gearbox

[mizen296]

HI all does any one know any thing about this problem my car has accured while towing the car occaisonly changes from 5th to 3rd and wont change up for a few miles and then drives ok for a few miles then happens again but when not towing the car is perfect driving me mad!!!!!

[X5Sport]

I would seriously recommend you take it to a BMW Dealer and get the codes read to see what fault there might be. A broken gearbox is serious money to repair/rebuild, up to £3k, and it may only need a cheaper 'fix' like a software reload rather than a rebuild. You may not see any warnings at all on the dash, but the gearbox will record errors. BMW don't rebuild the boxes, they only replace them - at around £7k a pop.

It may be intermittent at present, but this is definitely one of those 'early action required' type issues.

I had no indication of issues until the moment mine lunched itself after a torque converter failure 18 months ago at less than 42k miles. Was rebuilt under WD cover.

Richard

[EXPLORER]

Hi there sorry about your probs when towing

Is this the first time you have had a caravan on the x5, also did bmw dealer fit the towbar / electrics, etc, told the oil has to be kept cooler, some say oil cooler, dealers say larger fan is fitted when they fit towing kit as standard??? my bar was fitted when car was new, and was told by bmw they also fit larger fan as a package for towing , going to try mine for first time this week ,before going to York on the weekend, keep you posted

[mizen296]

no have been towing about two years and has been perfect will book it in have it checked

[mizen296]

Hi thanks for the reply does it have to be a dealer to do the software upgrade or could I go to a specialist

[mizen296]

No towbar was not fitted by. A dealer

[X5Sport]

[quote=""mizen296""]Hi thanks for the reply does it have to be a dealer to do the software upgrade or could I go to a specialist[/quote]

Mine was reloaded by a Bosch specialist who does BMWs for the local Auto Repair shop.

[wilkoturbo]

Mine is in at the dealer now , they have had it now five days even taking it home by the master tech guy who now is having to change the gearbox oil !!!! To sort the problem out. When driving or towing it's holding gearing then changing at 4k

I will update when I pick it up tonight or in the morning hope this will help / fix my car

[mizen296]

thanks for replys did changing the oil sort ur problem out

[wilkoturbo]

Got the car back last night all problems sorted they flushed the box three times but the car and gear changes are soooo smooth I'm well happy

[lordviper]

how much did they charge?
im debating taking it to an indy gearbox specialist or a bmw dealership.
overall i find it shocking that so many e53's have gearbox failure like this.

[wilkoturbo]

Mine was free but they said it costs up to £500 try it yourself ?!

[Turks]

I thought that the dealers wouldn't touch the gearbox to do a flush and oil change... "its a lifetime oil sir" and all that!

Would be good to know as I wouldn't mind mine getting flushed and a new lease of life!


Turks.

[wilkoturbo]

This is what I said just they said oh no we do many changers ?!?!?!?

[X5Sport]

It's been reported on the web that 'lifetime' actually doesn't mean what it says and changes are being done after 60,000 miles where 'appropriate' - however that is defined. Methinks the transmission fluids either aren't up to the job after all, or too much crud gets in it and the filters start to block, pressure drops and that's goodnight gearbox. I suppose in some cases a fluid and filter change is warranted in the hope that no other damage has been caused.

I don't like the term 'lifetime' as it's such a hard thing to properly define given that it's probably based on a statistical norm and anyone who has worked in motor engineering knows that the norms go out of the window because everyone drives differently and coupled with the environment can have dramtic effects on the 'norm'.

Maybe BMW mean 'lifetime' of first ownership - like Vauxhell's 'Lifetime Warranty' - only valid if you're the first owner and keep the car from new.

Personally I think it's kind of telling that the OEM Warranty is only 3 years. Given it's supposed to be a Luxury Brand and use higher quality components, it should be a lot longer!! Kia's is now 7 years after all.