WTF?? Selector Rod Breaks!?

[RobertK]

Though I've already rectified the situation I wanted to find out how common is it for the selector rod to break on our cars?

This weekend I was driving around town doing my yard sale rounds when all of a sudden my shifter started to shift funny the more I drove around the worse it got until finally my shifter went limp. When I finally got the beast towed home what I thought was just my shifter linkage vibrating loose turned out to be a completely snapped selector rod. Snapped right where the linkage for the shifter is. I was able to get it welded back together and reinforced but shit.. is this a common problem?

[Rigmaster]

It's an ~20 year old car, and that part is a couple of pieces of steel welded together, so it's not really unusual.




Bret

[kansas-ix]

Wow, snapped my shift carrier before but the selector rod seems harder, way to go he-man. j/k.

[Beej '86 325es]

Mine broke a few years ago. It was rubbing on the vibration dampener ring thing, and broke right in the middle. The old one was much thinner than the new one the dealership put in its place. I wonder if BMW saw that as an item they needed to improve.

[RobertK]

That would make sense considering mine came out of a 85 325e. After I had the rod welded I also filled it in with JB Weld and some small pieces of metal to reinforce it.

The extra weight on the shifter end of the rod actually makes it easier to shift now.