XSeries-forum

[quote="COLIN"]

  well how you and gearbox get on today , all sorted out ? how many miles were on yours ??
[/quote]

Just got in from giving it a proper test, all I can say is wow.... I thought it was smooth before (well before it died) but now it's unbelievable.  Can hardly tell when it changes gear, apart from the Rev counter moving, no lurch at all. Now is that the update or the rebuilt gearbox? No idea but I love it. Now I can fully open the taps and not be afraid, first time really since the remap was done. Car is a completely different animal

Only has 82K on the clock, wonder if the old girl wasn't looked after all that well before I bought it

For mine.....38k and just over three years old.  Bad luck I know but still frustrating.  Unusually early.  Like others I found the specialist repairer's car park was rammed full of 5/7/X5/Jag/RangeRover and others.  Same box, all for rebuild.

wow 38k was bad luck X5Sport , ive 122k on mine now  and have asked my mechanic to do a service  but he says no  so we leave it alone , not lurch all the time but when it does i use sport or manual for couple days and its gone for a week or so

ZF who make the box in my 4.6 advise fluid and filter changes between 80000 and 100000 Kilometers (50000 to 60000 miles) so they aren't "sealed for life" the fact that a lot survive is more luck than judgement. Owners change engine oil regularly often at shorter intervals than manufacturers advise, they also change diff and transfer box oils but not the gearbox?
When I got the 4.6 it had 75k on the clock and a full BMW history the trans fluid was very dark when I had it changed. Remember BMW's "sealed for life" policy generally puts the car outside their Manufacturer Warranty, having said that many marques use the ZF trans and it is testament to their toughness that failures are in the low percentages. You just need a good Warranty to protect your wallet if things go pear shaped.

I had the ''Lurch'', did the driver memory reset (plenty of posts), vast improvement, then box went at 44,000
and 4 years old  .(2006).
Luckily had recently bought the car and covered by BMW warrantee, no quibbles , car in and next day a new box arrived from Germany, fitted and back on road next day (3 day turnaround).
Has done 50,000 since and so far no problems and no '' Lurch ''.

Lez

Hello.
I was researching this while I had gearbox issues, which were due to mechatronics sleave leak. This was a known issue, this caused issues for the gearbox as it gradually looses oil unless the leak is obvious you would not notice it. Hence zf themselves supply a new upgraded sleeve with their gearbox oil, filter kit.

So generally as stated earlier since the gearboxes do not get a regular service (would replenish the quality and quantity of oil) and hence are susceptible to issues, read the jaguar thread below in there there is a reply from a ZF person indicating that the software update was released to try and resolve the lurch.

http://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/xj-xj ... 889/page2/

There is the possibility that like the mechatronics sleeve, and the mechatronics valve body is susceptible to issues, which are more likely to occur without regular gearbox services.

Anyway I seem to recall reading that, if a gearbox oil service and 'the software update' as above did not solve it then it was nearly always solved with a new valve body see:

http://www.bimmerfest.com/forums/showth ... p?t=360708

Several E53 on the thread above solved it that way

Of course a reconditioned gearbox does the valve body by default and the lurch disappears. I suppose it something people can live with, i do not have the issue personally

However it would have been interesting when the cars were under warranty and the issue could not be solved if someone had requested a valve body change to resolve it, but it was not probably widely known. Also I imagine the cost of the valve body and replacement is expensive, not sure if anyone has looked at a gearbox specialist that may fit a reconditioned one and the cost vs full gearbox builds vs living with the issue

As well as those articles I also recall some others that mentioned this.

Hope this helps