Rolled the Dice, Came Up Snakeyes (4f89 Fault) Trans Replacement

[crystalworks]

Originally Posted by deepblonde

Did you rebuild your new trans ?

No, did not rebuild it. Only had ~88k miles on it so I assumed the internals would be good. Just threw my rebuilt valvebody and EGS into it. I did use the lower mileage torque converter too as it came with the trans.

Originally Posted by jcarpfishman

The weirdest part about all of this is that I still have yet to get any transmission codes indicating faults, but it absolutely does not shift right.

Yeah, trans problems suck as it takes all the confidence out of the vehicle. What mileage is yours at? What are you using to scan the EGS?

[jcarpfishman]

Originally Posted by crystalworks

New trans drives and shifts perfect. Yes, swapped rebuilt valve body and original EGS computer into replacement trans and all was good. Resetting the adaptations was a little sketchy as the shifts were a bit harsh and it fail-safed once. But after about 20 miles there hasn't been any issues.

Still need to bookends the thread but no time...

Glad to hear it's shifting properly!! These things are awesome to drive when they function properly.

Please bookend it as time is available, but I totally get it. I've been working a lot of extra time at work due to ongoing testing, so it's been hard to get to the backlog of items that I know have needed done. I've slowly spent time working through my car issues and it's taken like 6+ months to get to some of it. With respect to my situation, it has slowly developed to where I'm taking mine to a transmission shop within the next week or so & I'm not driving it until I take it there. Buckle up, Buttercup:

Eventually took my car to a local euro shop to bleed brakes properly after I replaced the master cylinder & booster; while it was there they gave it a quick once-over and casually gave me a quote for $6,874.74 worth of needed work... . $3,330 of that quote was for front axles, $1,700 for new tires + TPMS, $800 for front tension struts, $230 rear sway bar links, and a partridge in a pear tree. They apparently didn't even see the obliterated outer CV boot on one of the rear axles while they were checking it over that I've known about for a year (even have a used set of rear axles in the garage from a 30k mile donor car).

I had spoken with a local transmission shop prior to this about my shifting issues and his big suggestions were to ensure tire rolling diameters were roughly equal & that I didn't have flaky wheel speed sensors as these cars can be very finicky about that PRIOR to assuming I had internal transmission issues.

Tires were an obvious quick one... didn't realize my rear tires were so worn. Ended up switching to a square setup with 18" winter rims with new tires as the rims had been sitting in the garage for a while and noticed a BIG improvement in overall shift quality for a few weeks and then it slowly got worse again. Decided that it made sense to hit the other suggested mechanical stuff as well. Changed the transfer case fluid, swapped the actuator gear (looked exactly like yours, some wear but certainly not a lot), reset oil change & transfer case adaptations. Replaced the front axles with OE myself, as well some other suspension pieces on the front, put in the rear axles, sway bar links, etc. Fun fact: check your front right spring as apparently it's a semi-common issue for them to snap towards the bottom; I found mine snapped while I was working on everything else . Ordered a replacement set of springs. REALLY looking forward to changing that soon, as I don't want to damage my extremely expensive adaptive struts in the process.

Anyways, did all that and things got a little better in some shifts and certainly worse in others. The overarching issue I've been having over the last month or two is when slowing down, the car is bucking a bit as it downshifts from 2-1 just before coming to a complete stop, as though it's not fully disengaging the torque converter or something. Noticed just yesterday that if you hammer it in 4th, there's a small flare too before picking up speed. I don't know if this has just manifested itself or that I've been hyper-sensitive to shift issues recently, but it could have been there all along.

Like you listed in your original posts, I'm betting my E-clutch is bad, in addition to other bushing wear. I honestly feel like my shifting is bad enough that I am not daily driving it anymore until I get it into the shop. The kicker is that I've got axles on order for my beater and a box of engine & transmission mounts that I was going to do before daily driving it while the X5 gets checked out. With how bad it shifted on me Thursday and Friday, I don't feel like I can wait any longer to have a proper diagnosis done.

The weirdest part about all of this is that I still have yet to get any transmission codes indicating faults, but it absolutely does not shift right.

