Help Required - My BMW Problem

S

SirSimon

Member
EDINBURGH
Hi All,

I am having great problems with BMW and my car. I own a Z4 2.5i Sport. Sometimes (not all the time) the car will not go into First or Second gear. After around Seven or Eight times, the car will go into gear.
I've even had to turn the car off, then back on to put the car into gear. As this has happened on quite a few occaions, I wanted BMW to sort this out. BMW took my car and went for various drives,
I confirmed to them that this problem does not happen all the time. They took it for some spins and confirmed there is no problem and will not br fixing it!!
So... I need your help! I confirmed to the manager that members on here have had the same problem. Can you lovely ladies and gentleman write up what ahppened to you and how the problem was fixed?
If you can help, I would be most grateful!

I am on my blackberry, so it will look funny / crap spelling!


Thanks Simon
 
How often does this happen - there is clearly a problem but if it doesn't occur for the brief period they take it out it is difficult to diagnose. No amount of forum banter is likely to change their minds.

I suggest you offer to leave it with them over a couple of days - get their technician to rag it .... er I mean use it as their daily transport to and from work and see how they get on. They must want the business of doing a repair but can't know where to start if they don't see a problem.

Good luck and hopefully you'll get some comments here about how others have dealt with this issue.
 
I had the same problem with my previous car. I'm guessing when you drive, you rest your hand on the gear knob pretty much all the time? If so, over time it wears down the 'teeth' on the gears slightly which makes changing gears a pain in the arse. You won't need a new gearbox or anything like that though. If you take it in to a garage, they should just be able to re-adjust it and shouldn't cost much at all.

It was a few years ago that this happened to me, so that write up may not be exact, but that's pretty much what happened. If there is anyone on here who knows a bit about cars, they will probably change my wording slightly!
 
IIRC quite a few of us have had this problem. Usually only getting the car into Reverse, 1st and 2nd gears. I can't recall if there was ever a solid solution.
This will happen on mine when both the ambient temperature and the car is cold (i.e. shut down overnight). Once the car (and the gearbox oil) warms up it usually shifts fine, probably why the dealer didn't notice it.
I think some members have put in a higher grade gearbox oil, one or two might have had worn shift linkage's. I generally let the car warm up and cycle the gears through a few times before I drive off.
 
Hi,

This has happened when the car has been driven for 30 minutes and also at times when the car is cold. I only hope they fixed it.
As I said to the manager, if there is nothing wrong with the car, it wouldn't be there in the first place!
 
Mine feels a bit stiff like that sometimes, i just lift off the clutch, put it down again then go 3rd to 1st and it seems to go in?
Never really bothred me enough to take it to the dealer as basically every bmw iv driven has to it to a certain degree, i just look at it as a feature?
 
Simon, are you used to driving a manual? To be honest that looks normal to me but im used to driving cars with 'tight' gearboxes. The box is deliberately quite notchy; combined with a short throw shifter you have, it'll only worsen the problem. I have a Storm motorwerks knob, and selecting reverse can really work your arm out!! :roll:

Doing that without the engine on (especially without the clutch depressed) is bound to be very notchy. I regularly have to 're-mesh' the gearbox when parking etc. Youll often get this problem when going from/to gears which arent designed to be changed between (like 3rd/1st, 2nd/4th or reverse/forward), being less pronounced the smaller (higher) the gears are. If this happens to me, i just quickly select a neighbouring gear, like you selected 2nd in your video - sorted :)

If youre confident its not that though, it seems like the selector forks or cables could do with adjusting :(
 
Well, where do I start?

After owning the car for only 6 months, it's been in to the garage five times. "As there is no point trying to fix it as we don't know the problem is, do you want another car"
Apart of me was gobsmacked, the other part was happy as I have never had such problems with a car before. They can't fix the car as they don't know what is wrong!!
I've lost all faith in the car and BMW if I am going to be honest.. The question is now, what do I do? Change or get the problem fixed for a car I no longer love / want?

Simon
 
Stick with it Simon,
Once it's fixed, then you'll love the car!

Have you tried getting in touch with BMW uk? might be worth a call to them and say "OI!". From experience(s) with my M3, they tended to listen and did a good job of sorting out my local dealer.

Telephone number is: 0870 5050 160
 
Sorry Simon from that video I am not convinced there is anything wrong with your clutch. Have you ever previously owned a BMW as I have found in my last 3 that the gears can always be a bit sticky especially getting it into first. Too be honest that is part of the nature of a BMW clutch and as has been mentioned it is helped by selecting another gear and then 1st. I have heard of other people getting their tranny fluid changed and new shifter bushings.
 
It's a sports car--tight gearbox. In the parking deck in the mornings, there are loud, solid "clunk-clunks" as I shift from first to second. Frankly, as reverse is on the same side of the box, in the same position, I'm glad it's a bit notchy and hard to get in there. Nothing more embarrassing as sitting at a light and putting it into reverse instead of first :roll: .
 
Hi, i have owned my Z4 3.0 from new and it has often exhibited this problem but not consistently. strangely it always does it when its most embarrassing.

for my take on the problem here goes.

My assessment is that it is the pilot bearing in the flywheel binding every now and again or not running freely

this one;
flywheel.png

this bearing is only in use when the clutch is dipped and the fist motion shaft has to come to rest or a slower speed than the main shaft.

the item ringed is the first motion shaft or the "spigot" shaft
gearbox.png

if the first motion shaft keeps rotation at the same speed as the engine, then the synchromesh on the main shaft cannot overcome and slow down the speed of the main shaft which was being rotated by the lay shaft which is in turn rotated directly by the first motion shaft.

hope this helps.

Dario
 
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