Transmission Slipping around 25mph
 

Hi guys... so I have a bit of an issue and don't know which way to turn.

My wife's 03 4.4 just had over 4500 worth of work done which included pretty much everything from an engine rebuild to brakes, control arms, etc.

Prior to spending the money on the car, I had noticed a slight vibration at around 25-30mph. The car had 147k miles on it with the original transmission fluid. I bought it at 99K and the first thing I wanted to do was to change the fluid, but the mechanic said he's seen instances where people change the fluid on high mileage transmissions and they automatically fail and can't even be driven out of the garage. I read blogs and found this to be very controversial subject, so I figured I'll gamble and leave it be.

After 48k miles, the vibration kicked in and while the car was getting the engine serviced, I pulled a sample of the fluid and sent it off to blackstone labs for analysis. They came back and said the fluid was overall clean and the transmission should no really be showing any issues that would be caused by the fluid breakdown. I should have done this when I bought the car... yes, I know. So I figured let's flush and change the filter.. added Febi oem fluid.. I think about 8 or 10 quarts... new filter and the transmission immediately stopped slipping. I was happy that the gamble had paid off!


Now the car has about 152K miles on it and the slipping is slowly coming back... The mechanic said it will be another 3-5k to repair/replace the tranny.
It's a 12 year old car in near pristine condition. It would be worth about 5k max. I really don't want to spend 8K to save a car that's only worth half... but then I already put in the huge investment.

My question...
Has anyone ever had this experience of the slipping around 25mph under low load? If so, how did you address it? fix, sell, magic additive?

What would you do if you were in my place?

youve gotten your money's worth out of the Tranny with no fluid change. its time to change the Tranny. Just get a ZF remanufactured tranny and ride confidently for another 100K. You can get more out of your pristine X just have to take a deeper plundge.

Trans only slip when it can't maintain the pressure on the clutch disc. Seems like a wear item like an o-ring is no longer holding the fluid pressure. Sounds like it's time for a rebuild or a a new trans.

http://www.xoutpost.com/attachments/...-imag1547b.jpg

On Range Rovers it’s very common for the torque converter lock-up clutch to wear at 100k+ miles. This manifests itself as a rumbling noise (like driving over a cattle grid) especially while maintaining around 30mph up a slight gradient on light throttle. While the transmission is making the noise you can see the rev. counter needle wavering slightly in time to the vibration.

Is your transmission actually slipping or just vibrating?

Phil

:iagree: That's my plan as well.

2002 X5 3.0 290,800 miles (No trans fluid changes - ever)
2004 325i 123,200 miles

I would try flushing fluid once more before replacing the tranny.

Does anyone know what the cost of a new/rebuild from ZF tranny would cost?
I'm getting quotes in Calgary for $5k just to do certain fixes to the tranny (not a 100% rebuild). dang.

ArNarX5, you can look at the cost like this... spend another $xxx amount and have a fantastic running/looking vehicle again and you know what repairs have been done to it OR you have to get something else (new will be a potential car payment/month again) or used and you are not 100% sure what you'll run into with that vehicle and you will probably spend more than $5k on a used vehicle too (assuming you stick with an SUV).
smarter to repair/buy another tranny and sticking with the devil you know (and hopefully love)