[ssN52]

The tranny on my 335d likes to delay shifting from 2nd to 3rd gear a lot, even when the motor is fully warmed up, although sometimes it doesn't. This happened after replacing the valve seals (and making the stupid mistake of handling the mechatronic unit a bit roughly, since it was heavy). After this, I also replaced the SCR Metering Unit, since I was dealing with the OBD2 code P20EE (still hasn't been resolved yet) After a while, I decided to take the d on a couple of full throttle runs to burn off some carbon, and the day after that, it started to upshift from 3rd to 4th a bit roughly and/or delays it sometimes. Note: the kit I bought for the tranny maintenance had an aftermarket quality pan (CRP), (which I was not aware of at the time, until I found the same kit on FCP Euro) Any ideas on what I should do? Should I replace the pan with a ZF pan and do a fluid flush? Replace the solenoids?

[Soonerbilly]

Get a TCU tune....they work wonders.

[Yozh]

What seals did you replace. And how sure are you that your fluid level is correct. Did you use the right fluid.

[ssN52]

Originally Posted by Yozh

What seals did you replace. And how sure are you that your fluid level is correct. Did you use the right fluid.

I replaced all four valve body sealing sleeves, the adapter plug, and the mechatronic sealing sleeve. I'm sure I used the right amount, since I kept pumping fluid through the full hole until a slight stream came out from the hole. And I used Pentosin ATF1, which is an approved fluid.

[007_e350]

Originally Posted by stock335d

I replaced all four valve body sealing sleeves, the adapter plug, and the mechatronic sealing sleeve. I'm sure I used the right amount, since I kept pumping fluid through the full hole until a slight stream came out from the hole. And I used Pentosin ATF1, which is an approved fluid.

Once stream starts to flow out you need to start the car go through gears and then continue filling while the engine is running, it will take a good quart again, also temp has to stay at 40 C get an infrared thermometer to measure that

[kbsilver]

Around 80K miles my car started having a bad 2-3 shift, usually when cold. 3rd was slow to engage and would sometimes rev up then bang 3rd when it caught. Dealer refused to service the trans. At 110K miles went to a recommended independent trans shop for the filter/pan, 4 megatronic sleeve seals, the main square seal and fresh fluid refill. I believe they used all ZF parts. Trans now is as good as new. They said even at that mileage there was nothing notable about the condition of the fluid and nothing significant stuck to the magnets or bottom of pan. I was charged $780. I found it refreshing the shop was very old school, service was authorized by a handshake, invoice written by hand. The building was the local Packard dealer in the '30's.

As others have said you need to top off the fluid with the engine running, warm, after running the selector thru all the gears. I wasn't keen on getting burned trying to do this on the floor of the garage thus went to the rare option of paying someone to work on the car.

[ssN52]

Originally Posted by 007_e350

Once stream starts to flow out you need to start the car go through gears and then continue filling while the engine is running, it will take a good quart again, also temp has to stay at 40 C get an infrared thermometer to measure that

Yeah, I did run the car to fill up some more atf and run it through the gears, and used a thermal gun to measure the pan's temperature. Whoops, forgot to mention that.

[007_e350]

Originally Posted by stock335d

Yeah, I did run the car to fill up some more atf and run it through the gears, and used a thermal gun to measure the pan's temperature. Whoops, forgot to mention that.

Ok good. Probably time to get a new valvebody maybe, since you mentioned it was manhandled ?

[ssN52]

Originally Posted by 007_e350

Ok good. Probably time to get a new valvebody maybe, since you mentioned it was manhandled ?

The valve body wasn't dropped hard, it's just that it kinda fell from a very short distance onto a big rubber funnel. So hopefully, only the solenoids were slightly damaged, since a new valve body is quite pricey.

[Soonerbilly]

Did you do an adatations reset?

[ssN52]

Originally Posted by Soonerbilly

Did you do an adatations reset?

