Hey guys, here are two of the problems I'm encountering on a 2008 550i and wonder if you have experienced this before:

1. ocassionally, when the car is slowing down to a stop, just prior to a complete stop, I would feel what feels like the transmission disengaging abruptly - feel a slight jolt forward. Is this normal? I'm not braking abruptly, but coming to a slow controlled stop.

2. After driving on the highway for about 15 miles, I can hear a moderate consistant whine coming from the passenger side when the car is both cruising and at idle. when I get out of the car, the whine is definitely more prevalent and again more prevalent on the right side of the car. It doesn't sound like the fan, or is it? anyone have this problem?

Thanks

Another thing, there is a underbody gash about 2/5 the length of the car and about 2 inches thick. Is the panel underneath the car just for sound isolation or is it for something else? If I get it repaired with some type of filler foam would the road noise be more muted than original?

 

RE: item 1, search here for "transmission slam" there is lots of info. on it. It is a common problem that can generally be avoided by a number of means, however, some vehicles seem to have it worse than others and have had transmission replacements. It is a ZF issue that first showed up in Jaguars with this same transmission.