Hard to shift ......

[Misha]

It is hard to shift to 1st and reverse sometimes. It doesnt matter if the car is cold or hot i am unable to shift to the gears , it is really hard. Sometimes i would just push the clutch in the second time and it works. I think this was not happening before i changed my clutch about 2 weeks ago. I dont know if it has anything to do with shifting. Something like that happened to anybody. What should i do? Replace the tranny fluid? Should i use redline? which one?
Any ideas? Let me know
Thanks,
Michael
'90 535i 5 speed

[BigD]

Yeah, that's called 12 year old syncros. I don't have that with reverse, but I've had it happen a few times with first. Usually you can "clear" the gears by shifting into a nicer gear like second or fourth.

[Martin in Bellevue]

Dunno. Coincidental to replacing the clutch? I'd check the slave cylinder engagement, & maybe bleed the clutch hydraulics. Let the line gravity bleed with the slave cylinder unbolted & positioned with the bleed nipple being the highest point of the slave.

[Bill R.]

have bled the clutch and its still doing it, then the most likely thing that happened is that the input shaft has some damage to it or the splines on it that the clutch disc slides on weren't lubricated and the disc doesn't slide freely on the input shaft. How was the bearing in the end of the crankshaft. Did it spin smoothly and freely? Any of these things will cause what you describe.





It is hard to shift to 1st and reverse sometimes. It doesnt matter if the car is cold or hot i am unable to shift to the gears , it is really hard. Sometimes i would just push the clutch in the second time and it works. I think this was not happening before i changed my clutch about 2 weeks ago. I dont know if it has anything to do with shifting. Something like that happened to anybody. What should i do? Replace the tranny fluid? Should i use redline? which one?
Any ideas? Let me know
Thanks,
Michael
'90 535i 5 speed