[DBall]

This happened yesterday... I was driving in SD and the car, when going from 4th to 5th gear (I believe), felt like someone hit it from behind it shifted so hard. After that, the yellow gear light with the exclamation point popped up and the car wouldn't leave 3rd gear. I tried adjusting it manually and no change.

Once I pulled over, turned the car off and restarted it, the warning was gone but, even in D, it didn't really seem to shift right.

I did some searching and I found responses ranging from "that's normal" to "I need a new $7000 transmission".

Anyone else have this type of thing happen? This is a 335xi twin turbo with a little over 85k on the odometer. I just picked this up around 2-3 weeks ago, so I'm waiting on the dealer (independent) to call me back. Hope it's not the transmission breaking... that would suck.

Let me also add that I haven't made any mods at all. Yet

[nate5ks]

Sounds like it went into limp home mode. This can happen for a number of reasons, even ones not related to the transmission like crank sensor errors. Best thing to do is get it scanned and clear the errors and limp home mode should go away. If (or when) it comes again have it scanned again and assume that whatever it gives you is the problem. Sometimes software upgrades will also correct this.

[DBall]

Originally Posted by nate5ks

Sounds like it went into limp home mode. This can happen for a number of reasons, even ones not related to the transmission like crank sensor errors. Best thing to do is get it scanned and clear the errors and limp home mode should go away. If (or when) it comes again have it scanned again and assume that whatever it gives you is the problem. Sometimes software upgrades will also correct this.

Thanks for the reply. I plugged a scanner in last night and it said there were no faults recorded, which I found odd. I was using Torque on my phone and a bluetooth ODB2 adapter to check...

[DBall]

Also, I drove it a couple times since that (last night and today) and it drives perfectly... weird...

[nate5ks]

Most generic obd scanners will not pick up bmw specific faults or faults not produced by the engine ECU. You will probably need a different scanner to read and erase most fault codes.

[DBall]

As an update, a whirring sound started coming from the car last week (sounded like one of those siren whistles we used to buy as kids) every time I revved (even at low speeds). After that it slipped out of gear a few more times and then on Saturday, it slipped out and the transmission didn't seem to catch about 3 times. Turning it off and on would allow it to move for a little bit, but then it would stop working again, the yellow gear icon would fire, and I'd have to 'reboot the car'. Also, the SES light came on and indicated codes p17e5 and p17e1. I couldn't get my laptop to connect with the ODBII port (there are tons of directions to do it, but it wouldn't quite work).

Luckily, the closest parking lot to where I realized my car wasn't safe to try driving anywhere else turned out to be Impact Auto... a place that fixes European cars that I didn't know existed on a street I've never driven down before.

They are going to run the diagnostics and report back... I'll let you know what happens from there. I'm just hoping it isn't the transmission...

[DBall]

4f89egs ratio monitoring gear shift 3-4
4f85egs ratio clutch E
4f81egs ratio clutch A

Impact read a service bulletin and thinks that fixing 4f81egs ratio clutch A *might* fix everything... it is a $600 job and only is about a 50/50 chance that it will resolve all the issues. If that doesn't fix it, I'm looking at needing a new transmission (4-6k).

[pedrobmw]

Could be a problem with one or more wires finally breaking in the shifter assembly, which seems to have affected a large number of vehicles, including my 2007 328xi. Your presentation is a bit atypical, but it might be reflective of just one of the wires breaking. You can at least take a look at the cabling in the assembly, to see if this is your problem. Just make sure to remove the cable cover and peel back the tape, as the problems weren't evident in my case until I did that.

Here are relevant threads:

http://www.e90post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=842645
http://www.e90post.com/forums/showth...=447680&page=2


Hope it works out for you.

[DBall]

4f81egs ratio clutch A should be worked on today... fingers crossed that it works...

[DBall]

They changed it out and it isn't making a difference... they said the transmission is shot and I need a new one. FML.

[DBall]

Had it towed to BMW of Rochester (West Herr) and they confirmed it is the transmission... the guy asked if I was sitting down and then proceded to tell me a new transmission was $8238. I think I shit then, but can't remember because I blacked out...

Anyway, I got home and called BMWNA to see if there was anything they could do (it's got 87k on the clock and I've owned the car for, like, 70 days... NYS Lemon Law states that any car over 80k has a warranty of 30 days/1000 miles) and they kindly told me to go pound sand. I bought the car from Elite Auto Solutions and have called the owner, Chris, a bunch of times... he said he was out of town and reminded me I was out of warranty, but he may be able to help with finding something to get the car running.

While this thing worked, I loved it... my favorite car so far, but dying in less than 3 months... not so good. How often do transmissions irrepairably fail on BMWs under 90k miles...?

[jaybird124]

Are you going to persist with BMW NA?

[DBall]

Originally Posted by jaybird124

Are you going to persist with BMW NA?

Not really sure how... while they made it sound like they were sorry such an unfortunate thing happened, they seemed to have no desire to help out with it...

[DBall]

Getting it rebuilt... hopefully not more than $3500 and that comes with a 2-year, 24k mi warranty...

[jaybird124]

Where's it getting rebuilt?

[DBall]

Originally Posted by jaybird124

Where's it getting rebuilt?

Airport Transmission... actually, they were referred to me by a few people (including the service department at BMW who said they suggest all customers requesting transmission rebuilds go there).

[DBall]

Got it back today... after they took it apart they determined that they couldn't find the parts to rebuild it. I found a used one with 38k miles on it, they put it in and it worked perfectly. $900 for the transmission, $1500 for the labor/tow/etc.

Now... to get that Alpina flash on there...

[ChrisJ]