[jeremyuhh]

About to pull the trigger on an F30 M Sport with a 6 speed manual trans.

Pristine car besides the 1st to 2nd and 3rd to 2nd grind. It was cringe worthy and turned me off immediately.

Did some research and haven't read anything about a solution or fix for the issue besides the owners getting the entire transmission replaced under warranty.

Is there a fix? My local shop, JMP in canoga park, said BMW does not sell 2nd gear synchros individually, which leads me to think swapping the transmission is on the only solution.

That being said, will the new(used) swapped transmission suffer the same problem and the issue will repeat itself?

Thanks in advance. Coming from a manual E90 M3, the N55 in the F30 felt amazing. Would really love to buy the car.

[XutvJet]

There is no rebuild kit available. A trans swap is the only option. The 1-2 syncro issue is somewhat common. I firmly believe the issue is largely due to people beating on the tranny when it's cold or grabbing the 1-2 shift really hard often.

[Finn Germai-Yaz]

My 335i doesn't grind. Willing to let it go if youre interested.

[JaredG_F30]

How many miles on the car you are interested in? You might be able to talk them down quite a bit with a grinding 2nd gear syncro. I just clocked over 75k miles on my 2014 6MT and the 1-2 and 3-2 gear shift can sometimes be notchy but I've never had grinding issues. I'm hoping they come out with a rebuild kit before I hit 100k.

[jeremyuhh]

Originally Posted by JaredG_F30

How many miles on the car you are interested in? You might be able to talk them down quite a bit with a grinding 2nd gear syncro. I just clocked over 75k miles on my 2014 6MT and the 1-2 and 3-2 gear shift can sometimes be notchy but I've never had grinding issues. I'm hoping they come out with a rebuild kit before I hit 100k.

90k

Local shop Quoted 2k+ for tranny alone with warranty. I'd have to install myself.

Not even gonna bother with the dealer

[codestar]

I got a new trans in early 2018 because of bad 1-2 synchro. The grinding drove me crazy. The tech took it for a 5 minute drive with me in the passenger seat and was immediately able to replicate and agreed.

There was a bit of back and forth with the warranty company because they had to fly their own adjuster in to make the same verification on a large value warranty but in the end also agreed.

BMW said they don't do any repairs with the 6MT and any problems mean full replacement. Luckily there was a brand new trans in Toronto so they flew it in from there, otherwise it was a 2+ week wait to get one from Germany.

The whole process took shortly under 3 weeks and cost something like $13k CDN. I just paid a $200 deductable and had a 2018 230i to drive around for a few weeks. The new trans has been giving me 0 problems, even with FBO + bm3

[jeremyuhh]

Originally Posted by codestar

I got a new trans in early 2018 because of bad 1-2 synchro. The grinding drove me crazy. The tech took it for a 5 minute drive with me in the passenger seat and was immediately able to replicate and agreed.

There was a bit of back and forth with the warranty company because they had to fly their own adjuster in to make the same verification on a large value warranty but in the end also agreed.

BMW said they don't do any repairs with the 6MT and any problems mean full replacement. Luckily there was a brand new trans in Toronto so they flew it in from there, otherwise it was a 2+ week wait to get one from Germany.

The whole process took shortly under 3 weeks and cost something like $13k CDN. I just paid a $200 deductable and had a 2018 230i to drive around for a few weeks. The new trans has been giving me 0 problems, even with FBO + bm3

That's awesome. But unfortunately the car I have my eye on is out of warranty. So everything will be out of pocket. Not sure if it's going to be a smart buy at this point.

[codestar]

Originally Posted by jeremyuhh

That's awesome. But unfortunately the car I have my eye on is out of warranty. So everything will be out of pocket. Not sure if it's going to be a smart buy at this point.

I am finally in love with my n55 f32 after an exhaustive list of mods. A good buddy has a limited 340i 8AT with MPPSK and all MP bits included. I'd say we are pretty close in terms of speed and power now, but his is bone stock other than the factory upgrades. If it were my money today I would seek out a 6MT b58 instead of an n55 because they seem to have a waaaay higher ceiling with upgrades.

Looking to upgrade around the same time as the next full M4 release so that's where the future money is going to go

[JaredG_F30]

It's only a smart buy if you could talk them down at least 5K maybe more. I'd price out a new tranny with dealer installation and use that as leverage. No one will touch that car with a bad 2nd gear synco except another gear head willing to go through the trouble of replacing the tranny.

Originally Posted by jeremyuhh

That's awesome. But unfortunately the car I have my eye on is out of warranty. So everything will be out of pocket. Not sure if it's going to be a smart buy at this point.

[jeremyuhh]

Originally Posted by nawfoo

My 335i doesn't grind. Willing to let it go if youre interested.

PMd you. Highly interested.

