MTV

Purchased my '05 530i last December and noticed a slight tranny slam whenever I came to a complete stop, nothing that bad but very annoying, thought it was normal. Then one day I decided to use "M"mode and boy was I in for a surprise. As I came to a stop sign and came to a complete stop I down shifted from 2nd to 1st... then BAM it felt as if someone had just rear-ended me. Decided to check it out when I got to the next stop sign... same thing, really hard tranny slam.

Brought it in to the dealership the next day to have it checked since it was still under warranty. They told me later that afternoon that they had to run a few more test to make sure that they have covered all the bases. After a couple of days of waiting the dealership finally called and informed me that they had to replace the entire transmission due to an internal failure which could not be repaired. "WOW!" I exclaimed, "Replace the entire tranny OMG what will that cost me"... "The $100 deductible is your out of pocket, since you also brought it in to have the radio reprogrammed, if you didn't have the warranty it will cost you at least $7K" is what the service agent replied. Slam is gone, shifts smoothly now plus an additional 2Yr. warranty on the tranny. But most importantly, the dealership did not give me the run around or lame excuses about the problem.

rctmthouse

I think software update is different than that INPA coding. I'm no expert in that field though so may be you can PM Rizbel or some other members who have done it.

But do get the fluid change. I changed mine last month and it did make a difference, especially at starting from a complete stop.

aharper

I had my car in with the dealer this past week to replace my blower motor. While there I complained about my car giving me a "shutter" or what feels like a shift at around 35 or so mph while maintaining speed on the gas. My RPM's drop quickly and my mpg's drop as well. It feels exactly like the car is shifting, I can feel it in my seat and the car "lunges" a little. I've also had a couple pretty hard shifts at this same speed, very frustrating and all out embarrassing when driving with someone else in the car. The dealer told me that they couldn't find any codes and that what I'm describing is normal. I'm glad that my 3rd party warranty covered my blower motor but I'm becoming frustrated with this car. All 4 rims were bent when I got it so they were replaced. The alignment needed done... twice because BMW couldn't get it the first time. The blower motor was just replaced. This tranny problem may be enough for me to cut my losses. This is my 3rd BMW and I really love the car but I can't stomach throwing thousands of dollars every other month into this thing like this. I wish BMW would just step up to the plate with this type of problem and correct it so that enthusiasts and people loyal to the brand could continue to own and enjoy the car.

ilovejdmtoy

what's the mileage?

rocksteady530

Anyone every got the Transmission failsafe after the jerk? Wondering if I should try the INPA fix before the dealer tells me I need a new Tranny.

scottlep

Rizbel....did the INPA seem to work for more than a few days?

I had a dealer do that latest updates on mine, reset the adaptive driving, as well as what they call the "2-1 tip in" which seemed to fix the slam problem for a few days. Now after a month or two later and close to 1000 miles the slam is worse than ever!!! Yesterday twice while I was out running errands during lunch it did it so badly that it chirped the tires when it slammed down into 1st gear. Both times I also noticed the traction control warning light flash on for a split second before it slammed into first.....as if the computer thought the tires were spinning because the engine revved so high before it decided to downshift or select 1st gear. To me it seems like it gets stuck in between gears or hangs in neutral or hang in limbo before it decides what gear it wants to use.

So I am wondering if what you are doing with the INPA is actually just performing the adaptive driving reset that my dealer did? I will translate the screen shots you provided from INPA and see what the choices actually say in English.

For those of you who have done a tranny filter and fluid change....has this seem to permanently fixed the problem? I am wary to do the tranny service because I have read on other forums where the tranny service acually causes the tranny to fail soon after doing the fluid change.

Thanks,
Scott

scottlep

I just did some translation using Google Translate on the last few screen shots where the commands are in German. The screen that asks JA (Yes) or NEIN (No) translates to "Learning Function Reset (top in blue bar) Do you want all learning functions changed back?(above JA or NEIN)"

It looks like you are resetting the learning functions of the transmission....which to me seems like it would be the same as the dealer resetting the adaptive driving.

So did this fix last for the long term for you guys?

