BMW E36 Forum

Hi all,
New here so please move if in wrong place.....

on our e316 the clutch is a little heavy which I can cope with , I made it a bit lighter by sucking out and renewing the clutch/brakefluid in the revosvior.

The problem we still have is that its a bit stiff getting it into 1st and 2nd gears, them if its been driven for around 25-30 mins it stops going into gear until you part up and let it cool down??

not sure if its a selector problem or maybe needs som more gearbox fluid? any ideas welcome as I want to get this fixed.
Hopefully as easily & cheaply as possible

Cheers in advance
Ben

Auto or manual?

Manual,
I am going to look and see if I can see more now it's daylight

I Think I have sorted it!
looking at the ATF resovir in the engine bay the fluid was a nasty very dark grey colour, so I sucked out all the old fluid and replaced with new , then took for a nice 40+ miles test drive, wow ! what a difference, 1st is not 100% but the rest is muchmuch better!

What fluid did you use?
What colour is the label on the gearbox?

Castrol tq diii ( i's might be 1's )

I can't remember where I saw what I should use in the handbook or another E36 website

What came out was a nasy dirty dark grey colour and this stuff is red so I think it was very warnout fluid coming out!

Just went to Halfords not expensive, less than £10 for a litre and you need about 1/2 that
If you get something like a turkey baster or as I have a medical friend who got me a plastic syringe and a piece of plastic tube on the end to save me bending right into the engine bay
5 -10 mins job done!
Had an empty anti-freezw bottle to put the old stuff in

im havin same problem now meself.......bt it nt stoppin goin inta gear like wa happened t u........

it a wreck d head not gettin inta gear easily

That place where you put the ATF, was the cap the same type of cap that is covering the oil filter (think it says "ATF oil only" on the top of it)?
Thats for the power steering, BMW use ATF for the power steering and when refilling it you should really only use Dexron III and not ordinary ATF.

A heavy clutch and not going into 1st gear can often be a sign of the pressure plate in the clutch needing replacement.

balls! how do I top up the gearbox oil then
must just be in my mind that its better then

cheers

Your best off just replacing the gearbox fluid, its a messy job and worth doing once your car hits the 100k mile mark. Your better doing a search for a walkthrough with pictures rather than me telling you. Or else buy the bentley e36 manual.