Bmw diesel auto 2007 x5 gear box problem

[Shhh2000]

Hi all,
Driving for 2.5 hours on motorway on Saturday. Came off and car went into limp mode and after I pulled over it would not go into drive or reverse.
Towed it to garage who have told me gearbox has gone and quoted £2295+vat to repair. My question is - is it worth selling without repair or repairing then selling. I’m not sure it’s worth repairing at that cost and keeping because of new charges being introduced in London next year for older cars.

[Alan Gunn]

As i said on the other side i think it can be repaired.
Some valves or something in the box need changing and new oil/filter.
You will get the answer on here so sit tight and the ride should start soon lol.

[StuBeeDoo]

As Alan said, an oil change sometimes does the trick because transmission servicing often gets neglected and no matter what BMW say the transmission won't last the life of the vehicle if the oil and filter aren't changed regularly.

Towing it won't have helped, either.

A 2007 car with screwed transmission is likely worth four-fifths of bugger all. IMHO one way or another you'll have to suck it up.

[X5Sport]

Sorry to read this. Happened to me a few years back and was gutted! The car will be worth far more with a working box than without. A bitter pill especially at this time too.

You could use it as a selling point though - newly rebuilt box with warranty.......has to be worth a bit of a top-up on the selling price maybe?

[Leslie]

Got to decide if you are keeping the car for long enough to justify any cost , if you are just going to sell it after then selling it now as a parts car is maybe the way to go as 3k is a fair chunk of its valve . Is it high mileage already if so what else is on its last legs ?

[Mike88]

I would change the oil before doing anything major. It's surprising how many gearbox issues can be solved by simply changing the oil.

[approved]

So, whilst my car hadn’t done the limp mode thing, it wasn’t right, bit juddery, slightly erratic gear changes etc. so I did transfer box and full zf gearbox service ( I did both diffs as well whilst it was there).

It sorted my niggles and it’s now driving perfectly again.

Not saying it will fix yours, but I know of a guy who’s 155000 mile x5 suffered similar issues to yours and he gave up on it , due to not wanting to take on the aggro. It was suggested that the work required could be minor ( serviceable stuff) , or could be major ( refurbished exchanges etc) but it would be a process of elimination

He cut his losses and sold it for buttons.

The car then had pretty much the same work as mine, plus a full service and a few other minor preventative maintenance bits, like glow plugs etc and is running perfectly again for what I imagine to be about 1500 at specialist rates...

The gearbox service is about 500 quid, the transfer box is about 100. I’d start with that and see where that puts you. The person that said it was knackered and needed a new box, were they Bmw specialist? Definitely worth a second opinion....

Good luck, whatever you decide.

[X5Sport]

It might help your decision making process if you knew what error codes have been logged? That needs the right software to interrogate the transmission itself. Many generic readers don’t seem to be able to communicate with the correct modules.

It might signal the difference between a rebuild or just a fluid/filter change.