[rightaway]

I have a 2009 328I 6 mt. the car pops out of first half of the time. the rest of the gears shift flawlessly. I just bought the car from the original owner. the car only has 70,000 and is 100% stock. is there a fix for this? I'm going to do a transmission flush. what is the best fluid to use and how much do I need?

[Johnny D]

Generally a sign of a worn syncro. Change the fluid and hope it does it less.

[rightaway]

which fluid is the best?

[thecadman99]

A less slippery fluid should help. I would try synchromax and see if it helped. Someone may have put the wrong fluid in your tranny.

[rightaway]

what fluid and weight should I use?

[AlanAZ]

When you're troubleshooting a problem, you want as few variables as possible -- not the ideal time to "try" other gearbox oils -- go with OEM, for the 328i, it's the Getrag gearbox and it uses MTF-LT-3 oil (a very thin MTF.)

A couple of suggestions if you are doing it yourself: drain it right after a good 20 min drive, the oil will be thinner and drain quicker before contaminants can settle.

The drain hole is not at the very bottom (I assume to prevent it shearing the plug off if you grounded the transmission. If you're using jacks and jackstands on the front jackpoints, after you have it draining, lower the back of the car all the way, after it has finished draining, raise the back all the way up, it will drain somemore. I've gotten another 0.2 of a qt this way compared to keeping it flat (for a total of 1.7 qt.) Before you start, measure to the top of the wheel wells front and back, so that with some math, you can get it exactly level to fill it.

Here's the DIY. There's one for almost everything.

http://www.e90post.com/forums/showth...ghlight=manual

[rightaway]

how much should I be looking at to have the syncro replaced? its hard to find a good trans shop that I can trust. every place I call says they will have to pull the trans out and see what's going on. I just bought the car and I only has one owner with 75/80k on the car. it just pops out of first and hard to get into first. the other gears are fine. is this a common issue with the 3 series to have bad transmissions at such a low mileage?

[Johnny D]

Originally Posted by rightaway

how much should I be looking at to have the syncro replaced? its hard to find a good trans shop that I can trust. every place I call says they will have to pull the trans out and see what's going on. I just bought the car and I only has one owner with 75/80k on the car. it just pops out of first and hard to get into first. the other gears are fine. is this a common issue with the 3 series to have bad transmissions at such a low mileage?

Yes. Common sign of a bad syncro. Dealers and independent BMW techs will just tell you to replace it with a reman unit. If you don't want to do that you will need to take it to a transmission shop. I suggest calling an independent shop and ask them who they would suggest. Last time I looked into this rebuild was between $1000-$1400. New unit is even more.

Worn syncros can be caused from several things. One of the main one I have seen is people going from 2nd to 1st or R to 1st without being fully stopped. I've always downshifted to 2nd until fully stopped and never shift to 1st from reverse until fully stopped.