Good to know. Will add it to the list of things to get done.

Does this kit work? Says its from ZF

BMW X5 4.6is Sport Utility E53 4.6L V8 Transmission Filter Kit

Yeah, that should work. As long as it's from ZF or from BMW it should be the proper filter.

K, swapped the battery and cleared the code. After battery swap the x would start fine and sputter and die. Restarted and gave it some gas to keep the rpms up so it wouldnt die popped it in gear and went for a drive. Died a few times coming to a stop, eventually cured itself. Dont know what that was about but sure made me use some colorful language. Once the fear of stalling went away I got it up to 65 a let off the gas, rpms held right at 2500 for a few seconds and would naturally go down with decreased speed. So my understanding is the TC clutch is still holding fine. I tried a jeep thing for checking the lock up on the Tc but dont think it will work on these trannys. Basically get up to 65 and tap the brake and rpms should decrease as the TC should unlock. It still doesnt like going into 1st, what im noticing in the rpms go waayyyy to low 500 or less. So i dont think its a harsh shift from the tranny just that its almost dying and getting into gear is a problem at the low rpms. I did put in N when slowing down to see what it did, stopped smooth as butter and i could see the rpms fluctating with the shifts and held fine going into 1st. Any thought? Going to check some air/fuel things as well.

You need to get it scanned with something that can get BMW specific modules to report. Standard OBDII is probably not getting you the full picture.

If the torque converter lock-up clutch is failing to disengage properly then this will load the engine in Drive when stationary and could cause it to stall (but not in Neutral or Park).

If you decide to replace your torque converter, because the Sachs WA4/W280 S-2GWK unit features a captive clutch where the piston retainer is welded in-situ, it is a specialised job to re-manufacture it properly so you need to choose a supplier carefully.

http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/i...drivinghub.jpg

http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/i...psuqy866sa.jpg

Note also that the 4.4i and 4.6is E53s use different torque converters (260mm ‘F38’ & 280mm ‘L51’ respectively). ZF manufactured over 85k 4.4i transmissions but less than 11k transmissions for the 4.6is, so the L51 can be more difficult to source.

http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/i...ps8c1dd059.jpg

Phil

Thanks for the info.

RRPhil do you know of any reputable shops?

RRPhil is in the UK. If he were here in the states he would probably put ZF remanufacturing out of business. He's the man when it comes to these ZF trannys.