E46 shifter self centring weird - annoying! - problem

[trackdemon]

Has anyone experienced a strange problem with gearbox self centring moving around? 2000 330d 5spd, the self centring shifts away from 3-4 to 1-2 and sometime over to 5. Seems to happen at random. Obviously still drives but it does make it trickier to find gears when you're so used to shifter centring to the normal 3-4 plane. Seems worse in the cold so I'm guessing it might be as simple as something needs a bit of lube - but what & where? Or is it something worse than that?

[Scrump]

I recall this is quite a common problem, the self centring is by spring loaded pins. These pins get a bit sticky with time.
I think the solution is to replace and lubricate the pins, unfortunately this means dropping the gearbox (is how I remember things).

[trackdemon]

Scrump said:

I recall this is quite a common problem, the self centring is by spring loaded pins. These pins get a bit sticky with time.
I think the solution is to replace and lubricate the pins, unfortunately this means dropping the gearbox (is how I remember things).

Urgh. Yeah, absolutely not worth dropping the box for... was hoping they might be accessible from above if peeling back the gearshift shroud, spray a dose of WD in there, jobbed.

[mmm-five]

I've seen an Alfa 147 (that I went to look at buying) where the stick had zero self-centering and the owner had resorted to using elastic bands as a solution a year or two ago and had never got around to fixing it. Although he told me he had replaced the thin brown elastic with thicker black ones at some point so they blended in better!

Didn't buy that one.

[GRC70]

Had the same issue on my 2001 330ci sport when it was six years old at around 60k miles. Often it’s the detents in the gearbox that need replaced and as others have said it’s a gearbox out job. I know someone who just changed the gearbox oil which helped a lot albeit didn’t sort it completely. You might want to try that first.

[trackdemon]

For what is nothing more than a slightly irritating problem that only happens occasionally and doesn't stop the car being driveable at all I've decided to take the most obvious course of action: absolutely nothing

[g3org3y]

GRC70 said:

Had the same issue on my 2001 330ci sport when it was six years old at around 60k miles. Often it’s the detents in the gearbox that need replaced and as others have said it’s a gearbox out job. I know someone who just changed the gearbox oil which helped a lot albeit didn’t sort it completely. You might want to try that first.

Yeah, similar issue on mine (and my old manual E36 328i). Gear stick decides to centre under 5th meaning you can end up putting it into 5th thinking it was third.

[cslwannabe]

Only does it when cold. Happened to my 2001 330Ci ‘back in the day’. Had a new gearbox fitted under warranty at about 50k miles iirc. Was a really nice gearbox as I recall, other than that. Better than the 6spd one in the 330Cd SWMBO had at the same time.

[Mr Tidy]

My E46 325ti didn't self-centre very well either. I got the gearbox fluid replaced and a new nylon bush fitted to the gear-lever and that was quite an improvement, albeit still not perfect, but it didn't cost much.

[dhutch]

GRC70 said:

Had the same issue on my 2001 330ci sport....

Same. My local BMW guy cured it for about five years by removing the detent pin, sticking it in a lathe, and taking a few thou off with some emery paper, clean it all up, stick it back in. Gearbox wasnt removed and the oil wasnt changed.

The issue have come back very slightly for the last few years, but was perfect for 5years and 50k and still a mile better than it was. Car is currently on 200k miles.

[Huff]

Yep, shifter pins: the updated kit has the pin liners with a lower-friction lining - the whole set cost about £10, takes ten mins, but ...requires dropping the 'box.
Had the same in my Alpina B10 3.3 manual... and yeah - just lived with it (centreing was fine - after 3-7 mile warm-up!)



(click the blob above and it seems to display correctly ..sorry)

[AW10]

Had this back in the day on an E46 328i - changed the oil to Redline MTL and the problem went away.

[dhutch]

AW10 said:

Had this back in the day on an E46 328i - changed the oil to Redline MTL and the problem went away.

Interesting. Had you tried a oil change using conventional oil first?

[Fas1975]

Google e46 sloppy gear shifter. It's the bushings that need replacing, they do wear over time. It's been many years since I had my e46 and I can't remember if you had to drop the box or if you were able to do it from within the cabin, but i do recall it wasn't that major.

Alternatively, if you do want a better fix, there's some short shifter kits which transform the change. Official AC Schnizter was a great solution (albeit expensive), a lot of the american guys used the UUC kit


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y1A9uo34f7I

[AW10]

dhutch said:

AW10 said:

Had this back in the day on an E46 328i - changed the oil to Redline MTL and the problem went away.

Interesting. Had you tried an oil change using conventional oil first?

No, went to MTL to improve the shifting and solving the plunger issue was an unexpected side benefit.