[JimBeemer]

It's a drizzly and rainy day here, so I'm cleaning some of the junk out of the garage and playing some of my old favorite 33 LPs on the garage phono and stereo system - that way the wife can't complain about my taste in music or the fact I'm so hard of hearing. In an old box in the corner of the garage I stumbled across an old tube of "Hurst Competition Shifter Linkage Lube" that must be 40 years old and still hasn't had the end snipped off. Does BMW even recommend lubing the shift linkage?

 

[ger]

I can't see no reason not to lubricate them.

Accessing them is a bit awkward. If you remove the gear lever you can get to the rear pivot easily, front one on top of gearbox is a bit more awkward.

Why don't you get a e60 545i gear lever whilst you're at it. Most prefer it to the original lever and it's still a oem part.
Have a look here: http://www.m5board.com/vbulletin/e3...04-e60-545i-short-shifter-install-review.html

Have fun and nice, smooth changes!

 

[CarbonCopy]

I don't like lubing things that get dirty because it only causes the dirt to grind into a paste. The drive shaft will occasionally fling stuff that way...(less with modern bimmers with belly pans but still...). Wearing out the nylon washers on the linkage is a sure way of introducing "play" in the linkage. I've done a small drop of oil on the ball/cup of the shifter. If you do lube the linkage I'd only suggest it under the circumstance of dissassembling the linkage and a small amount on the mid point of the metal, male cylinder that slides into the female part on each end of the linkage (no jokes please) but I wouldn't spray something on the linkage connections otherwise. With the amount of force required to shift lubrication would reduce this only negligibly.