XSeries-forum

Bought a 2006 BMW X3 2.0D manual and drove it for the second time after buying it. Did a long trip from. Manchester to London. Could smell a burning smell in cabin when we turned on the car but it went away and we presumed it was due to the cold or something.

Long story short it broke down as we got into London 1 mile away from our destination. We noticed the burning smell return throughout the journey while in the lower gear. Now the car just won't shift into gear while the engine is running but it shifts fine when the engine is off.

Can anyone advice what this could be ?!?

Clutch?!?
Transfer box?!

Thank you

If it's a hydraulically operated clutch you might find it's had a leak so the clutch will not disengage. The smell could have been the fluid dropping onto the exhaust

Check your brake fluid reservoir level too. The same reservoir is used for both systems, so if your clutch slave cylinder is leaking then you could lose the brakes as well if it falls low enough.

Getting air out of ABS equipped vehicles needs specialist software to correctly cycle the control valves in the ABS modulator block.

It could be a bad hose, or the slave cylinder itself. All being well the slave cylinder is not leaking into the clutch housing so you just need a new one fitted underneath (it’s outside the bell housing), the system bled, and away you go

Just had the hydraulic clutch release bearing fail on our focus , same idea wouldn't go into gear and brake fluid over the road .The bearing is in the box on the ford though so new clutch time.