Broken Car, Broken Tools

It’s the time of year when I start driving, what my wife calls, my “fun cars”.  It’s harder now that we have an infant. Mine aren’t very baby friendly but I manage to get out in one at least once a week.  Running errands solo tends to be the best time.  I’ll hop in my 325iX to go get a haircut or go to the bank.  My bike rack anxiety managed to join forces with my neurotic cycling addiction and I’ve devised a way of squeezing a bike inside my Wrangler. This way I can get to the group ride in style with my bike tucked away in relative safety.

Despite all being very reliable, occasionally a fun car gets a little extra…fun.  A few weeks ago I was driving my 325iX and stopped to visit my parents.  After a quick visit I drove home and parked in my driveway, a driveway that occasionally resembles a parking lot. (Thankfully, my HOA can't do anything about it.)  I didn’t make it into the house before my cellphone rang…It was my Dad.

“Hey Chris, have you been running the A/C in that car?  Are you leaking anything?  You left some kind of clear puddle in our driveway...You better take a look,’ he said.  

It was a hot and humid day so I assumed the “leak” was condensation from the air conditioning dripping on to the ground.  A bit later in the evening I hopped in the car to pull it into my garage.  Before turning the key I pushed the clutch pedal to the floor…where it stayed.  Womp, womp, womp. 

My dad came over and helped me push the car inside.  Thankfully the clutch fluid was leaking from somewhere outside of the car.  A leak from the clutch master cylinder would've likely leaked onto the carpet beneath the pedals, probably ruining it in the process.  A clutch leak meant things were about to get really fun, really fast. But who needs a clutch anyways?

Despite being a fully fledged car nerd with juuust enough mechanical ability to get myself into trouble, I don’t own many tools.  A few random ratchets, sockets, screwdrivers, and wrenches is about all I have stashed in a tool box I got for free with a few working drawers.  A jack?  Nope.  Breaker bar?  Ha!  Impact gun?  In my dreams.  Luckily my brother has a mini lift in his garage! Since he’s a mechanic for a living, he’s basically swimming in tools. Right?

Or so I thought... 

A few days later, after putting my 7 month old to sleep, I pushed the iX out to the street.  It was late and I knew the streets would be quiet, an ideal time for clutch-less driving.  I put the car in 2nd gear, turned the key, started the car while rolling, and hit the gas!  (Older cars with manual transmissions will allow you to start them in gear, new ones not so much.)  I had to navigate my way through three stop signs to get to my brothers house, about four miles away. I managed to slowly roll through the stop signs without pushing the clutch like I've had to do this before. Thank God for inline 6 cylinders with low end torque!

We nursed the car onto his lift and I climbed underneath to have a look.  

A leaking clutch slave cylinder was the culprit.  I reached into my brother’s shockingly empty toolbox for a ratchet and 13mm socket.  I might as well take it out, right?  I climbed back under the car, put the socket to a nut holding the slave cylinder, gave it a turn and instantly bashed my fingers into the transmission.  Womp, womp, womp.

“Oh yea…That ratchet broke a while ago...I just bring home tools from work when I need to fix a car,” my brother said.  

Great.  I left my car at his house and returned home slightly defeated. The idea that a professional mechanic only had broken ratchets in his house gave me a chuckle though. The same house he moonlights out of for his friends, neighbors, and even our dentist's crazy ex-wife, mind you.

After a few clicks of the mouse and a few days of waiting for the mailman, I was back at my brother’s house with my own tools as well as a new slave cylinder and flex hose.  I was able to get the leaking slave cylinder out and the new one in and bled in about an hour and a half. Victory!

I’m happy to report that my 325iX is back on the road and as good as ever.  I’ll be exercising it’s operational clutch a bit more this summer, trust me. You may even see it at events I normally take my e30 M3 to.

Maybe when my next paycheck clears I'll start stocking up on tools for my garage. Who know's what kind of fun is just around the bend.