Gear lever resting in front of 5th gear

[Olly2012]

I think I have a touch of the old 5th gear shift pin problem discussed on http://www.bimmerfest.com/forums/showth ... p?t=489800. Occasionally the lever rests in front of the gate for 5th instead of centring in front of 3-4. It seems to happen mostly when cold although not always and I haven't noted any other pattern as yet. I wouldn't say it's cosmetic as suggested on bimmerfest - it's quite disconcerting if you change down from 5th to.... 5th as happens if you rely on the spring to put you in position for 3rd. Or 2nd straight to 5th.

I get the impression it's not damaging to the gearbox and it seems like a big job if I want to fix it.

Any developed thoughts on this or sharing of similar experiences will be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

[Olly2012]

Sorry - should have added Zed is a 3.0 litre Sport on a 52 plate with just about 60k miles and good service history.

[Kornknarr]

As you might know this is could be the "shift pin" problem. BMW made a service bulletin about it and during a period corrected all cars that had an issue with it. The bulletin says not to do anything if there only is problems with a cold engine.

If you'd like to do something about it, the shift pin renovation in it self is quite fun and not to difficult. The problem is that you have to have the transmission out and that is not a nice job if your'e not trained and not have a fully equipped garage. I just finished doing the job and am still a bit bruised by the transmission job. There are good guides available if you want to do it though.

You'll need special tools for the pins. As a matter of fact my tools are going to England in May to another forum member so he will have them available.

If you want to see how the job can be done you can check it out here: http://perkornhall.se/Per_Kornhall/Shift_pins.html

In the beginning you have links to very good walk troughs and to where you can order the parts.

I still have one problem left to solve. The dowel on the starter did not seat itself properly so I'll have to back up a bit until I can put everything back and test it. I also broke a bolt for the transmission brace but that was an easy thing to solve.

Per

[Gazza]

Try a change of gearbox oil, I did and it cured it for me

[Olly2012]

Thanks both. Gearbox oil change sounds a whole lot easier and cheaper to start with. I'll give that a go first off and report any difference here.

[pingu]

I've found that if you play with the gearlever (ooer Missus), it cures itself for a while. This indicates to me that rather than a broken/weak return spring, it is dirt in the mechanism. Unfortunately, the only way to clean it is to strip it by destroying the sealing plugs. If you are going to go this far, you had might as well replace the parts with new ones.

[Kornknarr]

The shift pin repair includes a new lining for three of the wells including a new non-stick lining for fifth and reversse gear. There was a reason BMW changed that...

The parts are cheap so if you get that far... But I do agree with Gazza on trying to change the oil before you do more. For me it was mostly a thing I did because I like the feeling of having it as good as possible. When I discovered that there was problems with the shifts I went all the way to be sure. And I also had most of the things down anyway.

Per

[Olly2012]

Gearbox oil change seems the quickest cheapest and easiest way for me. I'm not a mechanic although could turn my hand to it- but don't have the kit or the workspace. Thanks all.

Oil try the oil first!

[Mike Fishwick]

BMW Dealers charge the earth for gear oil (sorry - 'Transmission fluid!') Have a look at this:

http://www.zroadster.net/forum/viewtopi ... 18&t=17948

I have been using Amsoil MTF full synthetic for about 5 years, and even in sub-zero temperatures no longer have the 5th gear sticking problem.

[Olly2012]

Ok so the questions now are:

1. Draining the old oil out- can this be done with the car on the ramp of do you need to drop the box?

2. Which to go for? OEM oil, Amsoil or Fuchs, or any other? I'm concerned the Amsoil might not be that good in the UK cool winter weather. Any experiences out there?

Thanks.

[Del]

Hi Olly2012

1) You need to safely raise the car whilst keeping it as level as possible. No need to drop the box.

2) The link mentioned by Mike above gives the general way forward. There are strong views about what gear oil to use and whether one should deviate from BMW stuff. In my 1.9 Getrag gearbox (the 3.0 I believe has a different/larger ZF box?) I used the stuff in the attached link and the gear change is now lovely and smooth. The viscosity range on modern gear oils has tended to gradually widen and is now typically 75W-90. The gear oil used by BMW when they put the yellow labels on their Z3 gearboxes had a GL4 rating.

Personally, I found it a challenge finding a 75W-90 oil whilst cautiously sticking to the GL4 rating.

http://www.opieoils.co.uk/p-739-castrol ... 5w-85.aspx

[pingu]

I've just bought the kit from BimmerDiffs - $93.98 delivered.

I'll have to get the tools from somewhere else. I wonder where

[Olly2012]

Well 1.3 litres of everlasting oil out and 1.3 litres of Castrol Syntrans in and there is an noticeable improvement on first drive. I'll know more over the next few days and post further here.

[Mike Fishwick]

The factory fill is Fuchs Syntofluid, which is sold by BMW dealers for similar silly money because they buy it from BMW in large drums to get a decent discount, after which is does not get used because most owners believe the propaganda that BMW have found an everlasting oil!

Even many of those who would like to change the oil agonise about whether it is better to have work-out BMW oil or new non-BMW oil, as it would not be original!