SOS: Stranded in Jersey

[Colby.325e]

All gears seem okay with the car off. Shifts easily through them all right now.

[Vtec?lol]

This shit happened to me in my 318ic. Something is up with the g240's. I presume it was from low fluid. I was down shifting and somehow it seemed like 1st gear engaged while I was in 4th and fried the clutch. I replaced the trans and clutch. G240's are super light and easy to get to the bolts so it should only take you a good 3-4hrs if you work steady.

[Colby.325e]

Will keep this thread updated. Started pulling it but rain came. Will try Wednesday (rain tomorrow). The only "reason" that matched both symptoms (hard to shift and slippage) as per the Bentley is a binding clutch on the input spline. The clutch is BRAND new so it shouldn't have ANY slippage. Maybe something came loose? Never been on the highway since the clutch was installed, so maybe the revs shook something loose. No idea it was so sudden.

Anyhow, all the help has been fantastic. Due to some helpful forum members, I've managed to source a transmission if needed. Ill post some pics when it's apart if I new help. Never been in a transmission before. I just want to get home.

[IRON-E]

When was the clutch changed out? And did you give the clutch " a break-in period"?

[Mr. Burns]

sounds more like slave cylinder/broken tooth on clutch if it will only engage SOMETIMES in lower gears ...similar symptoms happened to my Focus.

not to be a d*ck or anything, but cannot wrap my head around why people want to take E30's out on cross country tours and expect everything to go peachy.

At BEST these cars are 23 years old. Mine is insured as a classic for a reason, and gets driven like a E30 SHOULD be driven in the summertime only, close to home and for short road trips.

hope all gets sorted!

[rcsoundn1]

So at what point do we "retire" our cars, is it a mileage or age thing? If we maintain them does that give them more life on the road? What is the point in your post besides to thread crap?

[flyboyx]

burnsey, i agree with you about the clutch slave sounds like a possible(likely) culprit. op: try pumping the clutch a few times and see if that makes it easier to engage gears? i think one of the problems with us helping you with the diagnosis here is that your explanation of the symptoms is...well...not very good. it seems to be skewed by the mindset that you think the transmission is bad. it may be the case....its just hard to say by what you have written here.


i'm not so sure i agree with you on the reliability theory burns. if you have the resources to go through your car when you get it and replace everything that needs replacing to make it reliable, it should be almost as good as a newer car just out of warranty.

mind you, i don't live in the snow belt like you do, but i dd my mtech 2 and haven't had a single problem in over 2 years. i drive it a lot. it has been to austin, san antonio, and corpus christi more times than i can count. my alternator is getting noisy but i am going to replace it before it becomes a problem. lots of times, a car will give you hints (or in some cases scream at you loudly) that something is getting ready to fail. the problem is that people don't listen. my son's car is a dd also. we replaced pretty much everything on it. he has been stranded with it twice in almost a year. the crank sensor went bad(could happen to most any car) and the ground wire between the body and engine developed a loose connection internally. i think thats pretty good?

i think the difference is that we didn't chicken shit anything. if it was a consumable, it was replaced whether it looked like it needed it or not.

these cars can be really reliable. it just depends on the maintenance and upkeep. often times you can start out with a car that was so neglected and so abused that it would be almost impossible to get the maintenance back to snuff. unfortunately, 97% of these cars aren't kept up to some degree or another by the previous owner or the present one.

[Mr. Burns]

So at what point do we "retire" our cars, is it a mileage or age thing?

subjective to owner.
Could also be determined by ever changing needs throughout life.

What is the point in your post besides to thread crap?

as originally posted right above your post...

sounds more like slave cylinder/broken tooth on clutch if it will only engage SOMETIMES in lower gears ...similar symptoms happened to my Focus.

[Mr. Burns]

i'm not so sure i agree with you on the theory burnsey. if you have the resources to go through your car when you get it and replace everything that needs replacing to make it reliable, it should be almost as good as a newer car just out of warranty.

mind you, i don't live in the snow belt like you do, but i dd my mtech 2 and haven't had a single problem in over 2 years. i drive it a lot. it has been to austin, san antonio, and corpus christi more times than i can count. my alternator is getting noisy but i am going to replace it before it becomes a problem. lots of times, a car will give you hints (or in some cases scream at you loudly) that something is getting ready to fail. the problem is that people don't listen. my son's car is a dd also. we replaced pretty much everything on it. he has been stranded with it twice in almost a year. the crank sensor went bad(could happen to most any car) and the ground wire between the body and engine developed a loose connection internally. i think thats pretty good?

i think the difference is that we didn't chicken shit anything. if it was a consumable, it was replaced whether it looked like it needed it or not.

these cars can be really reliable. it just depends on the maintenance and upkeep. unfortunately, 97% of these cars aren't kept up.

i'm glad you posted this...perfect example.
you're posting from Texas. Sun, weak winters. dry. a car can live a LONG life.

compared to my opnion, a cars life is completely dependent on the owners diligent upkeep ESPECIALLY when living in an area such as where i'm posting from (Ottawa Ontario, Canada).
The PO said he's 21. Obviously not the original owner of his E30, but hey who am I to know/judge how his car was upkept for a majority of it's life.

As I've said...wasn't meant to "threadcrap" just something I don't think i'll really understand fully.

[nando]

I wouldn't hesitate to drive my E30 across the country. also, newer BMWs actually have really terrible reliability.

instead of posting stupid crap, maybe try to help the poor guy.

[rcsoundn1]

which was my point, despite his "disclaimer"

[audiquattrot]

I trust my E30 way more than my E46....actually the E46 left me stranded twice in the last month.

E30 gets serious use in the winter esp, doing roughly 2 dozen 12hr roundtrip trips from Jan-April...plus my regular daily use commuting from NY to NJ for work. I guess it really depends on the car itself you are using for 'reliability'

[rturbo 930]

not to be a d*ck or anything, but cannot wrap my head around why people want to take E30's out on cross country tours and expect everything to go peachy.

At BEST these cars are 23 years old. Mine is insured as a classic for a reason, and gets driven like a E30 SHOULD be driven in the summertime only, close to home and for short road trips.

Cars do not have a shelf life. If you keep it maintained, and take care of it (ie, keep it garaged), it should last more or less forever. My DD has 515k on it, and has never left me stranded in the ~20k miles I've had it. I think it left my dad stranded maybe twice. I'd call that reliable.

i'm glad you posted this...perfect example.
you're posting from Texas. Sun, weak winters. dry. a car can live a LONG life.

compared to my opnion, a cars life is completely dependent on the owners diligent upkeep ESPECIALLY when living in an area such as where i'm posting from (Ottawa Ontario, Canada).

Except for salt corrosion (which is moot for a summer car), there's no reason an E30 should last any longer in Texas than it would in Canada, provided you have a dry, weather-tight garage. I don't drive my E30 once the roads are salted.

[long tall eta]

Cars do not have a shelf life. If you keep it maintained, and take care of it (ie, keep it garaged), it should last more or less forever. My DD has 515k on it, and has never left me stranded in the ~20k miles I've had it. I think it left my dad stranded maybe twice. I'd call that reliable.

Except for salt corrosion (which is moot for a summer car), there's no reason an E30 should last any longer in Texas than it would in Canada, provided you have a dry, weather-tight garage. I don't drive my E30 once the roads are salted.

i have over 400k on my 86 es. clean oil, and general maintenance and of course the occasional alt or starter but no reason not to takem on road trips.

[Vincent Brick]

I wouldn't hesitate to drive my E30 across the country.

Shit, I don't even trust my E30 to make the trip to LA and back, I miss having a car to road trip in.