X5 4.4i trans rebuild/repair accomplished (long post)

[RRPhil]

The official ZF overhaul kit for the 5HP24 is part no. 1058 298 022. Note that this is the basic kit and only contains gaskets & seals i.e. no clutch plates, etc.



The axial bearing which fails is ZF part no. 1058 202 016 :



The attached file shows a list of the North American distributors of ZF passenger car transmission parts.

Phil

[MHKitchen]

Hey, great write up, and very informative. You may have read in my earlier posts that the cast clutch housing (magnesium, I believe) is an identified weak point and the cause of many catastropic transmission failures. It cracks and then the troubles begin, often major. For a time, it was nearly impossible to find a replacement due to the high demand for them. Your experience confirms that a $3K rebuild/exchange is probably about right (and far less than a BMW dealer's $7-8K) considering labor hours for in/out, and rebuilding, plus parts and amortizing special tools. I'm not inclined to tackle this job, but having the info is still of interest and valuable. Thanks for taking the time to document this. I'm most appreciative.

[RRPhil]

Do you have any more information about the cast (magnesium) clutch housing which cracks?

Obviously the problems ZF had with the input shaft/A-clutch drum in the 5HP24 is very well known & documented but you may be referring to something else?



Since ZF introduced the radial swages to stiffen the drum in November 2000 at transmission serial number 355863 I’ve never seen or read about a single failure of this component.



Phil

[civdiv99]

Thanks. Have been off in work-mode for a couple of months. Have some downtime to read through some posts. I don't recall specifically regarding that o-ring. I replaced all of them in any case. Nailed it right on the head with the end-play. Not being familiar with what I was looking for upon disassy, I didn't take preliminary measurements. Once I saw that bearing, it all became clear.

Originally Posted by RRPhil

Congratulations on your excellent write-up civdiv99.

I’ve rebuilt around a dozen Range Rover 5HP24s in the past few months which had exactly this same “bearing then O-ring” failure http://forum.landrovernet.com/showthread.php/189983-ZF-5HP24-teardown and it looks as though it will become a common problem on the 4.4i & 4.6is E53 too as their mileages rack up.

The axial needle roller bearing which wears & fails only sees a combination of load and relative speed in gears 1, 2 & 3 so I suspect it will be vehicles that have worked hard in these gears throughout the vehicle’s lifetime which will suffer this particular failure (towing, ‘sporty’ driving, hilly terrain, etc.). Vehicles that spend their lives predominantly cruising up and down the motorway are likely to be safe from this particular failure.

Please forgive me if I missed it, but reading through your excellent posts I notice that you didn’t make specific reference to the condition of the O-ring which seals the input shaft to the B-clutch drum so I think it’s worth pointing out that it’s the failure of this O-ring which allows the A-clutch pressure to bleed to tank (& therefore drive is lost in gears 1 to 4) and that the O-ring fails because the axial bearing wear allows the input shaft and B-clutch drum to separate under load (as you stated). Perhaps you could confirm that this O-ring had failed in your case?





It’s easy to identify if a 5HP24 has this specific problem when it’s sat on a bench, even before stripping it, by grabbing the input shaft and trying to move it axially. The correct endfloat is 0.2 to 0.4mm. If the axial bearing has worn/failed you will be able to move the shaft by 1-2 mm.

Phil

P.S. Regarding the ‘fancy jig’ for setting up the clutch plate clearances, I simply use a 20.4kg weight (i.e. 200N) to preload the wavy plate which has a radial slot cut in it to allow the thickness measurements to be taken

[civdiv99]

JohnI - I used the below when I ordered my parts.

I ordered my parts from CT Powertrain
CT POWERTRAIN PRODUCTS Home Page

FYI: My original order confirmation -

CT POWERTRAIN PRODUCTS Items
1 ZF5HP24 BMW JAGUAR LAND ROVER RWD OEM ZF REPAIR MANUAL @ $65.00 = $65.00
1 ZF5HP24 OEM ZF REBUILD KIT BMW JAGUAR LAND ROVER 95-ON @ $365.00 = $365.00
1 ZF5HP24 OEM VALVE BODY KIT ZF LIFE 2 5HP24VBK BMW JAG @ $179.99 = $179.99
Sub-Total: $609.99
Shipping: $20.05 (UPS Ground)
Sales Tax: $0.00
CT POWERTRAIN PRODUCTS Total: $630.04

[MHKitchen]

RRPhil:

Yes, that's the part. I had not seen any published info on it when I had my problem. I ended up going to the ZF Authorized repair shop in Burlingame, CA (near SF). A long-time technician there was very familiar with the problem at the time (July '07). The part would crack on transmissions with anything from 4,000 to 100,000+ miles on them. My 2002 was made well after 2000, and I've had correspondence from dozens of others who've had the same problem, many with newer models. The technician said it also impacted other vehicles using this same transmission, including Mercedes, Audi, Jaguar, and possibly others (there's a Jaguar site devoted to "the surge" as the symptom was called). I should have photographed the replacement part and the broken one, but I didn't. I was able to get a replacement by calling in some favors from my Detroit area automotive friends who were able to get me a part when the ZF shop said they were on "Global backorder by ZF" for an undetermined period of time (many weeks was their guess at the time). So, I don't think the update you're noting has cured the problem if that was implemented in 2000. Even the ZF tech said he was aware of SEVERAL updates but still saw problems, and was not optimistic that I wouldn't experience this problem again if I kept the vehicle. So far, so good though, but I admit that I now "baby" it.

[MHKitchen]

Just looked up my receipt. The part number of the A-drum was #1058-270-040, if that helps identify it? It's listed separately, as I supplied it to them.

[MHKitchen]

Lookinrtrouble...

That "feels like you got rear-ended" feeling is a very likely sign of the cracked housing developing. Trust me, it won't get getter and will likely get worse, and COULD result in a very ugly situation with tranny fluid under your wheels. Recommend you either fix it or get it checked. And if so, file a safety complaint with NHTSA at Home | National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA).

[ayagutak]

I'm having the some problems with the jerky transmission, switch gear and when coming to a slow roll stop, i have a e53 4.6is 2003 will this fix work wit my x5....

[TriX5]

It is not always the A drum. I had the same symptoms as yours plus a grinding/whining noise. Mine was actually the torque converter.