Metal piece found on transmission oil drain plug.

[creepshow]

Picked up my '83 320i with the 5 speed a few months back. I went to change the transmission and diff fluid today and found this metal shard on the drain plug of the tranny :O

Looking through the Hayes manual it looks like it could be a number of different parts.... does anyone have any idea?

Car drives and shifts fine, but when cold 1st and 2nd are very difficult to get in gear. Overall it is a bit notchy too. Putting in some MTL today based off my reading of other threads here.





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[creepshow]

Found another larger piece in the drain pan....

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[amarino]

Found another larger piece in the drain pan....

Drain pan? Of a 5 speed?

Maybe a shift fork? http://www.realoem.com/bmw/enUS/show...diagId=23_0532

[creepshow]

I just mean the plastic pan I let the transmission oil drain into. So that piece must have just flowed out while it was draining.

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[okieflats]

Did Randy go to bed early again?

[okieflats]

It is a piece of the part that the shift fork pushes against when you go to change gears, it is cylindrical with a shoulder. That's what the shift fork contacts, the shoulder.



A piece of slider #14 which is moved by the fork. 13 and 15 are synchronizers.

[creepshow]

Thank you amarino and okieflats for the quick identification. Could this cause any serious damage to continue driving it this way? I imagine it's been this way for a long time.

My guess would be since the shift fork makes contact with approximately half the circumference of the slider, a missing piece of the slider contact surface wouldn't affect the overall contact between the fork and slider ring.

Worth investigating more?

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[tlapham]

I would use regular oil, not synthetic at this point. drain and check the magnet much more often (500 miles?) to see if you are getting more metal. Find a way to glue a bigger magnet around the drain plug and make sure you catch as much steel as possible from circulating and getting caught in the gears.

[amarino]

Find a way to glue a bigger magnet around the drain plug and make sure you catch as much steel as possible from circulating and getting caught in the gears.

Maybe try some tiny rare-earth magnets? https://www.homedepot.com/p/MASTER-M...45HD/202526363

[bassboy3313]

I had a scare that I dropped a nut down the timing cover into the pan on my old m10. I ended up sticking a few flat ring magnets on the bottom and sides of the pan from the outside as a precaution. Years later when I took the m10 out to swap in an m20, I pulled the oil pan off and guess what was stuck to the pan where one of the magnets was? Yup, the nut I dropped. Safe and sound. lol

[creepshow]

I'll go ahead and slap some magnets on the underside and change the oil in it more often and just hope I don't find any more pieces then.. sounds like the magnet method has been proven. Thanks guys.