[rukawa005]

Originally Posted by xPaulBaiLeyx

hahah nobody is going to grind their gears for you buddy. . .
Get CDV mod.
You'll be happy

fellow OCer(s).. know of anyone reliable that can do the CDV mod for me for a good price? i just bough the rr modded CDV.. but don't want to do it myself..

thanks!

[TofuTurkey]

Originally Posted by bsp

My question is : Does it engage smoothly, or it feels like something is in the way? Is it the same 1st you "know"?

In my case it's significantly harder to engage 1st in the last step, and it feels like it has to go past two or three gates before engaging, unlike the normal "1 gate" feeling.

I tried that I can shift into first gear with a little resistance present (it's at most moderate resistance). I've always been able to shift into first, not once did it fail. This is the case before and after I did the CDV mod.

For what it's worth, I have the "cannot shift" problem only for reverse, and that's the case with my beater as well. In those situations, I just clutch a couple of times and it will work.

[6speedGaren]

Originally Posted by bsp

Dear all,
I have some slight trouble with my gearbox (or clutch, maybe) and I would like to compare with others experience. Every once in a while, mostly when cold, 1st would not engage or would be difficult to engage, with a "2 gate feeling". I found a way to replicate the sub-standard behavior (see below).
My car is a 2yr old 320d, around 25Kmiles, but any 6MT is probably more or less the same.

So, to cut it short, if some kind souls out there are willing to replicate this and post here their experience, it would mean a lot to me:

1. Start the engine
2. Place it in neutral, release clutch
3. WITHOUT depressing the clutch, try to engage 1st. Not lightly, not heavily, but in a normal and determined way. You may keep it pushed forward for a few seconds. Should not engage, of course . Release the pressure.
4. Now push the clutch down fully and try to engage 1st.

My question is : Does it engage smoothly, or it feels like something is in the way? Is it the same 1st you "know"?

In my case it's significantly harder to engage 1st in the last step, and it feels like it has to go past two or three gates before engaging, unlike the normal "1 gate" feeling.

Thank you for any help.

I wouldnt do that to anyones tranny esp mine. Your 1st gear is probably fried dude!

[Kbueno]

It's the cogs not lining up...release clutch in neutral or sometimes I'll just roll forward a bit (if on hill). Every manual car I've owned does this once in a while.

[nicknaz]

I get that sometimes when trying to shift into reverse. I release the clutch and try again and it works.

And you might also be wearing out/damaging something from trying to ram the gearbox into first with the clutch engaged

[bsp]

First of all, thank you all fellows posting useful information, or even bothering to try (TofuTurkey appears to be one).

I know and I use "double clutch at neutral" and "try 2nd then 1st", since this is not my first car (by far I may add).
But I have to ask: is it normal to resort to those tricks in a rather new BMW, like I had to some good time ago with cars one tenth the price?
If so, then it's the same '60 stuff inside a more beautiful box... I sincerely cannot believe that.

It's hard to draw the line between being a picky obsessed owner and being an attentively caring one. I found myself in both positions over the time and now I was just looking for feedback. I salute those who took the time to offer it.

I would like to also thank all posters inclined to lighten our lives with a joke, even if not a helpful one.
IMHO, pushing the lever forward (sensibly) without using the clutch will NOT grind your gears. In fact I guess many of us have already done that at least once in a more destructive manner, with the clutch half-depressed while rushing to catch a start or to shift a quick 2nd.
The "recipe" was not designed to cause a permanent degradation of 1st gear, but is a tested way I found to TEMPORARY reproduce the issue (something spacedogg unfortunately could not do with his dealer).

But I do admit my hopes were a little high. My bad.

Have a nice drive, y'all

[STE92VE]

When the temp is below 20 F, I initially have a difficult time going into 2nd. Never a problem going into 1st though.

