Hi Guys,

My dad owns a '04 545i SMG and recently his SMG tranny failed on him. The stealership in Santa Monica says that it's going to cost almost $9,000 to replace the hydraulic pump and fix other electrical issues.

I've done some research on the internet and read about some E46 M3 SMG owners converting their trannys to a manual tranny. I was wondering if anyone knows of a shop in Southern California that can do this job for my dad's 545i SMG. He basically doesn't want to deal with future problems from a SMG tranny and would rather have a convention 6 speed manual transmission. Thanks for your help in advance, guys!

9k? damn.

changing transmissios is probably not feasable. too many things to change out, plus the electronics might be impossible.

best bet is to find an independent mechanic.
how many miles on the car? just the pump failed?

What other electrical problems is the car having? If it's just the hydraulic pump causing the problem, the fix should be around $1500. I would get a second opinion.

Interesting, how many miles on the car/transmission. Have you contacted ZF? See what they have to say.
Raj

Search the forum because we had this pump failed discussion couple weeks ago. One of forum member got it fixed under 1000 for the pump.

If its the pump then its not a costly fix. There are many indy shops that can fix it for under 1K and give it a warranty. The "other"eletrical issues what are they and are they related to the tranny?

I have owned 3 SMG cars and I never worried about them as they are essentially a 6MT with a pump and some additional electronics. The clutch, etc is all the same and I fnd it funny why some think the actual tranny is any different from the 6MT tranny. It's the same tranny minus a pedal plus a pump.

Like some have suggested get another opinion from a reputable INDY shop. The SMG is not some "elusive" technology that no one has heard about.

I hope the other shop gives you a better opinion or you are not telling us everything of what they said. There is no way a pump and some electrical fixes will cost you 9K.

Describe how your tranny is behaving, which symptoms it gives..




Here my experience:

https://5series.net/forums/index.php?showto...amp;hl=SMG+cold

It will cost more than $9k to convert the car, and if you did it only the guy that performed the conversion would be able to work on anything connected to the tranny in the future. A dealer won't touch it after that type of surgery...

It surely can be done, but not by a dealer imho.

https://5series.net/forums/index.php?showto...ulic+pump\

https://5series.net/forums/index.php?showto...ulic+pump\

I'd not jump the gun and get a conversion. Is the car drivable?