Thanks for the replies

Was really hoping to hear some people say "Yes, mine was slipping like that and it turned out to be the CDV", but realise that's probably wishful thinking.

The strange thing is though, this morning on my 15 mile drive to work, I had a few chances to try doing it again, and it did not slip at all, despite being under the exact same conditions, ie 4th and even 5th gear, above the revs where the turbo really comes on song (ie well above 2000rpm).

I don't know what to make of it now.

Surely if it was due to premature clutch wear, with a loss of friction material, or weak pressure plate springs etc, that's a physical condition that causes slip, and cannot suddenly improve since the condition causing the slip is still there and will only get worse.

Is it possible that if there was a little bit of oil contamination or something that it's just burnt off perhaps?
I realise if that is the case that if it's had oil on it once (damaged DMF??) then it will happen again and will need fixing either way.

Before I left my estate this morning to drive to work I did what other people have mentioned in the past with CDV issues, and put it in 5th with handbrake on and just deliberately slipped the clutch a little bit with a few revs. Nothing vicious at all as I'm babying my new car mostly, but following that, it didn't slip while driving in.

I might just be kidding myself (and don't expect realistically that this is anything that will 'go away' or be cheaply fixed) but am going to wait a bit and see how it continues to behave before buying expensive bits for it.

[DervJim]

Had the 15 mile drive home again tonight and I got the chance to open up a bit in some places so I poked it with a stick.

Tried my best to provoke it and it didn't slip at all today over 30 miles including some deliberate slip inducing behaviour.

Strange....