Huge transmission shifting issue.. 330ci

Hey everyone so here's my story.

I drive a manual 2001 330ci, 88,000 miles. Two nights ago while highway driving, I noticed that shifting between 1st 2nd and 3rd gear felt very sticky and almost grindy. (4th and 5th gear felt fine). My shifter has always been very smooth with no problems engaging. So tonight while driving home it seemed to have gotten worse. I was at a light and i could not engage the car into 1st gear. I finally forced it into 1st, took off, and when switching to 2nd there was a horrible grinding /banging from the tranny. I pulled over and the shifter would not go into any gear, not even reverse. Finally after slamming the shifter into third i was able to get the carmoving and drove it home. The car drives perfectly when in 3rd gear but once I take it out of third its hard to get it into any other gear. Seems to be a problem with linkages or forks?? Any ideas? Help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

oh wow thats sounds pretty awful man.... scares the **** outa me too lol i wish you luck

Did you check the fluid level?

You need to get under the car, and remove the FILL bolt, The fluid should be level with the hole opening.

Everything you mentioned seems to point to low fluid levels. Tranny fluid doesn't burn up, so if it's low, it is usually a leak. Hopefully it won't be a seal or gasket, maybe just a lose drain bolt.

Originally Posted by RAWSS330

Hey everyone so here's my story.

I drive a manual 2001 330ci, 88,000 miles. Two nights ago while highway driving, I noticed that shifting between 1st 2nd and 3rd gear felt very sticky and almost grindy. (4th and 5th gear felt fine). My shifter has always been very smooth with no problems engaging. So tonight while driving home it seemed to have gotten worse. I was at a light and i could not engage the car into 1st gear. I finally forced it into 1st, took off, and when switching to 2nd there was a horrible grinding /banging from the tranny. I pulled over and the shifter would not go into any gear, not even reverse. Finally after slamming the shifter into third i was able to get the carmoving and drove it home. The car drives perfectly when in 3rd gear but once I take it out of third its hard to get it into any other gear. Seems to be a problem with linkages or forks?? Any ideas? Help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

worn clutch ?

Originally Posted by fgin

worn clutch ?

Worn clutches don't usually affect the gearbox or gear selectors.

Originally Posted by mkodama

Worn clutches don't usually affect the gearbox or gear selectors.

Your absolutely right. it is deff not worn clutch. and fluid level is fine. the clutch has 15k miles on it. i feel like it could be more a synchro problem..

Throw out bearing.

Yea I'd check your fluid first. Don't get too agressive with the shifter or you will bend the fork as well. Hope it dosent end up like my cousin's. He made a shift into second the other night and can't get it out. For some reason we can't even split the tranny open because of this.

Originally Posted by Minnoe07

Throw out bearing.

Do you even know what a throw out bearing is ?

To OP: sorry bud, your gear box is forked.

Originally Posted by GoingNuts

Do you even know what a throw out bearing is ?

To OP: sorry bud, your gear box is forked.

I think he is saying if the transmission shop rebuilding the unit finds a bad bearing, throw it out.

I wouldn't rule out a bad clutch/flywheel or even bad install. The manual transmissions are usually pretty solid.

All of the symptoms sound like what would happen if you tried to force the car into a gear without depressing the clutch fully. An easy test would be test driving on a rack or with the rear wheels off the ground. See if you can now shift the car normally and if the wheels spin with the car in gear, clutch depressed.

Dude, everyone, stop speculating

This happened to me for a while, almost exactly the same scenario. I was convinced my 2nd gear syncro was toast, but that wasn't it. I had totally worn linkage bushings, as well as bad trans/motor mounts...it could be some combination or all of these. I also noticed my trans output shaft flange wasn't tight, but I doubt this was the culprit.

Once I fixed the rubber bits, it shifted wonderfully again, like magic. I should note that "slamming" anything in a gearbox is NOT the way to do it. After it would grind going into second (I would let off as soon as I could, grinding is NEVER good for anything) sometimes it wouldn't want to go into any gear...so I'd drift off onto the shoulder and sit there and massage the gearbox and the clutch until something got back into the right place. I never forced it, but eventually whatever was out of whack would realign itself and I'd be back in action. But like I said, fix those rubber and plastic bits and I bet you'll be fine.

Nope, not really. Just thought I'd throw something out there.

Originally Posted by frogg320

Dude, everyone, stop speculating

This happened to me for a while, almost exactly the same scenario. I was convinced my 2nd gear syncro was toast, but that wasn't it. I had totally worn linkage bushings, as well as bad trans/motor mounts...it could be some combination or all of these. I also noticed my trans output shaft flange wasn't tight, but I doubt this was the culprit.

Once I fixed the rubber bits, it shifted wonderfully again, like magic. I should note that "slamming" anything in a gearbox is NOT the way to do it. After it would grind going into second (I would let off as soon as I could, grinding is NEVER good for anything) sometimes it wouldn't want to go into any gear...so I'd drift off onto the shoulder and sit there and massage the gearbox and the clutch until something got back into the right place. I never forced it, but eventually whatever was out of whack would realign itself and I'd be back in action. But like I said, fix those rubber and plastic bits and I bet you'll be fine.

It could be linkage.. but i got the transmission out and the end of the transmission shaft (which sits in the pilot bearing) is totally worn down..I have never seen anything like it before... I can stick my finger in the pilot bearing and i feel play..I definitely think it's a blown pilot bearing. Which caused the offset between shifting. Any other ideas? I just bought a salvaged refurbished 330ci transmission that has 25,000 miles on it. 400 bucks. Awesome deal.

Originally Posted by SD 328I

Did you check the fluid level?

You need to get under the car, and remove the FILL bolt, The fluid should be level with the hole opening.

Everything you mentioned seems to point to low fluid levels. Tranny fluid doesn't burn up, so if it's low, it is usually a leak. Hopefully it won't be a seal or gasket, maybe just a lose drain bolt.

Fluid level was fine. when i got the tranny out though i drained it, it had a horrible burning smell and was completely black... The owner that had it before me got the clutch done before he sold it to me. I'm thinking they might have put some kind of other transmission fluid in it?? (other than the BMW recommended?)

Originally Posted by RAWSS330

Fluid level was fine. when i got the tranny out though i drained it, it had a horrible burning smell and was completely black... The owner that had it before me got the clutch done before he sold it to me. I'm thinking they might have put some kind of other transmission fluid in it?? (other than the BMW recommended?)

If the fluid was black maybe they thought it was a saab and put motor oil in it lol.

Just a thought but have u checked the slave cylinder, my car is auto but im assuming that the manual tranny has hydrolic clutch like my starion and the 240 sx i had. my station had the same prob u havin and i changed the slave cylinder, prob fixed, so i'd say check that first. GL

clutch isn't disengaging fully?

Originally Posted by kuksul08

clutch isn't disengaging fully?

clutch is brand new and was disengaging fully. like is said, i got the car home in 3rd gear. The problem i am having doesn't relate to the clutch.

HellO
i drive a 2001 BMW Ci.I have a problem with my car.When i park my car upward like a on my drive way and when i park car down ward.When i shift my car to from parking to drive and pulls back.When i start driving it pulls back when it reaches 1,2,3,4 when and pull back and it also down it when i slow down. this doesn't happen everytime only sometimes. what is the problem ? if u have any idea let me know asap. thanks