Shift bushing help needed

[Tmr513]

I have an 85 325e, production date 7/85, that i am getting ready ti sell. The shifter is very sloppy, and im looking for the cheapest way to tighten it up. Could someone point me to a rebuild kit, or list the bushings tgst i need to buy? I have searched everywhere, but have yet to find a “kit”, and purchasing indivudual bushings is confusing since there are so many options, i want to make sure i get tve right ones for my car. Like i said, i am selling this car so im just looking for the cheapest way to eliminate shifter slop. Any help is appreciated. Thank you

[e30davie]

put your vin number into this website,

http://www.realoem.com/

and search through to the shifter section, you want to rpelace anything that is made of plastic.

all of the little plastic bits and bobs were available from BMW last time i checked. quite cheap. About $100 for the entire lot.

Bit of a pain to change them all, but worth it in the end.

[Tmr513]

Yea im very familiar with real oem. Like i said, i am selling this car very soon so im just looking to do the bare minimum, not replace everything. What are the main bushings that usually go bad and directly affect shifter sloppyness?

[Andre3127]

It doesn't say it'll fit a 325e, but it should. Make sure the transmission selector rod knuckle is offset to the passenger side to match with the offset carrier. They changed it to straight on later cars. If the knuckle isn't offset, the rest of the bushings should still work even if you can't use the knuckle. Pic below, ECS link below the pic.

https://www.ecstuning.com/b-assembled-by-ecs-parts/upgraded-shifter-rebuild-kit/25117519669kt5/?gclid=Cj0KCQjwzIzWBRDnARIsAAkc8hExovCxcPmNKIITBv1KzIfuAWVMvR_72KTRZSq7H3r3Is68GJWa0P0aAh2tEALw_wcB

[rturbo 930]

Yea im very familiar with real oem. Like i said, i am selling this car very soon so im just looking to do the bare minimum, not replace everything. What are the main bushings that usually go bad and directly affect shifter sloppyness?

Depends what's wrong. If your carrier bushing is shot (probably is) you're gonna have to deal with the bitch clip, which is named that for a reason. If it's driveable, I think I'd just leave it alone and let the next owner deal with it.

If you wanna do it cheap, I would look at the forward carrier bushing and the linkage. My shift lever was actually fine, as was the plastic piece that holds it in, mind you my car has a lot of miles. Inspect those before you go replacing them. They might not be worn much, if at all.

[Tmr513]

Thanks guys, ill be looking into this this weekend

[Tmr513]

So i pulled up the shift boot, looked in there. Got under the car, looked up. Couldnt see shit! These bushings look like a real PITA to replace.

Can anyone tell me which bushing would cause excessive side to side slop when in neutral? Everything else seems ok but the most obvious issue is the side to side slop, the shifter does not return to center when in neutral. Any info?

[wworm]

get the garagistic kit. They all go bad together. If youre up there you're gonna want to just replace most of the stuff anyways because they all tend to go bad at once. Not returning to center sounds more like a shift detent issue (in your transmission) than a shifter bushing problem. I've only really heard about it going bad with zf320's though, not so much g260s.

[Tmr513]

Yea i mean its just sloppy side to side, not like its really off center or anything. I will look intk the garagistic kit, i was just hoping i might get lucky and be able to replace just the one buahing causing me problems without getting fully into it and dealing with the bitch clip and all of that

[e30davie]

The plastic o-ring looking things in the linkages are the go to make big improvements