[sport330i6spd]

Wondering if this has happened to anyone else - my 330i's 6-speed manual gearbox feels unusual some of the time. The clutch pedal feel is inconsistent... on some pushes down it'll feel solid and just like it should, on others spongy and soft, with much less resistance. The weirdest thing is that it goes between the two in the space of minutes, on the same drive, without any causes that are clear to me.

On top of this, sometimes it's harder than it should be to pull the gearknob out of an engaged gear, especially gears 1-3. But again, it's not consistently doing this.

I've never heard any grinding noises from the gearbox, and the clutch is not slipping. I've changed the brake/clutch fluid a few weeks ago (it was doing it before the change, and the change didn't solve anything); I've bled the clutch as well, using the two-person method. I'm the third owner of the car and I think it's still on the original clutch, with about 80,000 miles on it.

Any ideas? Thanks guys.

(Possibly related - this thing still has the clutch delay valve; what does that 'feel' like relative to an older-school simpler manual transmission? I'm also having more trouble heel-and-toe downshifting in this thing than I have on other cars I've had like an S2000 and Miata.)

[e90pilot]

Check the clutch lines and make sure that it's not leaking. Since you've bled the lines and it was symptomatic before you flushed and bled the lines I'd venture to say it's probably not air in the lines. It could be the pressure plate as well. You'd have to unbolt and slide the transmission back to see it. Also, this car has as self adjusting pressure plate. That would cause inconstancies in the engagement point. As in sometimes it grabs right off the bottom and other times it's near the top of the pedal.

If the clutch is dragging, which it seems as it is, that can kill your synchros. Here's a way to test it:
while the car is stationary and running, press the clutch and try to engage first gear without pushing in all the way. Basically you want to hold enough pressure so that it's about to go into first but actually doesn't.
Next, turn the car off while still holding pressure on the shift lever.
If it slots into first, your clutch is dragging.
If not it's not dragging.