Decided to put a few freeway miles on her and drove to work (60 miles) one morning. Motors broken in (1600+ miles) and I'm working on some small issues. One happens to be a gearbox leak so I have the output seal and shift rod seal with me today. Gonna drop by my local indy (Kruse-Lucas Imports) since they've taken care of a number of BMW's for me in the past 25+ years including a 635csi swap into my '76 Bavaria.

Coming down the on-ramp I hear the distinctive noise of metal hitting the roadway then feel and hear the thump under the car somewhere close to the drivers seat floor area. Immediately I make it to the next off-ramp, find the nearest parking lot, and shut her down. After opening the hood (bonnet, whateva..) I begin a visual search of the engine bay from top to bottom, looking for some missing bolt etc. Nada. I then crouch down and inspect the front subframe to see what's missing and again, nothing. I do the same for the rear subframe, even though I know whatever it was didn't jump to light speed, pass me coming down the on-ramp, and complete a 180 degree turn to inform me of its' departure.

Finding nothing I surmise I may have kicked up some stray piece of metal that thumped the underside when I ran it over. So, I hop back in, start her up, and make my trek to the confines of the manufacturing facility I sometimes hang out in all day. At the end of my labors I make the trip in reverse and head to Kruse-Lucas to speak to Chris and ask for his help in finding the gearbox leak. I'm tired of laying on my back and frankly - I deserve a break. I leave him with both the output shaft seal and shift rod seal.

Fast forward 2 days later and Chris gave me a call. He noticed the oily undercarriage (duh, that's why I brought him the car). He also pointed out a small chunk missing from the "Guibo" (flex disc for those of us with no idea how to pronounce that word) along with a missing nut / bolt combo and several others loose enough to turn by hand. Chris says he'll leave it on the rack so I can peek.

The photo shows how he presented it to me. The leak is coming from the shift rod, apparently. Don't know where the piece of flex disc went but since he's familiar with Ireland there will be one replacing it very soon.

Oy Vey...