535 Manual Trans Shifting Issues

[Profile36]

Hey guys, wanted to bounce this one off of you, perhaps some of you have seen this before.

Backstory:
Purchased a 190k 87 535i, b34 with 260/6 manual, with a sloppy shifter, had typical wear you would expect out of the mileage. Drove it a decent amount without noticing any shifting issues, except for the horrible play.

To address the shifter slop and maintain the driveline I performed the following:
1. Changed trans fluid from what smelled like ATF to MTL
2. Replaced shifter with an Autosolutions shifter and all of the associated bushings
3. Bled the clutch fluid line
4. Installed clutch pedal reinforcement bracket

Results/Main symptoms:
1. Shifter slop is eliminated.
2. Difficulty shifting into any gear at a standstill which seems to have increased from prior to doing the work, no impact on temp, cold or hot (possible placebo effect to how it was prior to the work being done, the shifter changes the feel lots making it hard to compare). Once the car is in motion and synchronizers are spinning, it is no longer an issue.
3. Clutch pedal stiffness has not changed at all, but remains quite a bit heavier when compared to a 6 cylinder e36 or f30 car, its noticeably heavier, but if it had no problems shifting, I would consider it normal.

I tried pumping the clutch pedal multiple times prior to shifting into any gear to try to rule out any hydraulic issues, no success. Im pondering this one pretty hard, especially due to the age of the car, anything is likely to be suspect.

Based on the stiffness of the clutch, its possible the pressure plate is asking for retirement. As far as I know it is original. The clutch grabs well, except it does feel a bit on off, similar to what you would expect out of a non factory 6 puck clutch.

As much fun as it is to pull these transmissions, I figured I would post this to see what sort of resolutions you guys have seen on these old timers.

My gut is telling me to try the following before taking the trans down: change clutch master cylinder and possibly the slave, change MTL to ATF, swap Autosolutions shifter to something more OEM, prior to dropping the trans.

What would you do?

/rant
-M

[Mike W.]

I voted for a new clutch, that should lighten the pedal feel, although it's not fair to compare it to either an E30 or 36 those are lower torque engines so tend towards a lighter clutch feel. But I don't think you're going to change the difficulty getting into gear at a standstill by anything other than a tranny rebuild. The syncros or the carriers have points on them for them to easily engage. My guess is those points are worn into flats, so you need things to be better aligned to get it into gear. Have you tried pulling back towards or ideally into second before you shift into first? That's a standard procedure for a high mileage tranny, and one that's easy to get used to. Even 3rd or 4th, just something. Unless you're really jonesing to spend money on a tranny rebuild, I think that will make things work just fine.

Or and this is an easy fix, is there any clutch drag at all going into gear? Is it hard to get in every single time, and is there any creep, in gear, clutch pedal to the floor? That would indicate a clutch hydraulic problem, that the clutch isn't fully disengaging.

[Profile36]

I voted for a new clutch, that should lighten the pedal feel, although it's not fair to compare it to either an E30 or 36 those are lower torque engines so tend towards a lighter clutch feel. But I don't think you're going to change the difficulty getting into gear at a standstill by anything other than a tranny rebuild. The syncros or the carriers have points on them for them to easily engage. My guess is those points are worn into flats, so you need things to be better aligned to get it into gear. Have you tried pulling back towards or ideally into second before you shift into first? That's a standard procedure for a high mileage tranny, and one that's easy to get used to. Even 3rd or 4th, just something. Unless you're really jonesing to spend money on a tranny rebuild, I think that will make things work just fine.

Or and this is an easy fix, is there any clutch drag at all going into gear? Is it hard to get in every single time, and is there any creep, in gear, clutch pedal to the floor? That would indicate a clutch hydraulic problem, that the clutch isn't fully disengaging.

Thanks Mike for your input. I know all those moves a bit too well for my linking, 2nd before first, pump the clutch a few times, etc . This thing is definitely asking for some help. The way I’m dealing with it now is by gradually and slowly, sometimes trying multiple times to slip it into 1st or 2nd. Since I’ve started noticing this as an issue, I only drove it a couple times, it’s not an immediate concern .

The creeping does not seem to occur and I’m not feeling much drag when trying to shift from a standstill, but I think the drag is usually more apparent when you apply more force on the sifter, I understand this thing doesn’t like me right now, so I’m being very gentle on those synchros

My gut is telling me to try a master cylinder. It’s just that they are such a rare failure, I don’t remember the last time hearing of one going bad. All in all it probably is just a pressure plate that’s stiff as a board by now. Thanks for lending me your thoughts!