87' 325is wont shift into gear.

[remzk1ng]

Hey everyone,
I dont know whats up with my car, its been have some trouble with the linkage cable on the battery, so it dies once in a while. Well this happened the other night so i had to pull off the road and get it started again. I did, then i went to shift into first and drive and i cant feel nothing, just getting high RPM's. when i press the clutch and try to shift into gears, its as if there arent any. I can move the shifter in a big circle as if the clutch was stuck in, but its not, i still get pressure back from it. I can start the car, but it doesnt move, and im not ver mechanically enclined either so i dont really even know whats wrong.

 

[E30m42cab]

Sounds like your linkage is not connected. there's a little clip that holds the bottom of the shifter to the linkage... it probably slipped off. Jack it up, and you'll probably see the linkage hanging just above your drive shaft just behind the tranny.

 

[remzk1ng]

I spent about 20 mins under the car and didnt see anything hanging around... any other suggestions?

 

[echothreezero]

When you move the shifter around, does it feel like it is going in and out of the gears, or is there almost no resistance?

 

[remzk1ng]

Yes it does, only when its jacked up though, id have to try it without the jack stands to bea ble to fully tell, we are gonna try and fix it ourselves today but any input would greatly appreciated.

 

[echothreezero]

You'll have to jack the car up on good stands and carefully select first and slowly let the clutch out so you can see if the output flange on the box is turning, driveshaft is turning etc to see where things are going wrong. Maybe you have had a clutch disk let go? If you di, I'd expect noise every time you put the pedal in as the disc is released and starts to flop around. It's a hard one from the info you've given I'm afraid.