Anyone having issues with their manual trans? If I am kicking the crap out of some kid in his rice rocket, the only thing I have to concern myself with is getting the damn transmission into second. All the other shifts are without incident but it can be difficult to get it into second gear during very hard accelerations. Any advice? It's my first BMW and didn't know if this could be improved(linkage?) at the dealer or this is what I'm stuck with. Nick
BMW's have a tendancy to have a hard time engaging 2nd if you shift too quickly. Shift into 2nd a bit slower. Count if you have to (ex: clutch in and shift into the spot between 1-2 at the count of 1 and then into 2nd at the count of 2). Also, if you shift too quickly, you could wear out the synchro's quicker. I dunno if this applies to the newer cars but it definitely applies to older cars like mine, which also has a hard time engaging 2nd if you shift too quickly.
Does the M3 have the same CDV (lock valve) as all other manual BMWs these days? If so, that's a big part of the problem of shifting, especially 1st to 2nd. I pick up 2 tomorrow so I can mail off to Zeckhausen to get a gutted one in return. No more shifting woes.
M3 transmission I test drove a 2008 M3 coupe and noticed a problem downshifting from 3rd to 2nd - it felt like I was beating the syncros - also 1st to 2nd upshifts were not smooth. I have been a club member since 1985 and have owned many BMW's all with manual transmissions and have never experienced a similiar issue. I wrote to BMW to see if any manual transmission uprgade was planned for 09 - they said no changes were in the works Now that you have some miles on the car Nick has the shifting smoothed out ? I hope to order a 09 coupe if the stock market moves in the right direction Russ DeJulio Pittsburgh RUSSM535il@aol.com
Well, I have just a hair over 4K miles. The car has been in storage for the last three months so it hasn't seen any use. I have never been one to really push the car frequently but in the rare occasion it's nice to really go quick. I have only had a couple vehicles of all different types/manufac. not have manuals and really am not sure what to think of the tranny. It still feels a bit unpredictable shifting in that position and is generally notchier than what I expected overall. I'm probably going to have the dealer check into it at some point this spring. Here in the Pacific NW, I was just happy to go driving with it a couple days ago. Made me remember how nice it is to drive a car like this. Beats driving a clunky SUV any day. Car has been perfect otherwise. I can't get enough of that engine.
You can buy a valve from several sources www.bavauto.com included, that will ffree up the fluid flow and help with if not solve this. Does this sound right to you Paul??
You have an 'M' they are notchy is it better when the tranny gets warm? That is the case for my M Roadster...
You definitely need to slow down your 1-2 shift a little bit. The reason that I found is that DSC will kick in big time if you shift too quickly (even in MDM). If you turn DSC off, the car will break the tires loose and you risk spinning out your car at 40mph. Hell, if you shift from 2nd to 3rd fast enough at the 8300rpm redline, you will get DSC to briefly kick in. Remember this car has more horsepower than e39 M5 and less tire at the rear.
