Trans swap, now wont shift

[bimmerpirate]

Alright, I'm really stumped. I just spent the day/night swapping my transmission for one in better shape at my brother's garage because he had a lift. got the transmission in with no problems aside from losing half of my delrin bushing for the aluminum shift carrier. figured i could get it home with just half of it in till i could get a replacement that was at home. Now, my e30 wont shift into 2 or 4th and is having intermittent trouble getting into the rest of the gears. could missing half the delrin bushing cause all this trouble or is there something else going on? the "new" transmission worked fine before putting it into my e30.

I managed to get 1,3,5 working enough to get home (and just missed a deer on the way back barely) going to get the replacement bushing parts and try again tomorrow to see if that helps.

any thoughts on what the problem might be?

[Danny]

You fucked up.

[bimmerpirate]

yay, useless post.

[jlevie]

While the problem could be inside the transmission, not being able to shift into 2nd & 4th can result from installing the selector rod from the wrong side. If the rod is to the right of the shift lever it will hit a bolt on the transmission when trying to engage those gears.

If not that, then it may be the missing bushing parts in the shift console.

[Danny]

Told you.

[bimmerpirate]

still a useless post. figured it out anyway.

[Farbin Kaiber]

"Uhhhh..... my tranny does not work, I don't know what's wrong, but I do know I didn't install the shifter right. what could it be guys?"

- Idiot poster

(Serious, think about what could be wrong, and that's prolly what it is. Imagine saying my clutch does not work guys, I installed it and everything, but I didn't install the clutch disc. What do you guys think?)

[e30_325es]

Everyone was correct. The missing bushing fell down and got stuck behind the knuckle. Explains where the bushing went and why it wouldn't shift.