E46 330ci sticky 5th gear

[solidlad84]

I've noticed a problem with the 330 lately that so far only happens when the engine is cold. 5th gear has always been a bit notchy but yesterday whilst driving the car lightly to warm it up I noticed it had got slightly worse. The car was actually in neutral but the gear stick was still in the position of where 5th gear is, the only way I found to get it out of this position was to put it in 2nd or 4th. Once the car is warm the problem is non existant, any ideas what this could be? theres a lot of reports of problems with 5th gear on these cars but i'm yet to find anywhere that actually suggests what part it may be that is failing.

[Fox-]

I had exactly this problem on my 5 speed 530i which I assume has the same gearbox.

BMW replaced the entire transmission to fix it for me.

[Pork_n_Beem]

My understanding is that a bush swells over time and makes the selectors stick. The fix is a gearbox out job and fit new bush, not expensive in itself its just the box has to come out, convenient if you need a clutch...

[saleen836]

Something like this...
http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...