No, since I've heard that once you reset the adaptations, you have to follow a learning procedure strictly, in which you need a long a** stretch of road to do this, otherwise the rough shifting of a freshly reset transmission will be detrimental to its life. (Heard this from FCP Euro) Not sure if this is necessarily true or not though. Plus, I don't have any software that can do that, and I'm not exactly good with computers when it comes to installing software as complicated as INPA

[007_e350]

Originally Posted by stock335d

The valve body wasn't dropped hard, it's just that it kinda fell from a very short distance onto a big rubber funnel. So hopefully, only the solenoids were slightly damaged, since a new valve body is quite pricey.

I saw some on eBay for 300 bucks now I don’t know if it’s worth it to swap with a used one.. at some point you would have to change it though..
what were the intervals at which you did trans oil changes ?

[RED-d]

I have the same delayed 2-3 shift. Up to and over 3000 prm's. Like you it's intermittent. I changed my seals and solenoids, and while I had the VB off, I installed the zip kit and new separator plate. I thought it was going to take only 6-7 qts of oil, but I ran out of oil before it started dripping. I'll warm it up this weekend and add more fluid, then reset adaptations. I'm at 145k miles and did a fluid/filter change at 122k miles. Hope it helps. I'm concerned because I had significant buildup on my magnets after 20k miles.

[007_e350]

Originally Posted by RED-d

I have the same delayed 2-3 shift. Up to and over 3000 prm's. Like you it's intermittent. I changed my seals and solenoids, and while I had the VB off, I installed the zip kit and new separator plate. I thought it was going to take only 6-7 qts of oil, but I ran out of oil before it started dripping. I'll warm it up this weekend and add more fluid, then reset adaptations. I'm at 145k miles and did a fluid/filter change at 122k miles. Hope it helps. I'm concerned because I had significant buildup on my magnets after 20k miles.

Reality is if you haven’t done trans service at 70k, the damage is done... now you may get away with it at 80k if the car isn’t pushed that hard but that’s the limit, issues will start emerging as early as 130k
Also bmw stinks the way they do partial fillup, TC holds a large amount of oil that doesn’t get changed, I usually do the flush three times until it becomes light brown ... this time I’m gonna take a chance and try the oil cooler line method, will circle back ... enjoy the d!

[ssN52]

Originally Posted by 007_e350

I saw some on eBay for 300 bucks now I don’t know if it’s worth it to swap with a used one.. at some point you would have to change it though..
what were the intervals at which you did trans oil changes ?

I changed the fluid at around 65k miles. Shortly after that at around 67k, I found out that I had to also replace the valve seals, and that was when the valve body was handled a bit roughly. I also didn't replace the aftermarket quality pan, since I was kind of on a budget. Probably should've bought a ZF pan during that time.

[kbsilver]

Originally Posted by RED-d

I have the same delayed 2-3 shift. Up to and over 3000 prm's. Like you it's intermittent. I changed my seals and solenoids, and while I had the VB off, I installed the zip kit and new separator plate. I thought it was going to take only 6-7 qts of oil, but I ran out of oil before it started dripping. I'll warm it up this weekend and add more fluid, then reset adaptations. I'm at 145k miles and did a fluid/filter change at 122k miles. Hope it helps. I'm concerned because I had significant buildup on my magnets after 20k miles.

First I will disclaim I'm no expert on this. But applying logic have these thoughts. The transmissions are electronically shifted by computer. The valves in the trans are only responding to what they are being told to do by the computer. Something is causing the computer to delay the shift, like a sensor not reading correctly. I had a trans internal temperate sensor go bad in an E39 that caused total havoc in the shifting. What if in this case the computer thinks the transmission is always cold.

I doubt a drop into a plastic funnel would damage anything in the valve body unless one the the solenoids was visibly misaligned. I had a partial fluid change at 60K miles (drain and refill without removing the pan). 2 years later I was getting a bad 2-3 shift, not the delayed 2-3 people are mentioning (for details scroll up in this thread to my previous comments). As indicated at 110K miles had the pan dropped, all the megatronic seals changed, new pan/filter and ZF fluid refill. This solved the bad shift issue. Shop mentioned there was nothing notable about the condition of the fluid, metal in the pan or on the magnets. If you are getting metal on the magnets, something else is probably going on. Unless you are extremely hard on the trans, 100K mile service interval while not the best idea, should not be damaging the trans.