Just purchased a low mileage (73k) mile e60, 2008 550i. This is my second BMW and I’m quickly falling in love with the quirkiness, (which makes no sense but I’m sure everyone here understands).

first question; I’m trying to determine the exact transmission mine has. The guides I’ve read on the stickies all reference a 545 v8 and mine is the 550. Is there a transmission difference? Or am I running the same transmission?

I ask because I got this cheap due to the transmission not working. What the guy describes is the solenoid problem I’ve seen as pretty common so want to do the repairs myself. Before I start ordering parts. Want to make sure it is the right one.

will the VIN tell? I did a VIN lookup and didn’t see a reference.

thanks and look forward to learning from everyone here!

 

You might want to read this thread..."KyleB's 6HP19 service thread"

 

Is there a link you can post?

 

Just search what he said to look at and it will come up.

 

i found it and read through it. Incredible information. I realize all transmissions are not equal, but is it common for a complete transmission to fail after only 70k ish miles?

 

I would say that is uncommon, but I'm sure it has happened.

If I were you...I might proceed as follows:
-- read the codes with a BMW aware code reader -- this is critical to not just guessing

If it doesn't point to solenoids...
-- drop the transmission oil pan and then drop the mechatronics (aka valve body) and replace the various rubber seals (go to thectsc.com and find their FAQ) ... refill with the proper Lifegaurd fluid

 

These transmissions are hard to kill. Of course if you have an owner who completely disregards maintenance then yes but all of the ones I've worked on I have brought back to life. The way I think about it is if it's not slippin stop trippin, It's fixable. You just need to know what's wrong to fix it correctly and the first part of finding out what is wrong is using a BMW specific reader to get the codes. I always recommend INPA/ISTA installed on a laptop/tablet because it will give you more insight than a BMW OBD2 reader.

 

I’ll look through the threads, but will also ask here; where can I get the INPA/ISTA software?

 

Check PM