BMW 318is E36 No Reverse After Clutch Change

[Tepper]

Any E36 experts out there?

Changed the clutch on my brother's 318is (clutch change was actually done by a friend as I was away) and now it won't select reverse. All forward gears are OK, car drives well and clutch feels fine but reverse doesn't seem to engage properly - if you hold the gear lever in place it will crunch in and you can get reverse sometimes but it soon pops back out.

What I've tried so far:
-Two different slave cylinders
-Double checked the linkage

My brother took it to a garage who said it could be a shifter bushing. They also said the 'box had the wrong oil in it (I ordered 75w90 to go in with the clutch IIRC). They've tried changing the bushing and the oil but still no joy. I've got a spare gearbox for it which may be the next step but I'm slightly puzzled as there were no problems with the box before the clutch change.

Any ideas/suggestions would be much appreciated!

Picture of the car in question - you may recognise it as it was bought from here a few months ago:

[Deleted]

Do these have a self adjusting clutch like 325 ect ? did he fit it properly ,some people pull the holding tool off before fitting to use old type alignment tool and it f**ks up the adjustment which needs removal and resetting .

[Tepper]

I don't think so, from what I understand they just use a normal alignment tool - here's a picture from the Pelican Parts guide:

[93fxdl]

Would have thought that since forward gears work fine, with no crunching on engagement or slipping, the clutch is ok, since the problem is inability to select reverse or it jumping out, I would be going back through checking the gear linkage.
Ttfn Glenn

[mgbizzle]

How did the garage know the wrong oil was in it?

[vanpeebles]

Is it a hydraulic clutch? Has it been bled properly?

[ChasR]

Jan 26, 2017 11:58:22 GMT mgbizzle said:

How did the garage know the wrong oil was in it?

They were probably told and it probably doesn't shift well ; I never found my E36 323i to be the best shifting gearbox out there. IIRC most BMWs take 756W80 to the GL4 & LT-2 specification.

I'd be checking the linkages myself. What is the engagement of the gears like for the forward gears?

[welshpug]

i doubt the wrong oil would affect reverse gear seeing as it hasn't a synchro and is a straight cut gear.

the shift mechanism is very straightforward, its just a single link with about 4 bushes.

[bmw2101]

thats quite strange, i have a simular problem to that, i changed the engine in my e39 and now i cant get first easily...

Ive not had it up in the air yet, but I'm sure now its the linkage as there is quite a lot of play in teh stick. I have X-Y-Z axis of play.


Also there is meant to be some yellow washers in the bar that does the shifting, i know i don't have any, so check that too...

I'm not 100% sure but maybe the linkage has been put back on wrong, it could be hitting the prop or something?

best have a look.

[froggy]

Stop the engine , select reverse and restart does it stay in ?

[Tepper]

Thanks for the ideas people, much appreciated. As stated I think the clutch/hydraulics are probably OK, initially we thought it was the slave, hence trying 2 replacements and bleeding several times. Seems like the linkage is going to be what needs looking at, I'll take it all off at the weekend to have a good look at it, I've heard about those washers so will have to take a look. I know you can get a kit for the bushings but I might just grab a complete linkage off a scrapper that's known to shift OK and see if that does the trick. Forward gears all select fine, no issues there but I didn't drive the car before so I don't know if they feel different now. Will update at the weekend - thanks again for the help.

[ChasR]

I don't know if these are like the E46 M3 'boxes but if the detent/compression springs break these can cause odd issues. On the manual M3s they are found at the front of the bellhousing. On the SMGs (despite being the same gearbox) they are at the rear of the gearbox near the tail housing.

The springs breaking in the manuals result in a shifter that won't self centre (i.e fall to neutral) and sometimes not stay in gear. On the SMGs it causes longer shifting times as the gearbox will "guess" where the gear positions are, probably as a result of the inability to stay in gear like the manuals.

I didn't want to suggest these initially as I have only ever assisted in removing an E36 'box but it's something worth considering.

[DavidB]

Does it go in reverse with the car not running?
On my e46, you have to shove hard over to the left to engage, is this the same on e36's?
Sounds like something was put out of place on the clutch change!

[ChasR]

If the gearbox is the same as my 323i they are not too bad to get into reverse.

You are not kidding about whacking an E46 over to get reverse!

[Tepper]

Just been up at the workshop, the linkage was checked again and we found some of the yellow washers shown here missing:


I found one of them on the floor of the workshop and installed that and found another suitable washer to replace the other one that was missing but still no reverse! Tried assembling the linkage in different ways to make sure it wasn't put in wrong but couldn't get anywhere. My brother grabbed a linkage with bushings from a breaker but it's the wrong part - both arms are too short so nothing to try there

Plan of attack now is to replace all the wear items in the linkage with new parts from BMW, 4,5,9 and 10 below:


If that doesn't work, I think we're going to have to swap in the spare gearbox

[ChasR]

What is your linkage carrier bush like? It's the bush in the left of your shot.

I still reckon detent springs if it has them but the linkages would be a nice outcome.

[Tepper]

The results are in! Changed all the wear items in the linkage and still no reverse, so fitted a replacement 'box this morning and now all is well again. It really threw me because I thought it had to be something to do with the clutch change but my brother reckons he might've killed the box trying to drive it to work after the clutch went. Thanks for the help everyone.