Hello,
My son recently acquired a 2003 330 coupe, 5-speed, sport package, 101k miles. When the shift lever is in neutral it sits under 5th gear, rather than where I would expect, which is in the center of the shift pattern between 3rd and 4th. Otherwise the transmission works fine. What determines where the lever sits when it's not in gear, and how hard is it to fix?
Thanks for any advice,
Matthew
Neutral is not centered
A common problem in the E46 5-speed. Issue started in the late 90's when this same transmission was used in the E36 M3.
The 5th gear detent bushing was made too tight. When the lubrication runs out at about 60K-80K miles the bushing galls and sticks as you are describing. Usually the condition is worse in colder weather and goes away once the trans is fully warmed up (and things expand a bit).
The good news is this is about a $20 part that is accessible from the outside of the transmission. The bad news is you need to remove the trans from the vehicle to get to it.
I lived with this condition for quite some time, avoiding the use of 5th gear until it was warmed up and the sticking would not occur. I was told it would eventually wear enough to stop sticking. Well for me it indeed did stop at about 120K miles. But coincidently I also change the fluid from Redline ATF to Redline MTL at about the same time so.....
My original plan was to deal with it until the clutch needed replacing and fix it when the trans was out. But the car (which my son has) now has 165K miles and still is running on the original clutch.
The 5th gear detent bushing was made too tight. When the lubrication runs out at about 60K-80K miles the bushing galls and sticks as you are describing. Usually the condition is worse in colder weather and goes away once the trans is fully warmed up (and things expand a bit).
The good news is this is about a $20 part that is accessible from the outside of the transmission. The bad news is you need to remove the trans from the vehicle to get to it.
I lived with this condition for quite some time, avoiding the use of 5th gear until it was warmed up and the sticking would not occur. I was told it would eventually wear enough to stop sticking. Well for me it indeed did stop at about 120K miles. But coincidently I also change the fluid from Redline ATF to Redline MTL at about the same time so.....
My original plan was to deal with it until the clutch needed replacing and fix it when the trans was out. But the car (which my son has) now has 165K miles and still is running on the original clutch.
-Keith
'11 335D & '17 340GT
'11 335D & '17 340GT