Hi all,
my BMW 530d, 1999 E39, with 150K miles on the clock has a transmission issue...
Basically she refuses to DRIVE forwards either in Drive or Sport or Manual Sports.
The problem sudden started one morning... no previous signs of slippage, jolting etc, etc.. got in the car in the morning and she just refused to move. Rev the car to 3500rpm and suddenly it lept forward and drove 100%... some 30mins later a slight judder and back to basically doing nothing but creeping along at 2/3mph if the rev really hard. Stopped the car, left for some 30mins.. started again worked a treat, drive, sports and semi auto/manual. drove to dealership.. NO ERROR codes.
Dealership say's new gearbox (which is what I expected) and refused to change the oil (which is also what I expected) BMW lifetime oil, load of !"£$ if you ask me. they said it was likely to be the clutch plates with 150K they must be worn... but surely I would have had slippage over time and would a have noticed.. hummmm...
The dealership pushed the car out the workout as it now would not drive (it still creeps thou)
Okay - the car drives 100% in REVERSE (no smart comments like the wife said thanks)
I have drained the oil from the sump and removed the sump, no significant signs of debris.. just some slight spec's.. in fact it was amazingly clean, no grime or thick sludge. The oil was no longer Red, more of a really dark brown (not black) did smell burnt.. smelt like old oil. the viscosity I would say was like a 0-5W engine oil....where I understand ATF (yea I know these cars use a special L.Life fluid...) should be more like 30W.
It is not possible to drain the Torque converter on these babies without taking said box out or doing the old oil cooler off trick and running the engine. Anyway...
I have spoken to one garage and they say TORQUE CONVERTER - spoke to other and they said no way, if the car drives in reverse then it is not the TC, more likely the FWD clutch...
I have little lose other than about £80 on refilling the gearbox with fresh oil, cleaning the transfilter and seeing if there is ANY improvement.. never know the sun might be shining that day.. but I have some general Autobox questions:
The fact the car drives 100% in Reverse does that rule out a TC issue? this question has been bugging me and I'm struggling to find an answer.....
If the 60/40% oil swap makes zero difference she is in for a box rebuild... not worth anything with a duff box... but she is (in prague where I live) with a working one and warranty.
Thanks for ANY help.... really miss the UK
Edited by Dynamic Dave on 06/05/2009 at 19:58
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>>The fact the car drives 100% in Reverse does that rule out a TC issue?
Yes - absolutely ruled out.
It also rules out the gearbox oil pump.
The dealers aren't the best place for auto transmissions - they will never work on them, only ever replacing them as a unit. Find a good independant automatic gearbox specialist - see
www.honestjohn.co.uk/faq/faq.htm?id=16
for more advice about finding one.
The garage who said forward clutches are probably closer to the truth.
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Thank you for the super fast answer. Also thank for the link but uk companies are no good for me as im in prague. But it was a uk team that advised the fwd clutch. Well regardless she is going to get new oil when it arrives. On issue in czech is finding good garages. It will be 1300 for a rebuild here so in line with uk. I just worry as one me the places said it was the TC. Life goes on.
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why not have a good second hand transmission shipped out from the uk to you
theres plenty of courier people out there going your way im sure daily?
biggest problem is finding a breaker who swears on his mothers grave,
maybe offer them a free weekend in prague as it is a beautiful place (well some of it ;-) )
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looked into that.. trouble with buying an auto box is you never know what your buying.. it could last 1 week may be 6 months..... the best you will get from a breakers is 3months... Intapart in Daventry are a good bunch and I have called them. I have looked on flea bay in german... finding th correct box (the 530d takes a GM not ZF) is hard, and they are all mini ?1000, some with warrenty.. most without.... recon is the safest option, new TC etc etc.....
I will visit the place in prague first, they have a good website and make my decision....
Prague is lovely (for a weekend !!) :0)
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Sorry, can't help, but I loved Prague (how do the points for the trams work?)
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I understand the drive operates the points by remote....
gearbox is going in for a rebuilt
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