blown slave cylinder
 

The story goes like this, about a week ago I bought a 95 318ti in beautiful condition but the clutch was very heavy and hard to push so I wanted to know if it was the clutch or the master-slave cylinders. I took off the slave cylinder and pushed the clutch with my hand, the first push was hard but the second felt like there was nothing there, I went under the car and I saw that the slave cylinder was blown up and it was leaking the fluid.:eek: I guess that the slave cylinder isn't supposed to do that? :confused:

http://img502.imageshack.us/img502/1939/slavecyl1.jpg
http://img189.imageshack.us/img189/5682/slavecyl2.jpg
http://img831.imageshack.us/img831/1199/slavecyl3.jpg
http://img203.imageshack.us/img203/2130/slavecyl4.jpg

slave cylinder won't do that when it's bolted in like it's supposed to be! Don't worry, seems like many people do it installing a new slave and having issues bleeding it or whatnot.

Interesting, guess there can be such a thing as a sticky slave cylinder.. At least you found your problem!

+1, if there's nothing for the rod to push against, the piston will usually shoot out. It happened to mine when one of my friends depressed the clutch pedal while my transmission was out. No biggie, you could just put it back in. In your case however, you might as well replace the slave cylinder if you think it's the problem. They're only about 40 bucks IIRC.