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E39 (1997 - 2003) The BMW 5-Series (E39 chassis) was introduced in the United States as a 1997 model year car and lasted until the 2004 when the E60 chassis was released. The United States saw several variations including the 525i, 528i, 530i and 540i. -- View the E39 Wiki

Hello all, I am a new 2003 BMW 530i owner and have a question about the shifting on my manual 5 speed. I have owned the car for a few days and have been driving it aggressively as I am so stoked to own it.

When shifting from 1st to 2nd gear the car seems to EASE into second no matter how hard I try to get it to change gears quickly. If I am revving high rpms and let out the clutch quickly the rpms just gradually ease down. The car moves forward with pretty good pull, its not as if it is lagging, but just not the abrupt acceleration I would expect.

At first I wondered if my clutch was slipping, but I did a test of trying to start from a stop in 3rd gear to see if the car would stall or the clutch would slip - a friend recommended I try this test. The car stalled, which he said indicated the clutch is fine.

My next thought was that BMW had installed some kind of limiter that keeps the car from spinning the tires and sliding out of control if you try to shift to hard. Is this right? Am I over revving from 1st to 2nd?

The car is a 2003 530i sport (E39) with a Dinan stage 2 chip and Dinan cold air intake.

Thank you mbell666. That seems like a great place to start. After doing a search on the forum for clutch delay valve I now have a lot more info to go on. Much appreciated. I even learned something about shifting into reverse that I can share with my wife who was having a hard time with it!

edjack: thanks for the note about trans and diff lubes. I will look into changing those as well.

ndz: in another thread about CDV a forum member named Fast Bob posted the following about the transmission being an issue for the 1st to 2nd gear shift and then follows with a comment about reverse.

"The CDV inhibits clutch feel mostly when first starting off from a dead stop.....it makes the engagement point sloppy & unpredictable. Once you`re under way, you only need to depress the clutch maybe halfway to shift to the next gear, and the CDV is less of an issue.
Also, that "difficult" one-to-two shift is *not* a CDV problem, it`s a trans design problem. There`s a HUGE gap between first and second, where the RPMs fall off by 42% (the equivalent of falling off a cliff), and there`s nothing that will cure that except *practice*, experimenting with different shift points until you find a combination that works for you.

As far as the reverse issue goes, tell her to put the trans in any forward gear *before* attempting to engage reverse, and it will go in much easier (especially in cold weather)"

Hello all, I am a new 2003 BMW 530i owner and have a question about the shifting on my manual 5 speed. I have owned the car for a few days and have been driving it aggressively as I am so stoked to own it.

When shifting from 1st to 2nd gear the car seems to EASE into second no matter how hard I try to get it to change gears quickly. If I am revving high rpms and let out the clutch quickly the rpms just gradually ease down. The car moves forward with pretty good pull, its not as if it is lagging, but just not the abrupt acceleration I would expect.

At first I wondered if my clutch was slipping, but I did a test of trying to start from a stop in 3rd gear to see if the car would stall or the clutch would slip - a friend recommended I try this test. The car stalled, which he said indicated the clutch is fine.

My next thought was that BMW had installed some kind of limiter that keeps the car from spinning the tires and sliding out of control if you try to shift to hard. Is this right? Am I over revving from 1st to 2nd?

The car is a 2003 530i sport (E39) with a Dinan stage 2 chip and Dinan cold air intake.

Any advice is greatly appreciated. Thanks

engine if you exceed redline shifting ,BUT it will not save engine is you make an error in downshifting so be careful .