When you discover unusual noises on your BMW i3 you usually tend to be troubled. Specifically when you experience a noise coming from the release bearing of your BMW i3. It is directly assimilated to an engine trouble and can therefore be serious. As we know that you do not take these trouble lightly, we have decided to create this article content to help you locate the causes and free yourself from this concern as quickly as possible. To do this, we will first concentrate on the role and operation of the release bearing of your clutch, and in a second step we will look in detail at the different release bearing noises on BMW i3 and their origins.release-bearing-noise-bmw-i3

What is the purpose and operation of the release bearing on BMW i3?

Role of the release bearing on BMW i3

The release bearing of your BMW i3 has a crucial role in the operation of your entire gearbox system. In fact, its task is to liberate the gearbox from the rotation of the engine block via its action. This will allow you to shift gears. It is operated by the clutch pedal and then by the release fork, which, when it is activated, will press on the clutch and release the gearbox from engine rotation for you allow you to shift gears on your BMW i3.

Action of release bearing BMW i3

Let’s now look at the technical side, the release bearing is composed of two units, a first fixed part that slides only when the stop is pulled, or pushed (determined by its type) and finally a rotating part that is composed of a bearing that will allow it to stay in contact with the mechanism and follow its rotation.
There are two different types of release bearing BMW i3 :

  • Pulled release bearing
  • It is the most unconventional of the two types of release bearing . This one, in contrast to the hydraulic form, is operated by a mechanical pulling system that will release the clutch disc. In this situation, the release bearing must be mechanically fixed to the mechanism.

  • Hydraulic release bearing
  • The hydraulic release bearing, although more complicated, is the form most used in contemporary automobiles. It is however more sophisticated than the pulled release bearing. In fact, it will be composed of a hydraulic tube that will receive the pressure immediately from the clutch pedal.
    More conventional clutch stop

Release bearing noises BMW i3 and their origins

I experience a release bearing noise on BMW i3 when I drive and it stops when I depress my clutch pedal

If you experience a noise from your gearbox, release bearing or clutch itself when your engine is running, but it ends when you press your clutch pedal, this noise often sounds like a bell noise, it is highly plausible that your release bearing is the reason. Make sure that this noise stops when you disengage, in which situation it is time to change the release bearing of your BMW i3.

I experience a release bearing noise when my pedal is up and I experience jolts in my foot

If you experience too much or too little resistance when you press your clutch pedal, and it is associated with jolts that you can experience in your clutch pedal, then the stop/fork release/blades grouping is degraded. In fact, this noise often comes from the broken fork that no longer allows the device to operate normally.

I experience a grinding noise coming from the release bearing of my BMW i3 when I try to shift gears and they do not shift

This concern happens most often on models equipped with hydraulic release bearing. It is often linked to a clutch pedal that has little or no resistance. If you are in this circumstance and you feel a grinding or cracking noise coming from the release bearing of your BMW i3, then you probably have a leak coming from your release bearing. It must therefore be swapped as soon as possible or risk damaging your gearbox in addition to the clutch. If you have a noise coming from the gearbox of your BMW i3 and it’s not from your release bearing, check this article to have more informations.