Really stupid idiot questions

[tcp88]

So I rebuilt and replaced the tcase on my auto 325ix. Got everything back up and on. Came to realize half-way through the entire process that when I took the strut brace off of the tcase and everything tilted down/forward, the weight of the transmission/engine rested on the bowden cable and bent it horribly.

I thought, whatever, we straightened it out and got everything back on and came to find that it didn't shift at all and seemed to be stuck in park.

Honestly we kind of knew this was come as we started putting the driveshafts back in and tried to push the car to turn the discs so we could tighten them in and the car would only roll back/forward maybe a foot total.

I've been racking my brain and the internet, my bentley, and my far more experienced e30 owner/mechanic buddy for some sort of solution but have found nothing short of taking everything back off and replaced the cable and all the associated hardware.

[The Dark Side of Will]

That's pretty much what you're stuck with.

My dad bought an auto iX for my mom, and the shift cable was already bent... That wasn't so bad that the shifter didn't work, but it was stiff. He replaced the cable when he replaced the T-Case due to a stretched chain.

I haven't been under that car very much; I haven't looked to see what really has to come off to replace the cable.

[Kershaw]

Ouch. Sorry to hear that.

[tcp88]

We had a pow-wow last night about and came up with two possibles:

1) when I installed the tcase I did it wrong and locked the transmission into gear

2) the front driveshaft is misaligned/locked up

I'm inclined to believe that option 1 is the most likely culprit so starting Sunday I'm tearing everything off and putting it back on. When we put the new t-case on we sort of just rotated it until it slid on and then tightened it down and I can wrap my head around locked something into some bad state and causing the drivetrain to seize up or lock out.