[Korvo]

What describes notchy? I definitely feel some metal like resistance when going from 1-2 and occasionally 2-3, especially when it's cold out. I used to always worry about it and wonder if I needed to have it looked at. My dads 2014 M6 6MT feels the same even when warm.

I changed the fluid awhile ago and didn't notice much if any metal in the oil.

[madrrio]

so i know the m3/m4 manual is nearly the same as the f30 tranny other than beefed up 1-2 synchros.

i know their clutch also works in our transmission per a conversation i had with spec when they quoted me for their dual disc.

my question is... would it be a direct bolt up as well? in othewords, if i replace mine (has same 1-->2 issue) with a f80, would it bolt up?

anyone know?

Thanks

-mv

[JaredG_F30]

Following and would like to know as well as a transmission replacement (if a rebuilt kit isn't developed) will be on my radar in the next 25K miles or so.

Originally Posted by madrrio

so i know the m3/m4 manual is nearly the same as the f30 tranny other than beefed up 1-2 synchros.

i know their clutch also works in our transmission per a conversation i had with spec when they quoted me for their dual disc.

my question is... would it be a direct bolt up as well? in othewords, if i replace mine (has same 1-->2 issue) with a f80, would it bolt up?

anyone know?

Thanks

-mv

[madrrio]

Originally Posted by JaredG_F30

Following and would like to know as well as a transmission replacement (if a rebuilt kit isn't developed) will be on my radar in the next 25K miles or so.

From what I've found, the m series bell housing is way deeper. Bolt patterns seem to be the same but the flywheel clutch side will have to be of m series specific variety... Costing more in addition to the tranny.

Perhaps I'll reverse engineer the synchro, make them out of a better material and put them to market 😊

[JaredG_F30]

The person/company who develops a quality rebuild kit for the 6MT tranny will do very well for themselves.

Originally Posted by madrrio

From what I've found, the m series bell housing is way deeper. Bolt patterns seem to be the same but the flywheel clutch side will have to be of m series specific variety... Costing more in addition to the tranny.

Perhaps I'll reverse engineer the synchro, make them out of a better material and put them to market 😊

[F30RiK]

I also need that but cant find any rebuild kit (synchro bearings )

[Musashi]

Minor jidders apr 2020, car at 105,000 kms. Al fluids replaced. Seemed OK. March 2021 jidders came with a vengeance with gear changes. Intermittent at times or not at all (there but much quicker) in sport. Checked TC with an independent master mechanic. He thought TC/trans. Checked with BMW SC
For second opinion, they also disconnected TC. Issue persists. Sure enough they say transmission, 17,000$ CAD.12k part alone. Will take it back to master mechanic for options. I think weeks of -45C cold affected it 2016-2017.

[XutvJet]

Originally Posted by Musashi

Minor jidders apr 2020, car at 105,000 kms. Al fluids replaced. Seemed OK. March 2021 jidders came with a vengeance with gear changes. Intermittent at times or not at all (there but much quicker) in sport. Checked TC with an independent master mechanic. He thought TC/trans. Checked with BMW SC
For second opinion, they also disconnected TC. Issue persists. Sure enough they say transmission, 17,000$ CAD.12k part alone. Will take it back to master mechanic for options. I think weeks of -45C cold affected it 2016-2017.

$12K Canadian ($9500 USD)? This is robbery. An OEM remanufactured 6MT directly from BMW is ~$3500 USD. The clutch kit is $400 USD and the dual mass flywheel is $1,200. Figure another $500 for misc parts, fluids, and tax. That's $5600 USD or $7000 CAD. Book time for a 6MT is around 3.5 hours. All BMW parts can be ordered by an independent shop.

[Musashi]

Originally Posted by XutvJet

$12K Canadian ($9500 USD)? This is robbery. An OEM remanufactured 6MT directly from BMW is ~$3500 USD. The clutch kit is $400 USD and the dual mass flywheel is $1,200. Figure another $500 for misc parts, fluids, and tax. That's $5600 USD or $7000 CAD. Book time for a 6MT is around 3.5 hours. All BMW parts can be ordered by an independent shop.

I know, I simply illustrated what the SC asks, independent mechanics are a fraction. BMW wonders why their sales are tanking? They also have lots of n55 engine issues in toronto, according to an engine and trans re-builder- rays at torontotransmission claims he only saw one AMG 6 cylinder engine past 3 months, a minor issue, but a dozen N55s including sucked in belts and engine swaps. He was adamant that none of these had been tuned and, like "This woman her N55..." Of course I stopped pointing out that -20C, even for a few days, start and go in sports is the worse thing. "Yes but we have way more mercedeses same climate no issues..." As for transmissions, they are so reliable that his solo business gets them for all of toronto, and even outside toronto- ZFs simply do not fail frequently.