What happened:
The rubber hose between the clutch master and clutch slave cylinder broke and all the fluid leaked out. The clutch pedal stuck to the floor and doesn't return. The car was towed back to my house.

What's been replaced:
I replaced the torn rubber hose with an upgraded steel braided hose from ECS tuning.
I replaced the slave cylinder and clutch master cylinder.

Problem:
I cannot for the life of me get the pedal to return to normal. These are the steps I followed based on what's been said in the forums...

1. Slave cylinder is detached from bell housing and all lines are connected.
2. Slave cylinder is fully compressed using special tool (home made version, same result)
3. Brake fluid is topped off and nearly overflowing
3 Pedal is still at the floor
4. Bleed screw on the slave is cracked open about 1/2 turn
5. Power bleeder is connected to bleed screw and switched on. It pulls fluid all the way through the system.
6. Closed bleed screw on the slave cylinder. Pulled clutch pedal up, opened bleed screw again and pushed pedal down to floor, fluid came out as it should.
7. Closed bleed screw again and pumped the pedal a few times. Opened the screw again and pushed the rod in, fluid came out, I closed the screw and let the rod retract.
8. Brake fluid is still at max, I pump clutch pedal again a few times there is no resistance whatsoever.
9. I open the bleed screw again, push the rod all the way in and close the bleed screw.
10. I pump the clutch pedal again and it blows out the slave cylinder. This has happened 3x, one time all the pieces went into the bell housing. A magnet saved me I managed to get all the pieces out.

Why does this keep happening and can someone tell me what I'm doing wrong? Why is there no resistance on the clutch yet it's enough to blow out the slave cylinder with just a few pumps of the pedal?

Thanks for your time.

 

Couple of documents from the online service manual for the 550i...

First on is: Removing and installing or replacing clutch slave cylinder

Next one is: Removing and installing or replacing clutch release bearing/lever

One finer point that you have covered is the brake fluid reservoir must be filled to the top since the reservoir has a partition inside it to keep all the fluid from leaking out in case of a catastrophic failure in the clutch hydraulics.

I once had a car where the clutch fork rusted out and broke. The slave cylinder basically had nothing to push against since the fork was gone.

I'd venture that something is wrong with the clutch fork or a part that is involved in the mechanical linkage between the slave cylinder and clutch fork.

 

Hi, what you have described sounds 99% the same problem I had. I couldn't get the clutch pedal return to normal position.
I have replaced master clutch cylinder, bleed the clutch few times and nothing. One day I was about to drive and the moment I pressed the clutch the master cylinder completely broke, brake fluid all over the carpet. So I got new one, different brand (not sure if that matters), but before replacement I decided to replace
"Brass Clutch Brake Pedal Bushing Bearing Sleeve For BMW E36 E46 E90 E39 E60"
The original bushing was made of plastic, to be exact there was no bushings , only dust. They were worn out 90%. New metal bushings fitted, I regret I didn't get clutch pedal pin, but I will replace that as well in the future, then I fitted master clutch cylinder, bleed the clutch and I got the clutch pedal working much better (not 100%, but I was able to sleep at night again). Before I had to take the clutch pedal spring off, cos driving was impossible, now both springs fitted and the pedal is behaving as it should. I'm not a mechanic, I learn from the internet and youtube, but somehow I fixed it. I understand the frustration, and I hope you find this helpful. The job took me 30 min.