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Post Wed Mar 09, 2005 9:28 am

I have noticed, particularly on the colder mornings we've been having, that for the first few gear changes, from cold start, the gearing is chrunching. After a few minutes it doesnt do it.

Any clues? Needs gearbox oil? Clutch going? Gearbox shot?

*edited title only adding spaces as it was screwing the quick link to the forum on the homepage.

Post Wed Mar 09, 2005 10:06 am

Mine has been doing the same. I guess that its just that the gearbox oil takes a while to get around being a bit thicker in the cold. I've been thinking that it could be time to drain and refill the gearbox (and probably the diff whilst I'm at it). Anyone know waht grade of oil and how much I need??

Post Wed Mar 09, 2005 10:27 am

i have just had the same discussion the other day, i have been advised to use genuine bmd lsd oil for the diff, people have said that if there is some noise from the diff then it is a good thing(good lock) some people have gone for other makes of diff oil and found this has made the diff quieter, this may be a bad think meaning there is more slip in the diff. I was also told that the bmw oil is around Ãƒ”šÃ‚£50 for 2 litres!!!! not sure how oil a diff holds, might be worth going halves with someone else wanting to do the same thing. hope this helps matey

Post Wed Mar 09, 2005 2:06 pm

I have similar symptoms on cold mornings, can be very difficult getting into 1st and 2nd and very occasionally jumps out of 2nd. I'm looking at changing the gearbox oil so will be interested to hear what people have to say.

Post Wed Mar 09, 2005 2:10 pm

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Post Wed Mar 09, 2005 5:57 pm

LSD oil is for LSD's only

Are your cars manual? On my manual close ratio box, my Bm man put auto box oil in as it's not as thick and this makes it less notchy when cold

Post Wed Mar 09, 2005 8:59 pm

my gear box also does this sometimes, but put it down to the 215000miles its done.
we use mobil oil at work(yes i work at a dealer) e30's should have mobil gearlube 80!(will check tomorrow) but i have used ATF oil in mine before as it does help if you get stiff gear change from cold.
In a lsd diff we would use mobil vs500, open diff is vs600. off the top of my head i think they take around 1.5litres of oil

hope that helps

Post Wed Mar 09, 2005 11:56 pm

Interesting! About 12 months ago I changed the gearbox oil in the gearbox on my 318 runabout, and immediately afterwards it became very stiff to get into first or second fot the first half mile from cold.
Then the weather warmed up, and the problem went away untill the cold weather of the last few weeks.
I noted when I changed the oil, that the stuff that came out was red in colour, so, in the light of the posts above I now suspect it had ATF in it.
Are there any downsides to using ATF in the box, and is it the same Dexton II stuff that goes in the steering?

Post Thu Mar 10, 2005 12:02 am

Brianmoooore wrote:Interesting! About 12 months ago I changed the gearbox oil in the gearbox on my 318 runabout, and immediately afterwards it became very stiff to get into first or second fot the first half mile from cold.
Then the weather warmed up, and the problem went away untill the cold weather of the last few weeks.
I noted when I changed the oil, that the stuff that came out was red in colour, so, in the light of the posts above I now suspect it had ATF in it.
Are there any downsides to using ATF in the box, and is it the same Dexton II stuff that goes in the steering?

Had the gearbox oil changed in mine before christmas was fine till last week with the cold weather would not go in to 1st had to put it in to 5th.Then it would be ok going back to 1st but stiff for a couple of miles till it warmed up.It was red that came out of mine at the change??