BMW e91 problem with 6th gear and noise from clutch

[Dan.ayres]

Hi, having a couple issues with my bmw E91 320d.

First issue is with the clutch. Basically when I have the clutch peddle half way in there’s a fairly loud noise coming from it. It goes away when fully in or fully out. It hasn’t effected the drive in any way but is something I will need to get sorted as I will be upgrading the car soon so want to make sure it’s safe for whoever buys it. It’s been like it since I brought the car around 3 years ago. Never got any worse or had any kind of impact on the car. I’ve had one person suggest it’s the release bearing and another swear blind it’s the dual mass fly wheel. Anyone who’s had either of these issues able to give me a little more info on properly diagnosing it?

Second issue is a little more of a problem for when it comes to selling the car... about 2 years ago about 400 miles in to a 600 mile round trip I was cruising in 6th gear and the engine lost almost all power. It wouldn’t go over about 50mph. I pulled over, turned the car off and back on and it was fine. Drove about another 30 miles and it done it again so I did the same thing. It’s done this a couple more times but only ever in 6th gear. I have to do quite long distances fairly regularly and for the past 2 years I just haven’t used 6th gear and it’s never happened again so I think I’ve isolated it to an issue that is either caused by or is something to do with 6th gear. Again, anyone had a similar issue able to shed any kind of light on what could be causing this?

Any help very much appreciated!

[GreenV8S]

Dan.ayres said:

about 2 years ago about 400 miles in to a 600 mile round trip I was cruising in 6th gear and the engine lost almost all power. It wouldn’t go over about 50mph. I pulled over, turned the car off and back on and it was fine.

That sounds as if the ECU has detected a fault and gone into restricted power mode to prevent damage. In that case there would be a fault code telling you why it did it. It's remotely possible there is some other fault such as a sticky wastegate or EGR mixer valve but that seems less likely given the symptoms.

[Jaybmw]

The first issue is the flywheel. Mine does it, been doing it years it won't effect it but for selling the car you may need to replace it. The 2nd issue may be a boost sensor issue, if it happens under slight load in top gear say a slight incline and the car needs slightly more power/boost any discrepancy it'll go into limp mode, a reset usually fixes it but the sensor may need a clean or replacement. Best way to test that is go about 40mph in 6th and flatten the throttle but don't let the car labour, if it does it that may be your issue