Shifted into third, clutch not fully in, now problems

Synchros shot? Weird noises while shifting? Not sure what needs to be replaced?
quackman
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Shifted into third, clutch not fully in, now problems

Post by quackman »

I've been driving manual for 5+ years now and I've been riving my 2008 BMW M3 6-speed for about 2 years, never mis-shifted or made any real mistakes. But yesterday I finally screwed up. I was on the highway and when I was driving in the lane next to an exit ramp, there was a car who decided it didn't want to exit and was coming back on the highway at the last minute. Unsure of whether or not the driver was going to seriously cut me off, i made a split-second decision to slow down within reason and let the car in. But in my flustered-decision making, right after slowing down I downshifted and rev-matched from I think 5th or 6th into 3rd gear, but while i was going into third gear, I think I did NOT have the clutch fully pressed, perhaps only halfway/let it out too early, while also having my foot on the gas a bit. So I heard a bit of a "clink/clunk" putting it into third. Then I just accelerated as normal to get back up to 60mph and upshifted. But soon after that I got off the highway and started using all my gears again and started noticing that someone was off with third gear.

As soon as I shifted into third gear next, I knew there was a problem with it. When going into the gear, and that gear only, it feels like I am hitting something/a wall/frame prematurely; it doesn't feel like it locks into a gear as when i shift into any other gear. And while it's in 3rd gear now, the stick shakes noticeably more than it used to/more than the other gears especially while coasting. If I push forward on the shifter it stops the shaking/vibrating and feels like normal, but obviously something is wrong.

So... I hope my descriptions of what happened/what it feels like now are accurate, so can anyone tell me what I could have possibly damaged and if it's a big problem/job? I'm taking it into the dealer for a routine maintenance/oil change in a few weeks, gonna make an appointment tomorrow, so it would be nice if this could possibly be covered by warranty, but I'm not betting on that.
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Re: Shifted into third, clutch not fully in, now problems

Post by LHOswald »

after alot of wear on a synchro it gets harder and harder to get it into gear the more its worn. most likely you just wore a little bit off the synchro. i wouldn't worry about it. those transmissions are meant to take ALOT more abuse than anything that stock motor can throw at it.
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quackman
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Re: Shifted into third, clutch not fully in, now problems

Post by quackman »

I don't know if it's a synchro problem. It shifts into gear fine as usual; there is no grind or a need to push harder to get it into gear at any speed. But when I am putting it into gear, it doesn't feel like it's slotting into place as well as it used to. And once it's in gear, it shakes as though it's right at the edge of being in gear, as though an invisible hand is pushing it back towards neutral. Similarly, if I push it forwards it "goes more into" 3rd gear and stops the shaking/vibrating.

There is definitely something wrong here, but other than what I've said I'm not too knowledgeable about what could be wrong... chipped gear teeth, or what, I don't know.
LHOswald
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Re: Shifted into third, clutch not fully in, now problems

Post by LHOswald »

nothing would prevent it from going into gear all the way. once the synchro wears away a bit it feels like theres less gear there because the synchro is engaging later through the shift gate. everythings fine, your just making problems up in your head.
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quackman
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Re: Shifted into third, clutch not fully in, now problems

Post by quackman »

I appreciate your trying to calm me down, but there is definitely a problem, even if that problem is in fact the synchro wearing away. Unfortunately, the synchro took a HUGE beating it seems, because the shifter noticeably shakes a LOT when it's in third more than any other gear, unless I'm pushing forward on the stick.

Now that we've isolated it to probably being a synchro having taken a serious hit.... how big of a deal is it for that to be fixed/replaced? I'm guessing the labor costs are going to be large as it sounds like they'd have to take the tranny apart? Any ideas on how huge of a repair this might be?
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Re: Shifted into third, clutch not fully in, now problems

Post by LHOswald »

the shittiest part of the whole thing would definitely be the labor. but more than likely if your going to replace one synchro, you might as well do all of them.

drain the tranny, drop the tranny, break it down, pull off all the gears, replace synchros, put gears back on, adjust everything so it'll slide right back in, install tranny, fill tranny. not an incredibly difficult task but time consuming.

im still 99% sure that one mis-shift wouldn't do any noticeable damage. i've had people drive my truck and pretty much clutchless shift it (because they barely pushed the pedal in) and theres nothing wrong with my transmission whatsoever
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quackman
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Re: Shifted into third, clutch not fully in, now problems

Post by quackman »

Well, the car is only 13k miles old, so I don't think I'd want to replace all the synchros unless those costed peanuts, and the labor wouldn't be much more. I'm still hoping that since the car still has 2 years of warranty left that the dealer might take care of it, but I guess I'll see when I take it in.

I think the biggest problem with my mis-shift is that I was coming from 5th/6th into third at like 50mph, sorta high-ish, even though 3rd tops out at like 90... while giving it gas/not having the clutch fully depressed. The shifter definitely shoudln't be shaking like this in 3rd gear only though, def some sort of damage done. I'll keep in mind in the future when making a weird+sudden stop like that to just get my slowing down first then worry about downshifting.
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Re: Shifted into third, clutch not fully in, now problems

Post by theholycow »

It sounds to me like you broke something in the console near the shifter handle and it's getting in the way.
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Re: Shifted into third, clutch not fully in, now problems

Post by kevinf »

Turn the car off and row through the gears. Do you feel it bind?
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Re: Shifted into third, clutch not fully in, now problems

Post by watkins »

Busted shift fork will keep it from fully engaging a gear. Or you busted a tooth off the gear.
quackman
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Re: Shifted into third, clutch not fully in, now problems

Post by quackman »

kevinf wrote:Turn the car off and row through the gears. Do you feel it bind?
It seems to feel normal when the car is off. Only when I'm driving does 3rd gear feel strange+shaky
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Re: Shifted into third, clutch not fully in, now problems

Post by LHOswald »

a busted shift fork would make alot of sense now that i think about it. it might not allow the shift collar to be pushed fully over the gear and would make more room for vibration to occur. check!
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quackman
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Re: Shifted into third, clutch not fully in, now problems

Post by quackman »

Yeah, that is one of the things a friend of mine who works on cars suggested after I described the symptoms in detail. It certainly sounds like something that would cause the excessive vibration 3rd gear exhibits.

Thanks for everyone's help in this thread so far. The car needs to go in for service soon, so I'll have them take a look at this then; it doesn't seem like this is going to cause damage on its own f I keep driving it.
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Re: Shifted into third, clutch not fully in, now problems

Post by warpedlogic »

What ended up being the problem? I newly have an MT so I'm trying to learn as much as I can. Thanks! :D
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Re: Shifted into third, clutch not fully in, now problems

Post by fa22raptorf22 »

Honestly, Ive driven everything under the sun, Including E92 Bimmers...and I have put many of them to more abuse than a small mis-shift.

However! There is always that 1 in a million chance that you did something just right enough to bust a gear.

That being said, I would start with the easy stuff before dropping the transmission. First maybe you should try winding out 2nd and banging into 3rd a little quicker. Sometimes babying it all the time makes you way too sensitive to small changes. Give it a good full throttle run to sort things out.

Next, if things still seem messed up, take apart the center console and check out the shifter box...After that...then maybe you could head for the transmission case.

Edit: if the car is off and you are on a pretty flat space...and you stick it in third w/o brake...is it less hard to pull the stick out than it is in other gears?
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