I bought my car 2 1/2 weeks ago and I noticed it sputtering sometimes when I would accelerate and decelerate. It didn't happen all the time, not even everyday but enough to bother me. I took it to bmw to look at it and all they did was drive it around the corner and said it was ok....I had them put it in writing that they inspected it and found no problem. Well, it still sputtered I even took it on the highway and around 80mph and it sputtered for a while. I took it back and demanded they do more than drive it to tell me the problem. 2 hours later the s.a. said i may need a transmission. Needless to say I don't want the car anymore and I don't care if they put a new or rebuilt one in it. I'm not trying to sign up for this. It's a 2005 545i with 80k miles so I don't have any factory warranty but I still have the 30 day dealership warranty. Will the dealership take the car back without hassle? or will this get ugly? Your thoughts...

Did you have it inspected by the dealer you bought it from? If so, try another dealer or BMW independent shop. As a side note, it could be an ignition coil going bad. Also, check and make sure that the oil cap is on tight.

Wow, that sucks, just be glad it happened within the 30day dealer warranty. Hopefully they take it back or put a brand new transmission. Good luck.

If it's within the 30 day warranty, bring a salt shaker and make the dealer EAT the damned thing! :rtfm:

Then post on Youtube for lulz. I read that above and laughed my ass off.

On a good note, they shouldn't be able to put a used tranny in as they claim they used up all of them in the country on mine!!! :)

Check what's in the 30 day dealer warranty. Hopefully there's not a lot of fine print designed to screw you over.. if you're looking at something with that kind of mileage you probably need to expect problems. If you can be 100% it's the transmission and they'll fix it all for free.. you might want to look at sticking with the car. Otherwise the next thing you buy might just hit some issue at day 31.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but you stated you took it to BMW for a check - did you buy this car from a BMW dealer?

If you did, then stick em for the 30 day warranty. Otherwise give it back to whomever you bought it from - be ready for some resistance.

i am 99.99% sure you have a bad torque converter or mechatronics system in your transmission. my car has the exact same issue (04 545i with 63k miles).

only a brand new transmission will help....but then again, my trans began to fail at roughly 50k miles so that may only be a band aid solution. i would try my best to walk away from the car to be honest. or get the trans swapped for a brand new one (not used) and then trade the car in immediately. it seems that the 04/05 545i automatic transmissions are prone to failure. https://5series.net/forums/public/st...fault/fcuk.gif

OP, how did you not notice this issue when you test drove the car before purchase?

Did you have this 545 inspected by the BMW dealership before you bought it? If so, why was this issue not found then?

Did you purchase your 545 from the BMW dealership(the one you are taking it to for service) or an independent dealer?