Anyone else's X5 shift very hard; 1st shift on cold engine?
 

My car shifts very hard & will jerk the car a little, only on the first shift on a cold engine. The slower i'm going the harder the jerk, so I have to leave my driveway in a quicker-than-normal fashion to prevent the hard jerk. After two-three blocks, there's enough heat/pressure to allow for more-normal shifts.

Anyone?? anyone??

Mark

Check to see if you leaking any ATF from the pan or anywhere else? Low ATF can cause these symptoms.

not a drop, not sure how to check either.

this is pretty common, at least to be more firm. I dont know about HARD but a delayed/firm shift is pretty common when cold. Mine does it first shift or two.

Just curious... how many miles on your trans?

Have you tried driving away in "sport mode"?

Have you checked/replaced the trans fluid, ever?

One other test would be to stick it in manual mode, hold 1st gear for a while as you leave home, that should get the fluids moving a bit. From there, switch back to "D" and see if your first up-shift still sucks.

yes, my X5 does this. So does my '12 F150 and both of my K5's. First shift or two are harsh, then the fluid warms up. At least that is what I tell myself.

Same here... cold mornings..first gear revs to a bit higher RPM's (to warm up) then shifts with a mild jerk.

Not too cold in CA but i have same problem, sometimes its very hard shift but only from 1 to 2 thinking about replace transmission fluid soon hope its helps.

lol i just tried driving off in sport mode cold and 1st gear sounded like i was racing down the drag strip before it shifted!

Pretty sure it's temperature related. It takes longer for the ATF to warm up and expanded, thus the hard shifting. There is no way to check the ATF level.

^^ +1.

http://www.xoutpost.com/images/smilies/rofl.gif at you boys and your definition of cold!

I’m having the same issue just on first gear. The weather today is 25 degrees so I put the car in neutral and revved the engine to about 1500 rpms for about 5-10 seconds and it shifted like it was already warmed up. Figured it would be a temporary solution until I can change the transmission fluid.

2006 X5 4.4 bought used at 100,000 miles and we’ve put 36,000 miles since. Not sure if the transmission fluid has ever been serviced

I wouldn't say 'hard' shifts from 1st to 2nd in cold weather for me. But you can definitely feel it vs when the vehicle is at normal operating temperature. I tend to just take it easy in general when the vehicle is cold. I plan on doing a transmission service @ 80k

Has anyone found a fix yet?

Upallnight pretty much nailed it, most likely low fluid level or fluid pressure pushing past the mechatronic seal and pickup tubes.

Most likely (fix), drop the pain, change the filter and refresh the fluid. If that doesn’t do it, change just the fluid again and if that doesn’t do it, drop the pan and change the bridge seal and pickup tubes.

That said, initially check the BMW service procedure for trans fill, get it up to temp, run it through the gears and top off the fluid.

Most probable cause is low fluid pressure when it’s cold, as it heats up the fluid expands and the shifts go back to normal. And yes, you’d be amazed how quickly the trans heats up sitting directly between the cats [emoji106]


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Quick note, doesn’t have to be a puddle under the car to have a “weep” that makes it past the mech seal or out the tail shaft seal and just looks a bit like “slippery” stuff on the under carriage, it is amazing how little fluid is too much for these trannies to lose before they start to act up...

Good luck and keep us posted!!


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