I'd do a filter and fluid change just to make sure you have enough fluid in there.

Yep - fluid and filter - best you can do and keep your fingers crossed.


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I will speak to them, with the goal of perhaps getting a partial refund to offset repairs down the road. I very much want to keep the car, I love it. Really the only impact of this is I have to let the car warm up for 30 seconds the first time I drive it each day, which is to say really nearly zero impact. However, I am sure the stealership didn't know it was benign, and I am sure there is no possible way they could not have noticed the issue in the time they had it. They chose to pass this along to a customer rather than sending it to auction. OR, their service people are incompetent. They have no legal obligation to me, but we shall see how interested they are in "providing good customer service". Anytime I read a bad review of a dealership, the dealership usually replies "you should have giving us a chance before writing" so I will give them that opportunity.

My 2003 3.0 had exactly same symptoms when I bout it with 115k on the odometer. Issue was completely resolved with installation of new filter and fresh fluid. I noted that sealing rings on the old filter lost flexibility and likely didn't seal well causing delays on the first shift. Transmission still shifts perfectly today with over 188k.

:iagree: with axgordon

On the 3.0i, the main cause of this slipping after parking overnight is the transmission filter. It's a stupid design where the entire filter is mainly held in place with an o-ring. If the o-ring is failing, the filter will drop to the pan floor as the car sits overnight. So, in the morning, it takes a while to build up pressure to suck the filter back into place and everything will run fine again, but for the time that the filter is sitting on the pan, your transmission will slip.

The above is what my mechanic discovered after I had an aftermarket filter installed and the transmission was slipping every morning...worst on colder mornings. Problem solved after putting in an OE BMW filter. It's been running perfectly without slipping for about 30K miles now after putting in the BMW filter.

The 4.4i has a better filter design as there's a screw/bolt holding the filter in place.

FWIW, my 4.4 has the o-ring filter. No screw to hold in place.

Both were correct statements! Pre-face-lift 4.4 uses ZF 5HP-24 with bolt on filter and face-lift(2004-2006) 4.4 uses ZF 6HP-26 with the filter mounted using deep o-ring.

Thanks for all the help guys!! I'll print off this thread and run it by my indy!

Great job guys! Old mate is probably breathing a sigh of relief. Forum pulls through yet again!


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