A spare M40 was picked up in beautiful Glen Rock, PA from a most accomodating Mr. Morris. Thanky Jim.

Before getting all close and personal with the underside of the car again I thought it might be prudent to post the symptoms that drove me 150 miles northeast in search of a tranny.

A couple of months ago grinding of gears started to occur when shifting into reverse. All other gear shifting was fine. Clutch slave rod was adjusted with no improvement. Later I discovered that shifting into reverse was not an issue when the tranny was cold -- it only had a grinding problem after warming up.

About three weeks ago the grinding started to occur when downshifing into 2nd gear. Upshifting was fine in all gears. Again, when cold there were no gear shifting problems. Adjustment was let out as far as possible at the master cylinder push rod behind the clutch pedal with no improvement.

Shortly thereafter, downshifting into 3rd became an issue. Also quickly upshifting into 2nd started to get balky. Tranny fluid was changed with no improvement.

Last week I noticed that if the gear selector was shifted into 4th before downshifting into 3rd or 2nd, then there was no resistance to gear selection or grinding. This worked for a few days but today it was hard to shift into 1st from a dead stop. Upshifting still is rarely an issue.

My question is whether or not this might actually be a hydraulic problem. What is confounding me is the fact that the tranny downshifts fine by going into 4th before selecting any other gear. In fact, on the way home tonight I had to shift into 4th or 3rd when at a stop before it would go into 1st.

Thanks for reading all this blather. Any thoughts on what to check before pulling the gearbox are welcome. One dumb question. If only the tranny is being replaced and not the clutch, does the bellhousing have to come off?

Thanks much,

Joe M in WV