My transmission rebuilt
 

Yes, beleive it or not ... it was finally done today after 11 days at the workshop ... here is the complete story:

1. I got "check coolant level" message. I opened the radiator cap to re-fill and I topped up until I was surprised by a beige creamy water! what the hell is that?!!

2. Called my mechanic and he said bring the car immediately. He checked and found out that the heat exchanger (part 11 on the below diagram) is defected and it caused the radiator water to mix up with transmission oil!!! That means I have water in my transmission! The car was driving normally though.

http://www.realoem.com/bmw/diagrams/n/d/106.png

3. Replaced that part and flushed the water and the transmission oil several times until everything was 100% clean hoping that the transmission will not be affected.

4. I drove the car for a couple of days and everything seemed fine until I started to notice a little shake when shifting from the 2nd to the 3rd. As I drove more the shake became stronger. Went back to the mechanic and he said the transmission is affected and we have to bring it down.

5. I started to see the horror movie posted on this thread http://www.xoutpost.com/x5-e53-forum/...omes-time.html

6. The guy replaced all the parts inside the transmission and he also replaced the torque converter (part # 2 on the below diagram). He got all the parts from a ZF dealer. I saw the old gears affected by water and losing a lot of "teeth"

http://www.realoem.com/bmw/diagrams/r/c/70.png

7. The mechanic installed everything back in place and pumped the oil inside the gearbox. Started to test, but ........ it was not engaging the first gear! all others were working fine using the manual shifting. He had to take everything apart (AGAIN).

8. He found out that most of the rubber rings inside the gearbox was affected by water and he replaced them all.

9. Put everything back in place and it finally drives normally, actually drived MUCH BETTER than before. Very smooth shifting with no problems whatsoever.

I should get the car by tomorrow as they still need to install the underride guard and wash the car. I am sorry I was not "in the mood" of taking pics but it looks 100% similar to the above linked thread.

He is giving me a 1 year warranty and I still did not pay him anything. Tomorrow I will tell you the total cost which I think is around 300$ !!

:wow: No way is that gonna happen here!

Wow... for $300, it is worth paying the airline ticket to fly the guy from Egypt to U.S. and back, to have him work on one's transmission! :)

Haven't you noticed any leak under the car? By the time you got the coolant level warning you probably lost at least a gallon of fluid not to mention that the radiator pressure should've sprayed the water out.
As for the price you pay I wish it was that cheap here. $300 would get you an estimation and a wash.

Yeah you already knew about this... Over sea ppl do it for very inexpensive.
Just like the NIKE shoes it made in my country cost them about $3.00 and sell it here for $150.00 per pair.;)

The problem in here is that the weather is very hot. If there is a leak under the car the water evaporates before you notice. But later we found the base of the big hose broken and it was replaced. (hose # 1 in the diagram)

http://www.realoem.com/bmw/diagrams/i/m/239.png

He is not in Egypt he is in Saudi Arabia :)
He is a Syrian mechanic that used to live in Germany and work for one of the authorized BMW dealers over there. He is having the German nationality too.

mmm, a syrian repairing the car of an Egyptian... was it the result of the last syrian-egyptian talks? ;)

to be on the safe side, make sure he didn't plant some C4 in your X, syrian guys are damn good at it... ask us about it! :p