[josiahg52]

I appreciate threads like this. Hoping I won't need the info for a long time. So far, with about 168k miles, I can only remember two odd occurrences: while stopped at a traffic light, it felt like it shifted from second to first after I was stopped. I've serviced the transmission twice: pan/filter/fluid at 118k miles and just fluid at 167k miles. Adaptations reset both times and no flushing. Got a DDE tune around 100k miles. I've no complaints so far. Started calling around to see if anyone would be able/want to replace the bridge seals, Mechatronics sleeve, or swap out a valve body and have been told flatly 'no' every time. No one even wants to replace/swap a whole transmission. I plan to keep looking and just enjoy driving it. It's still a nice truck that gets compliments today and I know two people who would give me a good amount of money for it if I wanted to sell.

[crystalworks]

Still planning on updating this with some pics/info in the future. Had been waiting to get an ICOM so I could properly go through the test plan and reset the mileage counter. You absolutely MUST use an ICOM to do this. Neither the Foxwell or ISTA w/ K+D CAN cable could perform this. Both failed. After getting the ICOM I had the car up and running within 10 minutes. Went through one test drive cycle and the car still drives and shifts great so the trans work on this truck should be done.

Ran through the 50 minute test plan in ISTA a second time and it indicated new NOX sensors were needed. I assumed it would. New sensors are here now. I ordered them off ebay and they are touted to be genuine but I have my doubts @ $340 for the pair. Before installing I confirmed with seller (still have my doubts) they are genuine so I can install them. If I run into problems I'll file a case and get $$$ back.

That's where I'm sitting at now. Will update when progress is made.

[TriX5]

CW - can you describe or show a picture of the Icom? Is it just a cable or is there more to it?

I just fixed a friend's F10 with a bad camera module (TRSCV). In the end I did not need to do any coding or calibrating. However, I considered getting an Enet cable as the F10 can only be coded after E-sys using an enet or icom. I looked at enet cables on Ebay but curious what icom refers to?

[deepblonde]

Originally Posted by TriX5

CW - can you describe or show a picture of the Icom? Is it just a cable or is there more to it?

I just fixed a friend's F10 with a bad camera module (TRSCV). In the end I did not need to do any coding or calibrating. However, I considered getting an Enet cable as the F10 can only be coded after E-sys using an enet or icom. I looked at enet cables on Ebay but curious what icom refers to?

I have one. A cheap clone from China . Works ok . Overly complicated

[crystalworks]

Originally Posted by TriX5

CW - can you describe or show a picture of the Icom? Is it just a cable or is there more to it?

I just fixed a friend's F10 with a bad camera module (TRSCV). In the end I did not need to do any coding or calibrating. However, I considered getting an Enet cable as the F10 can only be coded after E-sys using an enet or icom. I looked at enet cables on Ebay but curious what icom refers to?

The one I used was a genuine ICOM. Specifically the ICOM A1 (first version). They have since come out with an A2, A3, and NEXT version.



The genuine NEXT used to be relatively affordable but since the chip shortage has gone up to $1100 and is out of stock most places. Last I checked ECS had some for a "reasonable" $715. You'd also need to purchase all the extras for MOST (ICOM B) and other connectors. I just now actually ordered a China clone off Ebay for ~$350 after tax that comes with all of that.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/254414484033?var=554028695596

I'll provide updates as to how well it works. Now I'm new to this so take this with a grain of salt. AFAIK the ICOM A1 (or other versions) will do all things BMW when paired with the appropriate cabling and software package. I have ISTA-P up and running currently and will work on ISTA-D at some point just in case I need to reflash the DDE or something. New software might be a good idea anyway as I doubt the dealership ever updates them if nothing is wrong with a vehicle. Only when directed by TSBs (with customer complaint) or recalls.

[TriX5]

THANKS! Interesting and good to know. I did a little searching and it seems ICOM can work with an optical connection as well. Sure to be much faster than working thru OBD port.

ISTA-D works fine on friend's F10 with D/K-CAN cable. I could read his DEF level with ISTA easily, then taught him how to refill with DEF from the friendly VAG folks down the road. ($12/2.5G last time I filled mine :-)

However, F series coding needs an E-net cable and E-sys. My friend would like to disable selective door unlock but haven't quite figured out how to use E-sys and what corresponding entries would be.

[crystalworks]

Correction: I meant to say above that I had ISTA-D running and will work on ISTA-P.

Good to know that diagnostics works with the D/K can on an F10. I thought it would work on the E70 as well (I was able to use ISTA-D to some extent) but was unable to reset the no-start condition without having the ICOM. Would fail to reset every time without it. I don't know what other functionality might not work, but I figured I should have an ICOM here on hand as I have so many BMWs it would apply to.

[TriX5]

At any rate you'd need something beyond D/K-CAN to code your F15?