Shake/vibration in third gear?

[quackman]

I recently brought my car in for service and was told that it is normal that my car is doing this: About a month ago I started to notice that when the shifter is in third gear it shakes and vibrates; in any other gear it does not visibly do so. If I push up on the shifter just a bit with my finger, the vibration stops. According to my service visit sheet the "shop foreman drove the car and drove another M3 and concluded that this is normal and present in both."
This sounds like BS--the only reason he concludes it was normal is because it's happening in another car? Is there something from BMW that says this too? Any ideas on what, if anything, is wrong with my car?

[Finnegan]

Uh, normal eh? That's the party line on everything.

My MT never did this. Smooth and vibration free in all gears and N.

Now whether it's an issue to worry about--that's a question I can't answer.

[Krozi]

Hmmm...I was wondering about this aswell...I figured it was just how it is...

[Finnegan]

Maybe my old car was a weido and you guys have the normal cars?

[JCtx]

'Normal' to me means most cars exhibit the behavior, and it's not detrimental to the car. Now to your issue. The transmission is bolted directly to the engine, and both form a unit that is isolated from the car with rubber mounts... because they VIBRATE. The tranny is ALWAYS going to vibrate to some degree. And remember the shifter on our M3 is bolted directly to the tranny (and that includes a 'remote' shifter, which sits behind the tranny but still bolted to it, like '04-'06 GTOs), so if you put your hand on the shifter, or if you look at it constantly (hopefully not driving ), it's going to vibrate some. And yes, it can be more in some gears and/or engine rpm. Unless the shifter is hitting the side of the tranny tunnel, making a racket, I'd forget about it. On RWD cars with a rear-mounted tranny (Vettes, etc), all FWD cars, and rear-engined RWD cars (most Porsches), the shifter is not directly bolted to the tranny (connected via cable linkages), so vibration is going to be less.

If you have any untoward noises associated with that, then it's a different story, but by your description, it just seems you're being overly anal . Good day.

[quackman]

I'd agree with you, but it just started happening a month ago. I've got just under 14k miles on my car.

[Super Amjo]

I have an 09 335 and have the exact same problem - took it to the dealer and 'the shop foreman drove it around' was my scenario too and he said it was normal and pretty much quoted what the above poster mentioned that the stick is bolted to the transmission.

I had him take a ride with me to make sure we were talking about the same thing and he said it is completely normal but the severity of the shaking varies from car to car.

It's pretty annoying but I'm going to let it ride for now, not much else that can be done.

[quackman]

Hmm, bumped my old thread.... well, let me post what happened after stupid Hassel turned me away:
http://www.m3post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=438791

The awesome dealership up in Albany, NY, Keeler, took a look at the tranny on my car and immediately determined that the excessive shaking in third gear was a problem and replaced the transmission under warranty.
On the M3, at least, some vibration in gear is normal--my other gears did vibrate a bit, and third still does on my new tranny. BUT it does not SHAKE visibly as it did before my transmission was replaced by Keeler.

[Super Amjo]

Thanks for the update buddy, I ended up taking it back and had the transmission replaced as well - took about a week.

Problem is that the shaking is still there - so it's going back on Tuesday. They said it was still shaking because my aftermarket rims were bent so i put the OEMs back on and the problem is still there so it's going back.

Hopefully they can fix it, this is my 4th bmw and I've never had probs like this - maybe it's time to move on to something else