Manual tranny not shifting smooth

[M3TA5IN]

Who is this Brett you speak of...and what's with this Redline MTL?

J/K - Time for a fluid change, IMHO. Start there and see if it helps (after a few miles on fresh fluid). If not, then it is time to dig deeper.

You haven't met Brett? He is cool dude, he assaults me via PM and crams tons of knowledge down my throat

[brettbimmer]

You haven't met Brett? He is cool dude, he assaults me via PM and crams tons of knowledge down my throat

Yea, some say that he is a Bimmerphile, having long ago been bitten by the BMW bug. All we know is that he drives an IR ZHP.

[M3TA5IN]

Ok guys, so changed the tranny diff fluid yesterday with Audi. Tranny still feels the same, just very clunky and not smooth as it use to be.

Any ideas on the next thing to look at?

[Newjack]

Ok guys, so changed the tranny diff fluid yesterday with Audi. Tranny still feels the same, just very clunky and not smooth as it use to be.

Any ideas on the next thing to look at?

Motor mounts and transmission mounts. If your engine and transmission are torquing around too much it can cause some clunkyness when trying to shift. I'm having this problem right now mainly in 1st 2nd and 3rd. Mainly 3rd. Sometimes if I do things just right and take the revs slowly, I can get smooth shifts. But fast gear changing at high RPM's? Forget it.

I'm interested to hear what else it could be. But that is my .02

[webster]

I don't have an '03, but I'm going to guess that I have the Getrag...

From the FAQ section:

don't mean to hijack but i just saw this, and after reading a bunch of articles on the ZHP recently i remember reading that the manny is a ZF Type-H unit, not a Getrag, which the M3 used (and everyone hates lol). the ZF Type H tranny is shared with the Z3 3.0...considered by many to be BMWs best gearbox, at least "from what i've read" lol

[HokieZHP]

What's the lifetime on these ZHP 6mt transmissions? My car is at 135k and after talking to my dad, we're thinking of doing an engine swap on my car here in a year or two and I was wondering if a new transmission is something I'll have to build into the cost of the swap. Most likely going with a S54 or N54

[terraphantm]

I don't have an '03, but I'm going to guess that I have the Getrag...

From the FAQ section:

That FAQ is wrong. The GS6-37BZ is a ZF transmission (that last Z is indicativbe of the manufacturer). Every 6-speed 330 got that transmission.

The Getrag (S6S-420G) in the M3 is rated to handle a lot more torque... but the transmission is a lot rougher too. The ZHP felt like butter compared to this transmission, even after a fluid flush.

[brettbimmer]

What's the lifetime on these ZHP 6mt transmissions? My car is at 135k and after talking to my dad, we're thinking of doing an engine swap on my car here in a year or two and I was wondering if a new transmission is something I'll have to build into the cost of the swap. Most likely going with a S54 or N54

BMW manuals are pretty robust IMHO, provided that they are not abused and have had reasonable fluid change intervals. Had an E30 that I bought non-running with 165k, and the transmission was shot, but my e36 has 237k on the original transmission and is doing great. I say it depends on care and maintenance.

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[Johnmadd]

^Transmissions in general will fail before a well maintained engine.