[Pedal2Floor]

Maybe bsp can try this technique -- then let us know if the tranny is still in one piece after a few attempts.

http://www.epinions.com/content_2022678660

Shifting without clutch
Aug 20 '01

The Bottom Line Driving technique that gives you advantage when accelerating

If you are seriously thinking about learning to learn some racing techniques I would like to give you advice on shifting without clutch.
First thing is that you have to find car with manual transmission. Preferably older Audi (83-88) or older BMW (83-89). If you break their transmission it will not be so painful for your wallet. Also their transmission is very good for shifting tricks. If you take Japanese car it is quite possible that you will brake down it's transmission. It is very useful to have tachometer also.
For the beginning find some quite road without traffic and corners.

And let's start:
1) Make 1st gear as you would normally do (with clutch)
2) When tacho approaches aprox. 3500 rpm pull out of 1st gear with slight pressure. Knob will jump out of his stand and go to Neutral
3) While Your hand moves to the 2nd gear push gas to 4000 rpm.
4) When knob approaches place where 2nd gear is, add little more pressure to your movement. You should hear some screech sound. Lift of gas. At aprox. 3700 rpm knob must jump in its place in the 2nd gear.
5) You will be driving already in second gear at 3600-3700 rpm and start acceleration without any pause.
6) Do it again going from 2nd to 3rd gears at 4000 rpm.
7) You can do it also backwards when shifting from high gears to low

If on first attempts you fail and can not get into the right gear, you can slightly touch clutch. It takes long practice but results are very impressive. After some weeks you should be able to do shifting so that people outside will be thinking that you have very good automatic transmission.

What advantages it gives you?

* You learn to feel your engine and transmission
* You are still able to drive if your clutch goes down
* approximately 0.1-0.5 sec on every shifting. That seems not much, but if you are racing then after some 1000 shifting you have gained 4 minutes advantage over your concurrent. And that is much.
* I have BMW 318i prepared for street races. With clutch my acceleration 0-60 mph is 8.3 seconds. Without touching clutch - 7.6 seconds
* You have free left leg to do left leg braking (that will be next your technique for rally style driving)

Do practicing on your own risk. I will not pay you for broken transmission. But when you will learn this you will feel much more confident when driving and maybe we will meet on the race track.

[R608]

Originally Posted by Pedal2Floor

4) When knob approaches place where 2nd gear is, add little more pressure to your movement. You should hear some screech sound.
http://www.epinions.com/content_2022678660

That's great!

I think that guy needs to check his gear ratios too. Most cars I've driven have an RPM *drop* when upshifting rather than requiring a few hundred RPM more.

More on-topic, why would deleting the clutch delay valve impact shifting into first at a stop? I thought that just affected clutch re-engagement.

[nicknaz]

Originally Posted by bsp

But I have to ask: is it normal to resort to those tricks in a rather new BMW, like I had to some good time ago with cars one tenth the price?
If so, then it's the same '60 stuff inside a more beautiful box... I sincerely cannot believe that.

Has nothing to do with the price of the car but rather the way gears are cut. there is a great technical explanation for this 'why is it sometimes hard to find first or reverse question' on the www.nasioc.com subaru website (which I can't find right now). You are correct by the way it really is 'the same '60s stuff' in the gearbox. There hasn't been a fundamental change in gearbox design until recently when 'dual clutch' gearboxes came out

[silvergray545]

it happens in my E60 also. nothing to worry about...

[FrankiE90]

[vleivo]

Yeah this happens because the cogs in the gearbox are not matching at that particular point. 90% of the time they slot just right but sometimes they don't, might be there are quite big tolerances when building the gearbox. All my manual tranny Bmws have done this. If it does this, throw in reverse and then move the car a little, go into first and it will engage.

[Z22Z]

Originally Posted by Bobbykurva

Hey guys - I got into an accident the other day and my airbags didn't go off. Would one of you mind starting your car, redlining 1st through 3rd and then hitting a brick wall as you shift into 4th? I just wanna see if you guys experience the same problem.

Thanks.










joke of course

just tried it out for you bro and the airbags worked fine. have your dealer check it out for you.

[BK]

Originally Posted by FrankiE90

Way to give him a hand.

[lattemike]

My car does this too, BMW just released a SB on this. SI B 23 01 09