i'm removing my transmission and got stuck. help!

[More&Faster]

i'm trying to get the transmission out of my '89 325i and i've got most of the bolts out except for just one i think at the top. i unbolted the tranny mounts at the back to lean it but there's no way i can see up there. it feels like i can turn the last bolt but maybe there's a nut on the other side that's turning too. what do i do here? i really don't want to pull the whole engine out for this.

what tricks did you guys use to get this done?

btw, good luck to heidfeld and kubica this weekend in melbourne. practice is airing in 2 hours! :D



i spent like 4 hours on this thing today. i'm kind of running out of ideas. :(

[e9nine]

That's the starter bolt. You can actually reach from underneath to get to it or take a look at it from above and clear the heater hoses to get access to it.

May the force be with you! I just got done doing this 3 weeks ago. I feel your PAIN :)

[More&Faster]

it's another torx bolt though, right? same size as the others? i thought i broke it loose but then after that it kinda felt like i had rounded it off. might have just been the nut spinning on the other side though.

[e9nine]

You're probably exhausted. You can reach with your hand and feel where the nut is at the starter and get a "finger grip" on it as you rotate it.

[DJB]

When I swapped transmissions in January we had relatively little problem with the bolts.

I credit that to spending hours reading everything I could find about how to do it, and two friend, one above and one below, guiding the socket and watching what was happening. It was much easier than trying to figure out what was going wrong alone.

So just find two good friends...

[BigD]

I had the same problem when I did this for the first time. The Bentley doesn't tell you to remove the starter and it's necessary. There's a tin plate behind the flywheel which the starter pins to the transmission. The starter is normally a huge pain to remove but it doesn't have to be when you're removing the trans. The trick is that since you have all the transmission bolts out, you can rotate it. Undo the bolt that secures the starter to the block, remove the connections (YOUR BATTERY IS DISCONNECTED RIGHT?????). Remember where the connectors go. Take a picture. Then rotate the tranny and you'll have access to the bolts and nuts (which normally requires magic). Put the starter back the same way. Feed the transmission into the pilot bearing and clutch and rotate it as far as it will go to get the starter in.

[backtrail69]

I left the starter in my car, I just unbolted it.