Thanks,
Scott

rctmthouse

difficult to answer this question since most of people who did the fluid change hasn't done it long enough to find out the long term effect. I believe the OP who posted the fluid change in the DIY section did his awhile back and had no problem so far. I did mine not long ago but I had a gasket leak so I had no choice.

As for what you're describing, it seems like your transmission is slipping. May be this is more serious than the normal hesitation or slam. If your car is no longer under warranty, I suggest you perform the fluid change and replace the sleeve. It does feel more smoother after the fluid change, at least for me.

GL

scottlep

As other people have mentioned....I too am not convinced that it is an internal problem with the trans as much as a software glitch. My 545 intermittently has every other behavior explained in this thread and other threads on other forums. Slamming, surging when coasting, slow going into reverse, surging at stops, etc. Today I tried to get it to do the slam at the same exact places that I was driving yesterday when the slams happened so violently and I could not make it happen. Some days the car drives totally normal and I love it. Other days it does the slam and other symptoms several times a day and I hate the car and want to drive it to a dealer to get rid of it.

I have done the "hold down the pedal for 25 seconds" trick and it does fix the car for a day or two. I have also had the dealer do the software updates and adaptive driving reset which always is only temporary.

When I took it in to be diagnosed, the BMW dealership told me there was absolutely no way there could be an internal problem, such as slipping, without an error code being generated. Who knows if this is the truth.

When I bought the car it was out of the BMW CPO warranty due to the age. But it was under a Chrysler Used Car Extended Warranty since I bought it from a friend who owns a Chrysler Dealership. He stated that if I could get BMW to say that it was a bad trans, then he would have the warranty pay for it since it wasn't money out of his pocket. I explained this to the BMW dealer and told them it would be in their best interest to find something wrong with the trans...but they still insisted there was not a problem since there was not an error code. Kinda stupid on the BMW Dealer's part because they could have just said that it was a bad trans and made some money from the replacement. My friend who owns the Chrysler Dealer even took it to a different BMW dealership that he does alot of business with and they told him the same thing!?!?

Later today I am taking to an independent shop that I have used before for my other BMWs. I have been talking to him about my problems over the past few months since I bought the car. Hopefully he will be able to tell if it is internal trans or software.....without the same BS from the BMW dealer "No Code...No Problem"

scottlep

I took my 545 to the Independent shop yesterday after work. I had a good conversation with the owner of the shop after he scanned my 545 for codes and we took the car for a test drive. Here is what I got out of the conversation after he ran the diagnostics and retrieved NO codes.

1. There would definitely be a code if the was an internal mechanical problem with the transmission.

2. He definitely thinks that the problem is computer/software/adaptive driving related.

3. He asked me what the other dealers told me when I picked up my car after the adaptive driving was reset....my answer "nothing".

4. He informed me that after the adaptive driving is reset and the "2-1 tip-in" is performed that there is a specific way that the car should be driven for a few hundred miles after the reset and tip-in. This includes driving the car conservatively and not doing any full throttle runs, high speed driving, etc. He said to basically drive like a granny for a few hundred miles. I was never told this by either of the dealers that did the resets.

5. He said they have changed the adaptations on a few dozen cars that had the slam and other symptoms and every single one had been resolved with the reset, tip-in, and conservative driving for a few hundred miles afterwords. There was even another customer there in the waiting room with a 2005 530 that had the same problem in the past. The owner of the shop asked the customer to tell me about his trans problems and if they had been resolved. The customer then told me about all of the symptoms he had, what the shop did, and that all of the symptoms and the slam were now gone and had been non-existent for well over 10,000 miles.

6. The owner of the shop did say that he has had situations where the adaptations had to be reset and the above procedures followed more than once before the computer learned properly. But this was not the case in most situations.

I have scheduled a day next week to stop by and have them reset the adaptive driving and re-perform the 2-1 tip-in and (for lack of a better term) custom tuning of the transmission. I will then "drive conservatively" as per their recommendations.

So...I am hopeful that this will take care of the problem once and for all. I have used this shop many times in the past for my other BMWs and my wife's BMWs. I don't think the owner would tell me that he could fix it with a $50 re-programming when he could just tell me it needed a $6000 transmission and make tons of money from the labor.

I'll keep my fingers crossed.