RussHamel73

Hello All,

I purchased a 2006 BMW 550i on Thursday. It's Mystic Blue, like new inside and out. I absulutely love the car, and it is my first luxury car. However...

It has some major issues with the transmission. If I drive it in automatic mode, after a period of time, it will freeze on me when I come to a stop, or slow down enough for it to shift to D1. Basically, it will not move, and I can hear a clack-clack, clack-clack sound as the auto tranny repeatedly shifts from d1 to d2, but does not move. I was stuck for two hours Thursday night. I called the dealer, and he said I drove it it manual without shifting, and to let it cool off.

I managed to get it home Thursday night by shifting in reverse, then starting forward in 2nd gear. This took awhile, as many times the car did not recognize I was even in reverse. When I first proceeded forward in manual mode, I had no luck with 3 or 5th gear. So i got it home by driving in 2, 4, and 6th gears. By the time I got home Thursday night after a 30 minute drive, all 6 gears were functioning correctly.

Start it up Friday morning, and its working correctly. Great! I drive it the hour drive to work in manual, and then trry auto mode and it also is working correctly. On the way home, however, problem began repeating. I avoided getting stuck by doing the shifting in reverse then 2nd gear trick, but still was stuck at several stop lights until I could get going.

I want to emphasize that this only happens when stopping or shifting down to first at stop signs, stop lights, turning into parking lots, etc. If car is going at speed, no problems are occurring.

Thoughts?

KyleB

Welcome to the forum. Sounds like you unwittingly bought someone else's problem. ZF transmissions suck. Check the DIY thread in this forum. Good luck with the car.

cakes

what's the mileage? Has the fluid ever been changed?

Gee_115

Sounds like the tranny is shot. First, check fluid level and top off if necessary, or just do a flush and change pan(pan comes with filter)., next reset the adaptations. If none of that works then you are looking at big money. If you have to go the big money route then do a rebuilt from the dealer, which will have warranty, rather than go buy a new mechatronics for the same old tranny. Good luck.

Jim165

Take the car back immediately..this car is broken. You should be within the 30 Day warranty typical for all car dealerships..make them fix it or get your money back...

seven11

sounds like the problems i am having.

drives fine when just driving at speed but once it comes to a stop, it starts slipping and then won't even shift out of park. sometimes i can drive the car, when it sits for a while.

i bought a used tranny off ebay and gotta put that in. I can probably rebuild the valve body and it would probably fix the problem but not a guarantee. And i couldn't find place that have one in stock for a 5 series and the shop didn't want to hold on to my car for that long if i was gonna send my valve body out for repair. So a used tranny was a better choice for me.

i can still send off my old valve body to get it refurbished but id rather put the cash elsewhere.

Tetonfiber

First of all ZF transmissions are incredible. Secondly, all you have to do is keep clean fluid in them. My car had the dreaded "first gear slam" when you slowed down to stop. Solution: I changed the Pan/filter and the ZF Life-Guard6 fluid twice to flush at 98,000 miles and the problem disappeared. It was a smooth shifting transmission after that. I did changed the fluid again at 135,000 for safe measure.


Remember, there is no such thing as lifetime transmission fluid. It is really commonsense to assume that clear/fresh trans fluid is better than pitch black/dirty fluid.