So I dropped my car off yesterday at the dealership to have the hard shifts, slams and hesitations looked into. I get an email from SA saying that the shop foreman road tested my car and could not replicate my claim. The SA now wants me to come in tomorrow and road test the car with the foreman. Is this really worth the time, or will the foreman probably say he still does not see a problem? How persistent do I have to be?

 

if it's free why not...never hurt to make sure.

 

It's a good idea. I took mine in for some minor issues and went for a ride with the shop foreman so I could point them out. The guy looked the stuff over and said, "o.k, we'll take care of it". They mechanics don't drive your car every day so some things that might be painfully obvious to you might not stand out so clearly to someone else the first time they drive it. It cuts down on the frustration if you can show them what the issue is as it's happening.

 

It might be worth the time, but fwiw my 550i sometimes exhibits the same symptoms. The downshift from 2 to 1 is sometimes shaky and the upshift from 2 to 3 with part throttle isn't always smooth. I think it's just how this 6 speed ZF gearbox is. I took my 550 to the dealer a while ago to have it checked and all what they did was update the tranny and engine software. It's slightly better, but it's something that I just assumed is a part of the "driving experience."

 

Thanks fellas.

 

While the shop foreman may be the best to test drive the car, most dealers have a true specialist who has a vast amount of experience. See if your dealer has such a guy and go with him either to drive or ride shotgun to replicate your complaint. My local MB dealer has a guy close to retirement who only test drives cars all day long and can spot a problem in a nano second.

 

i just read something about resetting the tranny because folks on here were having similar issues. that might do the trick. poke around for the thread but basically you put the car (depending on the year) in the on position by push the button and then you depress the gas pedal for about 25 seconds when you'll hear a certain "sound," signifying the tranny being reset.

 

+1. An old and very long thread that did the trick for many.