w84me

Thanks Kyle. mine is in good shape right now, just planning ahead and trying to learn and also understand what this car may cost me in the future: Check this out p 11, also BMW specific on P 16 : https://s3.amazonaws.com/sonnax-dev/...AutoChoice.pdf

Finding some good stuff now!

http://www.sonnax.com/articles/249-Adapt-Overcome

http://www.sonnax.com/pdfs/12-Valve-...AW-TR-60SN-09D

http://www.sonnax.com/articles/94-Ta...2-Valve-Bodies

http://www.sonnax.com/resources?utf8=%E2%9C%93&units[]=ZF6HP26&units[]=ZF6HP26%2C+255mm&units[]=ZF6HP26%2C+260mm&commit=Filter#resources

http://www.ecudoctors.com/bmw-ecu-dm...d-rebuilt.html

Good overview of why/how the VIN codes in the tranny get used

http://www.bmwmotorsports.org/pdf/e7...System%203.pdf

http://www.kneb.net/bmw/F01-02/03.4_...System%204.pdf

http://www.e38.org/EWS.pdf

P 44 - Cooling strategy used by TCM
http://www.disco3.co.uk/gallery/albu..._Operation.pdf

chrisa

hi guys, so a few days ago i can't put my car in reverse.. the gear engaged, but the car did not move at all.. and the car moves forward just fine, no jerking or jolting at all, also it did not throw any error codes, is there any lead where to start first? sorry for my bad english.

Ryanoscerous

This was so helpful so thank you!

kryan

Great post......Hi guys, following this thread I gained the courage to jack up my car remove the valvebody and send it to valve body express. Here's what they write back:

I left a message for you today, not sure if you received it or not. VBX called me today and after examining your valve body they discovered they can't rebuild it because it's a 2nd generation 6HP19, known as the 6HP22. Technically your car being a 2008, it shouldn't even be in there, 2009 was the first model year to feature the 6HP22. Maybe your 528 was an early market test model.
It is very difficult to tell the difference between the 6HP19 and the 6HP22 because externally they are almost identical. I apologize about this, I feel bad. I will refund your money and VBX is going to ship the valve body back to you. I am searching to see if I can find a 6HP22 for you, I know I can get them new from ZF through Transtar for around $2000.00, not sure how much they are from the dealership. Please call me tomorrow when you can we can talk. I am doing my best to find the most affordable solution for you.

Does anybody have any ideas? The car is a 2008 528xi, trans frequency of "fail safe" was increasing to 5 incidents. Do you think just changing the solenoids would do it?

thanks

KyleB

Yes, if they can't find you a VB then I would replace all shift solenoids, sealing sleeves, bridge seal, Mechatronic sealing sleeve, replace fluid and filter and reset adaptations. The bridge seal and solenoids seem to be the common failure points.

good luck, and ba ba booey to you all.

kryan

Yes Matt was mistaken, the transmission according to the label is a 6HP21X. Because the car is and AWD, i was not able to remove the Mechatronic sleeve past the lip of the trans and trans support. I hoping to just change the o-rings on the sleeve and re -use it. ZF's telling me to get a diagnosis because it might be a pump bushing and not the mechatronic.

thanks for your help

invisiblewave

This isn't strictly a BMW question, since my car is a VW Phaeton, but I have the 6HP19a transmission, and this seems to be far and away the best source of information about it, so I was hoping I might get a bit of help since VW are about as useful as a chocolate fire guard when it comes to transmission problems (or anything else for that matter).

I had a replacement VW re-manufactured unit installed 15k miles ago under warranty. Since then, said warranty has expired, and now I'm having trouble, VW aren't interested, despite me reporting the problem right after installation. It used to be intermittent, now it's all the time with occasional really hard thumps.

Symptoms are a hard downshift from 4th to 3rd, but only when braking firmly, if I'm coasting or braking really gently, it shifts normally. It also only does it when warm (> 10 minutes from cold). As the transmission gets hotter, the problem seems to get worse, I've had the really bad thump a couple of times on long trips.

After speaking to ZF, their technical helpline said it's likely either a solenoid or a "worn shaft bushing" (which I assume is internal). For further diagnosis, they suggest swapping solenoids to see if the problem moves to another gear.

It appears to be filled with LG6, fluid level is good, it started leaking fluid as soon as I loosened the filler plug.

My questions are firstly, is it likely to be a solenoid? I know they're the most common point of failure, but my symptoms are unusual. Second, should I go to the trouble of removing it just to swap solenoids, or at that point should I just replace them? Looking at the kits, it seems the M-shift kit (which I believe I need) is hard to come by at the moment, I'm thinking if I narrow it to a single solenoid it'll be easier (and cheaper).

KyleB

You say that the transmission is 15K miles new...do you know if they reused your old valve body for some strange reason? If it was a reman unit straight from ZF it should have had a new valve body in it too, which would have had a fresh set of solenoids. From what I've seen they ship those things fully assembled and 100% ready to be installed without 'swapping' anything over.

the 'shaft bushing' problem they're describing is the input shaft bearing. again, at 15K miles you should not have a worn input shaft bushing.

You say you checked fluid level...did you check it with the trans up to operating temperature with the car running? That is the only way to properly measure fluid level in this transmission.

Have you tried resetting adaptations? With such a new transmission I would start there. Automotive law dictates that any part on any car can fail at any time, but I would sure like to think that a fresh transmission wouldn't have component failure at 15K miles...but anything's possible.

The 6HP19 gearbox, even when functioning properly, isn't the smoothest transmission in the world.

good luck.

invisiblewave

It was a VW re-manufactured unit which shipped from Florida, which I assume means it was done by ZF. It was never right from "new", it always had an intermittent hard downshift from 4th to 3rd.

Glad you reminded me about the fluid, it was hot but the engine wasn't running when I loosened the filler plug. I wasn't actually checking the level at the time, I was trying to determine whether it was filled with LG6 or LG8, and fluid started leaking out as soon as I loosened it. I'll check it again.

I've done the adaptation reset, and also the adaptation drive. Since then I think there's been some improvement, but that may well be my imagination.

Other than the specific hard shift, both transmissions have always been exceptionally smooth in my estimation, although both my previous auto 'boxes have been American, the German cars I've owned have all been manual gearboxes until this one.

I'm currently leaning towards ZF's suggestion of swapping over solenoids to see if the problem moves. Do you happen to know which solenoid is involved in the 4th-3rd change?

KyleB

Well it isn't just one solenoid that is responsible for the 4-3 change. The solenoids are color coded, so what you could do is swap a couple of blues with one another or a couple of yellows with one another and see what happens. I don't know what it's like on a Phaeton but just getting to them is enough work where I'd just replace them if I spent enough time to get to a point where I have the valve body in my hands with all solenoids accessible. I have no idea if you need and M-shift or E-shift set, you'd have to check the serial number on the outside of your gearbox.

It is also possible that one or more of the seals have failed prematurely.

Check your fluid level again. It must be checked with the engine running and with gearbox temps between 40C and 50C.


It is unacceptable to have transmission problems 15K miles after having it replaced with a 'factory' rebuilt unit. ZF and/or VW should be ashamed and should be willing to help you out in some fashion.

Manual gearboxes are definitely the way to go (Getrag if you can). If you must go automatic, as much as I detest GM and everything they stand for, they actually are compentent with automatics. BMW used GM autos in several cars over the years.

I wish I could be more help. I would be raising hell at VW/ZF if I were in your shoes. I'm going to guess putting a new gearbox in a Phaeton at the dealer wasn't cheap...