[mko9]

This morning when I got to work and tried to back into a parking space the car wouldn't go into reverse. I couldn't fix the issue, so drove home and straight into my garage. WTF?

The car is a 2011 535i with the 6MT, it has about 75,000 miles on it. I am the second owner, since 2014. Prior to attempting to back into a parking space, there were no issues. This morning I maneuvered out of a parallel parking spot on the street. Dropped two of my kids off at before school care, then backed out of the parking spot. Parallel parked in front of my kid's daycare, then maneuvered back out again. Then drove to work.

The stick will go left past the resistance, then forward about half way, then just run into a hard stop. Even with the car turned off, it will not go into gear, so it is presumably not a synchro issue. My brother suggested that perhaps something has come loose and is physically blocking the gear shifter or the linkage.

I know manual transmissions are few and far between in the 5 series, but anyone have any experience or ideas?

[smeard]

My guess is a linkage issue (or synchro issue if you do engage reverse while doing stunts lol). I know on my brother's F30 328i stick shift (same gen as yours), I sometimes have to double clutch (put the car in neutral, take clutch out and push it back in) to engage reverse. Apparently nothing wrong with it just the input/output and synchros not agreeing. Good luck.

[whinojosa]

I get stuck/blocked going into first sometimes. I changed fluid and it helped significantly as it is far less frequent but still happens sometimes. When it does it's usually at the worst possible time - but I'll simply engage second gear then go immediately into first. I find it works best in one fluid motion. I get that your issue is in reverse gear but try engaging another gear first then go into reverse.

[mko9]

Not my first manual transmission. I tried various permutations of 1st to reverse, 2nd to reverse, 1st - 2nd - reverse, etc. The problem manifested in the parking garage at work. Couldn't get it to engage, so I drove home and pulled into the garage. Haven't been able to engage it there either.

It occurred to me that the passenger mirror auto-dip when you engage reverse stopped working a couple months ago. Perhaps something in the shifter linkage has been slowly working its way loose.

[mko9]

The indy shop I took it to checked out the shifter linkage and looked at the switch that engages the reverse lights, but no joy. They are now to the point of dropping the transmission. Apparently, the transmission is not serviceable. Per getbmwparts, there is a single part number for a manual transmission. So they are hoping to find some kind of obvious problem like a bent/broken pin, because they can't rebuild it.

Option 1, buy a used transmission

Option 2, take the car to the BMW dealer? Should I try to get BMW corporate involved? A manual transmission should not S**t the bed at 75,000 miles.

[ey2001]

Originally Posted by mko9

The indy shop I took it to checked out the shifter linkage and looked at the switch that engages the reverse lights, but no joy. They are now to the point of dropping the transmission. Apparently, the transmission is not serviceable. Per getbmwparts, there is a single part number for a manual transmission. So they are hoping to find some kind of obvious problem like a bent/broken pin, because they can't rebuild it.

Option 1, buy a used transmission

Option 2, take the car to the BMW dealer? Should I try to get BMW corporate involved? A manual transmission should not S**t the bed at 75,000 miles.

Good luck... I was reading on other guys that had the same issue... they had to replace the tranny


Don't know if you read this https://www.e90post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1087237

[smeard]

Originally Posted by mko9

The indy shop I took it to checked out the shifter linkage and looked at the switch that engages the reverse lights, but no joy. They are now to the point of dropping the transmission. Apparently, the transmission is not serviceable. Per getbmwparts, there is a single part number for a manual transmission. So they are hoping to find some kind of obvious problem like a bent/broken pin, because they can't rebuild it.

Option 1, buy a used transmission

Option 2, take the car to the BMW dealer? Should I try to get BMW corporate involved? A manual transmission should not S**t the bed at 75,000 miles.

Was hoping it was a linkage issue for you, but this gen BMW 35i cars have apparently been prone to this issue. Dealers ended up just replacing trans, cheaper to diagnose and repair. If you are out of warranty, I'd still suggest asking BMW NA for support. Corporate has known to help out owners with this issue.

[mko9]

Just the picked the car back up yesterday. End result was a new transmission, to the tune of $3500. The transmission is not a serviceable unit. When they dropped it, it is not even a standard unit. Rather than having an access point, the entire transmission case splits in half. The shop did not want to split it open, in case that would screw with the core charge return. Fortunately, getbmwparts is less than an hour away in Silver Springs, MD.

[ey2001]

Originally Posted by mko9

Just the picked the car back up yesterday. End result was a new transmission, to the tune of $3500. The transmission is not a serviceable unit. When they dropped it, it is not even a standard unit. Rather than having an access point, the entire transmission case splits in half. The shop did not want to split it open, in case that would screw with the core charge return. Fortunately, getbmwparts is less than an hour away in Silver Springs, MD.

Was it a rebuilt transmission?

[Bmw doubles]

Originally Posted by mko9

Just the picked the car back up yesterday. End result was a new transmission, to the tune of $3500. The transmission is not a serviceable unit. When they dropped it, it is not even a standard unit. Rather than having an access point, the entire transmission case splits in half. The shop did not want to split it open, in case that would screw with the core charge return. Fortunately, getbmwparts is less than an hour away in Silver Springs, MD.

Sucks but 3500 is not bad for the trans. That was the cost for part and installation?

[mko9]

Originally Posted by ey2001

Was it a rebuilt transmission?

Presumably a brand new unit, although I assume BMW takes the core back and rebuilds it. When I called the parts department, I was surprised to hear that there were like 18 manual transmissions available in the parts system in the US. That is practically a 1:1 ratio to 6MT 5-series on the road! ;-)

Total cost was about $3500 for the transmission, a $1400 core charge (that I will get back), and a little over $1000 for the initial troubleshooting, then transmission drop and replace.

[ey2001]

Originally Posted by mko9

Presumably a brand new unit, although I assume BMW takes the core back and rebuilds it. When I called the parts department, I was surprised to hea rthat there were like 18 manual transmissions available in the parts system in the US. That is practically a 1:1 ratio to 6MT 5-series on the road! ;-)

Total cost was about $3500 for the transmission, a $1400 core charge (that I will get back), and a little over $1000 for the initial troubleshooting, then transmission drop and replace.

Man that's not mad for a new trans and install... did you throw in a new clutch while it was out?

[mko9]

I did not bother, as I had already decided to sell the car. Too bad I hadn't acted a little quicker on that decision. We moved up to the DC area, and the parking situation doesn't really support four cars. I am also pretty easy on clutches (although you would apparently never know based on my transmission). I have over 70,000 miles on the clutch in my 3-series, including a season of auto-x and about 30 or so trackdays.

[mko9]

In the interest of sharing, here are a couple pics of the transmission ready do go do the core return. That is in the back of an LR4. The dimensions are 33"L x 19"W x 26"H, including the half pallet. The whole thing weighs just over 100lbs. It was an easy 3-person lift to put it in the truck.

[eghmsport]

Thanks for sharing the pics and the weight info.