Transmission Problems

[lovethesport]

about 5 days ago the following happened..

i tred to put the vehicle in reverse from park...there was some hesistance and i heard a big bang----freaked out---turned the x off---restarted after a minute everything seemed ok----

i would feel a nudge at everytime the vehicle shifted gears

problem 2:::self levelling suspension inactive---this was the reason for taking it in---i got call from the service tech that it may need a new tranny......

[lovethesport]

i dont mind the new tranny as long as it does not lead to more problems---ie zero km tranny and 76kms engine-----

thank god i have the the exteneded warranty for another 2 yrs

[ljnlaw]

QUESTION: For those with new or rebuilt trannys, are there any continuing issues? The last thing that I want to hear is that after spending $4k on a new or rebuilt tranny more failures are around the corner.

[BimmerDude]

I'm just thinking here, what about a brake down on which X5? Like 4.4 and 3.0. This way, we can see if GM tranny in the 3.0 has more failures and if ZF has more failures...

[drs]

Just hit 53K on the clock, I use sport mode for slowing down and no problems thus far. I spoke with service rep at Thompson BMW about changing trans fluid and filter ($421 job, $200 for fluid). He asked why and said they serviced many BMWs over 100K and don’t change the fluid.

I know the parts manager at a BMW dealership in NJ for 20 years and he told me I should think about changing the trans fluid at about 75K.

I’m going to have my changed at the 60K service.

drs

[lovethesport]

latest update:::bmw head office states that a software upgrade is needed, not a new transmission....

[dkl]

Originally Posted by BimmerDude

I'm just thinking here, what about a brake down on which X5? Like 4.4 and 3.0. This way, we can see if GM tranny in the 3.0 has more failures and if ZF has more failures...

It is very likely that you'll see more failure on the 3.0i. The reason for that is not due to whether it's the GM or ZF box, but because over 70% of X5 sold in the US are 3.0i compared to 30%, which includes the 4.4i, 4.6iS, and 4.8iS. So, if you associate GM boxes with 3.0i and ZF boxes with 4.4i, 4.6iS, 4.8iS; then the odd of the GM box failing is over 2 to 1 compared with the ZF box.

[BimmerDude]

Nice point there DKL, but I still would like to see a detail. So far it seems that a small amount of people are having tranny problems. And just maybe "Lovethesport" is right about the tranny upgrade. We will just have to see...

[2002Silver4.6is]

Keep voting!! I would like to gain an accurate picture of the percentage of X5 owners with transmission problems.

[Dimitre_4.6is]

what exactly went wrong with your tranny how did u find out that u have to change the whole thing, may be it somthing small. What exactly happened?