Transmission STUCK in 3rd Gear

M1dn1t3 · 6th July 2012, 06:15

I have seen many articles and comments here on people that have had issues with their transmission, but none of them appear to be mine. Does anybody have any clues or ideas as to what it might be? I just had the $200 kit installed with the arrester sleeves instead of balls and I could not believe how much smoother my tranny has been when i am engaging gears up or down shifting. Basically as of the last couple weeks the transmission had started to require a more and more deliberate effort to shift and then I was joy riding for a quick run back from the store at WOT first, then 2nd, then 3rd, then slowing down to a light and as a tried to put it back in neutral it REFUSED to come out of third. At that point I just coasted up to any lights and drove home while in third and parked it in the garage. From what I can tell after playing with it a little more in the garage it is able to come out of the gear when I attempt to take it out, except that something is stopping the shifter from coming back enough to take it out. It feels as if the resistance is coming from down low and not up high. I saw a thread that stated a $40 locking pin could be the culprit but idk and right now I'm really upset. I love this car and it drives like a dream.... except when it won't shift out of gear. Any help or ideas are welcome and sincerely appreciated. Thanks.

dpbdc · 6th July 2012, 09:33

Damn, that sucks.

Something similar happened to me, merging on the 5 with a rig bearing down on me, couldn't shift out of second. My issue seemed worse, as there was NOTHING I could do to move the selector even a little bit. Maybe yours is not as far gone if you can get some movement....I ended up with a new transmission....

Good luck.

M1dn1t3 · 6th July 2012, 17:54

Wow! I really hope that is not the case with mine yikes. I just got the car last year and it is a year 2000 with only 58,000 on the odometer. Also i have no way to drop 5k on a new one right now haha. Hopefully its something simple Im taking it to a local tranny specialist that has been working on transmissions his whole life instead of the bmw dealer on monday... Hopefully and prayerfully he can work some magic.

M5 Sydney · 6th July 2012, 19:30

I assume you've reviewed all the info in this thread?

Jammed Transmission, What went wrong and how I fixed it

Good luck with that - I hope it turns out to be an easy fix...

ard · 6th July 2012, 19:36

Quote:

Originally Posted by dpbdc

.I ended up with a new transmission....

Probably because there is no BMW-approved procedures for opening the transmission... the party line is 'replace'.

See below for someone that said 'screw the party line':

Quote:

Originally Posted by M5 Sydney

I assume you've reviewed all the info in this thread?

Jammed Transmission, What went wrong and how I fixed it
...

'

Quote:

Originally Posted by M1dn1t3

Hopefully its something simple Im taking it to a local tranny specialist that has been working on transmissions his whole life instead of the bmw dealer on monday...

Good luck- hopefully you find the right person with the right skills.....

M1dn1t3 · 6th July 2012, 20:26

Ive read that article about 10 times lol i actually gave it to the transmission guy to help him with a possible diagnosis and parts that would fix it

Hopefully its just the locking pin or something simple. Thanks again for the help

gsfent · 6th July 2012, 21:27

Quote:

Originally Posted by M1dn1t3

I have seen many articles and comments here on people that have had issues with their transmission, but none of them appear to be mine. Does anybody have any clues or ideas as to what it might be? I just had the $200 kit installed with the arrester sleeves instead of balls and I could not believe how much smoother my tranny has been when i am engaging gears up or down shifting. Basically as of the last couple weeks the transmission had started to require a more and more deliberate effort to shift and then I was joy riding for a quick run back from the store at WOT first, then 2nd, then 3rd, then slowing down to a light and as a tried to put it back in neutral it REFUSED to come out of third. At that point I just coasted up to any lights and drove home while in third and parked it in the garage. From what I can tell after playing with it a little more in the garage it is able to come out of the gear when I attempt to take it out, except that something is stopping the shifter from coming back enough to take it out. It feels as if the resistance is coming from down low and not up high. I saw a thread that stated a $40 locking pin could be the culprit but idk and right now I'm really upset. I love this car and it drives like a dream.... except when it won't shift out of gear. Any help or ideas are welcome and sincerely appreciated. Thanks.

Is it just me? You had your tranny opened up, parts replaced and shortly thereafter, you have hard shifting (warning Will Robinson, warning!) and then it is jammed. Too much coindicence to not think that the tranny guy either got something wrong, or something came loose that shouldn't have.

Hopefully, whatever happened is repairable, as Getrag does not make parts available for servicing. Recent thread about trannys available for under $800, although unknown, are at least a parts source.

Regards,
Jerry

ard · 7th July 2012, 00:04

Quote:

Originally Posted by gsfent

Is it just me? You had your tranny opened up, parts replaced and shortly thereafter, y

Yeah, I was going to ask what this $200 parts kit was...is it in the tranny or linkage something or other...

M1dn1t3 · 7th July 2012, 07:35

Into the possibility of something going wrong with what was replaced that is definitely going through my mind as a possibility, but Im trying to give the guy that actually did the work the benefit of the doubt. There is an article posted in here about the kit. It has arrester sleeves instead of balls as BMW made them to replace what was originally an inferior part. The sleeves are more reliable than balls. Haha no pun intended

gsfent · 7th July 2012, 20:23

Quote:

Originally Posted by M1dn1t3

Into the possibility of something going wrong with what was replaced that is definitely going through my mind as a possibility, but Im trying to give the guy that actually did the work the benefit of the doubt. There is an article posted in here about the kit. It has arrester sleeves instead of balls as BMW made them to replace what was originally an inferior part. The sleeves are more reliable than balls. Haha no pun intended

Balls claimed more reliable than arrrester sleeves; no problems indicated when using balls, tranny jammed after improved arrester balls switched for inferior part. Interested to see how this turns out.

Regards,
Jerry