Transmission Failure 2003 3.0D
 

Just 4000 kms after the 100k kilometre service, my wife's 3.0D transmission has failed. It had recently started to become a little clunky on downshifts. This was only intermittent.The local auto transmission shop (the nearest dealer is 200 kms away) dropped the pan and it had a lot of metal filings in it. I have now been informed that it need a complete rebuild costing AUD 6200! He advised me that the gearbox was a GM box and that he would be doing some modifications (as devised by some company in the US - the name escapes me) to make it 'better' than new.He said that they are fitting this gearbox to new Holden Commodores and that GM Holden are just replacing the gearboxes as they are all under warranty. Now I have read all the should I or shouldn't I change the 'lifetime' transmission oil posts, but my question is....if this gearbox is clearly not GM's finest engineering triumph, why did BMW and indeed Holden use it??

Do you think if you had changed the tranny oil earlier you would not have had this problem? I feel like this lifetime oil business is just wrong.

its the lifetime of the transmission, not the car, and the bmw recommended service is at 100,000 miles since 2002.

What do they recommend @ 100K miles - given that 100K km's =62.5K miles?

At 100,000 miles they recommend changing the fluid. This has been an on again/off again recommendation over the years. There are pros and cons to changing it. Doesn't sound like your failure was due to fluid, but rather a mechanical failure, as a fluid failure usually changes the friction characteristics and results in burned clutches, and then burned fluid.

As to why BMW and Holden (and many others) use these transmissions, it is because they are pretty good transmissions. GM make very good automatics, as do ZF. Small manufacturers can't hope to compete and so they outsource their transmissions. Holden isn't in that category, being a GM subsidiary, but it isn't just BMW who buy GM powertrain components.

When you read all the posts on here about transmissions, you are in fact reading about multiple models of both GM and ZF transmissions, between all the 5 speeds, 6 speeds, 3.0, 3.0d, 4.4, and so on. People like to lump all the transmission issues together, but what it really comes down to is that transmissions are not built for the life of the vehicle. It isn't just transmissions, that applies to other major components as well.

All of this will be small comfort to you with your catastrophic transmission failure at 104,000 km, as that seems far too early to me as well, but it is what it is.

Just a thought: Did you chip this vehicle, or do anything to increase the power? And have you owned it from new, or do you know how it was driven before you owned it?

No, it's bog standard. Bought it secondhand @ 46K kms.

No towbar. My wife doesn't flog it.

While I appreciate that using another manufacturers componentry is commonplace it appears to me that that I'm not the only one to have suffered this problem in a car that purports to be a premium brand. So while GM may make OK gearboxes, I would question that the one in my wife's was pretty ordinary!

The repairer has assured me that the rebuilt gearbox will be better than new - I hope so!

Had less problems with my Alfa Romeo 147 (a brand not known for its reliability!)

It is just a machine. If you purchased the vehicle hoping to be reliable because you though it was a premium brand, than you should of done more research. i expect my vehicles to break down, the entire car is not made by BMW. Heck GOD didnt get everything right.

Its sad to hear about things like this especially from a brand like BMW. My neighbors son drives a 1992 Honda Civic which is still running on the same factory tranny and engine. The car is completely rusted and looks like it could fall apart any moment, but surprisingly it still runs like a champ.

That's not a fair comparison. The civic is a lot simpler in design. BTW, Honda is having their share of transmission issues recently as do many other manufacturers.

I understand that it may be less complex than a X5 transmission and like everything mechanical it is bound to fail eventually, it just bothers me that a cheap 17 year transmission can outlast a BMW transmission.

BTW I'm not making any negative comments on Honda's or BMW's just my $0.02