Clutch/gearbox? Won't go into gear

[RedThunder]

Going to start a new thread rather than jockeyback the other one: http://www.e30zone.net/modules.php?name ... c&t=106580

Has anyone got any ideas on this? Going to bring it to my mechanic later but would rather be able to give him an idea of whats wrong with it first rather than having to let him work on it - costing me more!

Woke up this morning and the car wouldn't go into gear at all.

Clutch fully pressed it just would not go into R, 1st, 2nd or 3rd - could struggle it into 4th and 5th but that was no good to me.

When pushing it towards 1st the car would slowly move forward but it would not engage the gear, same with reverse - car would slowly move backwards trying to engage but wouldnt sit into gear.

Is this a clutch issue or the gearbox? Thinking its the clutch though

[monkey]

sounds like a clutch master or slave cylinder problem . is there any fluid in the resevior

[RedThunder]

Probably not!

Only have the car 2/3 months so still trying to come to grips with all the little nuances of the e30.

Reading here (http://e30world.com/Maintenance/BMW-E30-common-problems) that this is a common enough problem - any special brake fluid needed?

Will check this soon as I get home from work - hope its a simple enough fix.

If topping up the resevoir does not work, would I need to replace the clutch master or slave cylinder or is it not that big a job?

Thanks for the help!

If I don't get this sorted tonight ill have to rent a car for the weekend

[monkey]

if its empty you will need to replace the leaking parts . even if its not leaking it can still be one of the cylinders failed , but i have heard that its good practice to replace the clutch master cylinder and the clutch slave cylinder as a pair .

[RedThunder]

Got some brake fluid and topped it up - worked ok for a while and now its back to the way it was earlier.

Can put it into 1st and start the car fine but if I start the car and then try get it into 1st, its a problem. I can start it in 1st then rev it up bypass 2nd and get it to 3rd - its how I got the car home earlier but its not a fix to the problem.

Going to leave it into my mechanic tomorrow morning I think try get him to look it over - any idea how much it costs to replace the 2 cylinders?

Thanks!

[TaggyCar]

I had very similar probs to this .
They started soon after I changed the clutch master and slave cylinders. I couldnt get the gears and wasnt sure if it was a clutch or gearbox prob.
Re-bled the system and it seems to have sorted itself out. I think (and hope) it was maybe just some bubbles in the system.
To change both cylinders is about £40-70 depending on quality of bits but was a b- - - d of a job-specially the master which was the fiddliest job I've done for a while.

[RedThunder]

Thanks for the replies guys, my mechanic has a slave cylinder on order, might have him change the master along with it but he says the new slave cylinder will fix it. Should have her back later today.