6MT - cant downshift to 2nd gear

[Nickolka]

Glad I found this thread. There's hope, lol, and likely there nothing is wrong with the car. I've been unable to downshift to 2nd from the 3rd on the 6MT occasionally on the first try during regular driving but it would engage fine after letting it go to neutral and trying again but slower. I attributed it to the car being new.

Last weekend I got caught in an unexpected freezing rain / snow storm on my SUMMER tires which I switched to mid week from winters. The car would not move at all on snow. At times I had to fully turn off traction control, get a nice push from nice samaritans (including cops; big thanks to them all) and climb to the 3rd gear with wheels spinning while going 10km/s. Once the car would get going, I would try to drop the rpms to sane levels and downshift into the 2nd. But it just would NOT switch. Multiple attempts and nothing. It felt completely blocked. I tried doing it with more force ... and nothing. I could only switch back to the 3rd. While trying this I would lose momentum and get stuck in the snow again and then wait for more people to come to the rescue.

I was sure something was wrong with the transmission. After reading this thread though it looks like there is hope that it might have been me pulling too much to the left in my hasty attempts at downshifting.

I moved onto the M3 from E46 MT and never had these downshifting issues. In these new transmissions there seem to be less shifter travel so it could be that it's my E46 muscle memory that making me pull the lever left too much.

I am going to try adjusting how I do it as you guys suggested and see if it helps

[drroc]

Originally Posted by Nickolka

Glad I found this thread. There's hope, lol, and likely there nothing is wrong with the car. I've been unable to downshift to 2nd from the 3rd on the 6MT occasionally on the first try during regular driving but it would engage fine after letting it go to neutral and trying again but slower. I attributed it to the car being new.

Last weekend I got caught in an unexpected freezing rain / snow storm on my SUMMER tires which I switched to mid week from winters. The car would not move at all on snow. At times I had to fully turn off traction control, get a nice push from passerby (including cops; big thanks to them all) and climb to the 3rd gear with wheels spinning while going 10km/s. Once the car would get going, I would try to drop the rpms to sane levels and downshift into the 2nd. But it just would NOT switch. Multiple attempts and nothing. It felt completely blocked. I tried doing it with more force ... and nothing. I could only switch back to the 3rd. While trying this I would lose momentum and get stuck in the snow again and then wait for more people to come to the rescue.

I was sure something was wrong with the transmission. After reading this thread though it looks like there is hope that it might have been me pulling too much to the left in my hasty attempts at downshifting.

I moved onto the M3 from the 2000 E46 MT and never had these downshifting issues. In these new transmissions there seem to be less shifter travel so it could be that it's my E46 muscle memory is pulling the lever left too much.

I am going to try adjusting how I do it as you guys suggested and see if it helps

You are just trying to into reverse. I had the same issue on a few occasions. It just requires some mental concentration not to try to slam the gear all the way to the left.