So Who Here Rebuilt There Transmission ?
 

I finally am getting close and ready to do a complete transmission rebuild job hopefully towards the end of the month. This guy has been doing a lot of high end cars and this is not his first X5.

Vehicle Specifications:
2001, X5 4.4i - Fully Loaded
123,347K miles.

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Reason for rebuilding transmission:

Well, overall the hard down shifts for the past year have been pissing me off like crazy and the overall feel of the X hasn't been the same with the transmission causing a lot of crazy jerking.

Besides this after a good two hour drive in the heat (around 80 Degrees) the transmission heats up so much to the point where i can floor the car RPS are flying and im only going at like 30 MPH.

I have been planning on getting the transmission rebuilt for quite sometime now and I finally have the time and cash to get it done. I only have questions for those who have had theres rebuilt in the past.

1) At what mileage did you have your transmission rebuilt

2) What made you feel that you needed to have it rebuilt

3) Did you see a huge difference (For the good) once you have rebuilt the tranny?

Thanks in advance for replies!

After I have my tranny done I will also of course update everyone on the progress and see if there are any major differences with the feel of the drive....

i think my tranny is going down the shoot as well, i recently flushed the old oil and got new trans oil in and so far things are actually looking better and feeling a lot better, but i am always fearful that in the future i will need to rebuild. Can u get me some info on the guy your going to? hopefully i wont have to use it but just as a back up i dont wana be stranded with no one that i can trust to do a good job on a tranny rebuild.

There was a really detailed rebuild post by Swissfrank on a pre-facelift transmission.

http://www.xoutpost.com/bmw-sav-foru...omes-time.html

It's a good read if you've ever considered doing it yourself.

Yes I did read the one by Swissfrank but I am lurking around for more responds from those who did a rebuild and are still running great, trying to see how many of us there are out there.

Having your transmission rebuilt is probably not even necessary in your case. Slipping gears is usually caused by a worn torque converter, old fluid, worn out shift solenoids, or a valve body needing to be refurbished.

BMW ends up replacing complete trans assemblies because their technicians are limited to how much they can service a transmission. Anything passed a Level 1 clearance is not allowed. Keep in mind, the transmissions in our cars are not manufactured by BMW, so only so much is trained to dealer techs. When it comes to transmission issues and you are out of factory warranty, taking your X to a competant transmission shop might yield a better result. Good trans shops have the diagnostic tools to tell you what the problem exactly is with your transmission.

I still feel that I want to go ahead and do a full rebuild. I just wish and hope all my transmission feeling problems will go away.

I had to have my transmission rebuilt last fall at 140,000 miles. I lost reverse which from what I understand is a common problem.

I visited a few transmissions shops in the area and most weren't too knowledgeable about BMW and I finally found a local AAMCO and the guys there knew about BMW and were able to corroborate some of the information I've found on this forum. They were great to work with.

Just slightly over $3 grand with a 36K mile nationwide warranty. Very pleased.

me...

Had mine rebuilt following a failure in the torque converter at just under 42k miles. Cost just over £2k GBP and came with a 12-month warranty, with a 6-month checkup. The trans shop seem to know what they're about as they specialise in ZF.

Now 800 miles and four months later the box still has problems in the first three gears and will be going back in for some further investigation as soon as it can be arranged. We've tried resets and checking the electronics but without success. No idea whether it is one of the replacement parts that has failed, or something got missed first time around, or it's a coincidental failure in the Mechatonics module. Whatever it is it's annoying and makes for rough changes 1-2, 2-3, 3-4 with 2-3 being the worst.

All being well it's be fine when it comes back again.

I've always taken the position that it is better to get a 'remanufactured; tranny. Here is my reasoning:

1. All the old cores are stripped, cleaned and inspected. Only a perfect housing will be reused. (If your housing has any issues, wear, etc, (1) you will never know because the rebuilder doesn't inspect, and (2) he has to use it he has no other)

2. All parts are inspected against factory (Getrag) specs- anything that is bad, they pull the next one.

3. All the regular parts in a rebuild kit are the same- new gaskets, seals, bands, whatever.

4. They will test it.

I like the 2 year warranty too.

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