[darrko]

The inevitable has happened. This morning while driving to work I could sense a slight disturbance in the Force. Ok, that was just my inner Obi-Wan. The transmission was jerky, and slightly off especially what I guess to be the up-shift from the 4th to the 5th, or could also have been the 3rd to the 4th. Around this mark the engine would sputter, the transmission would give a big jerk....a bit like when the engine is "missing". After doing this once or twice the console gave me a "transmission fault" and the usual "drive moderately to your destination" and the engine became sluggish and would not go beyond a certain speed. I immediately pulled over and turned everything off. After a few minutes I restarted the car and drove for a bit, keeping the speed within 50 km/h and it felt almost normal but still lightly off. I then tried to speed up and the same thing happened, big jerk, sputter and error message.

I then proceeded to my office driving in that state and got in touch with my dealer. They asked me to send the car (not even a month, 750 km only). I had the car sent to them, the guy who took it later told me he didn't notice anything wrong. The dealer later told me they also could not find anything wrong with the car, but they did detect that there had been an error thrown. They drove it around and even took it to 140 km/h but nothing was wrong. They have decided to put up a case with the regional BMW HQ which is apparently BMW Middle East.

I picked up the car later in the evening and they asked me to get in touch whenever this happened again and were quite apologetic. On the drive back home the error never showed up but the transmission is definitely f****ed up. Gone is the smooth torque and immediate response to the gas pedal. The gears are all jerky, every time I down-shift around the 3rd there is a very significant jerk, the same when speeding up. I don't get how any decent driver could miss the jerks, especially BMW trained technicians.

So....is it all in my head? Is it possible for something to be wrong with the transmission and the system doesn't detect it? Anyone else had this issue? The funny thing is that I drove the car just 1 day ago and it was perfect, and today this. Why BMW.......why!?!?!

[bobblehead]

did the dealer do anything on the error code ? If not, then ask for software update and see if it'll make a difference. These days, tranny is all controlled by software and the chance of mechanical issue is probably small.

[darrko]

Can I just ask for a software update? Shouldn't the dealer simply update the software without me having to ask for it? Also, supposing the issue is software-related......what could go wrong when I haven't even tampered with it, its fine one day and messed up the next?

What really shocks me is that the transmission is so weird now that its glaringly obvious to me who has driven the car for only about 3 weeks now; shouldn't someone who drives a BMW and tests it as a trained professional know there is something wrong, even if the diagnostics say otherwise? (which again I don't get: the transmission system is obviously not working properly....how can the diagnostics not detect that?)

[bobblehead]

that's why you need to ask your dealer how are they approaching the issue ? I would insist of knowing what corrective steps have they taken and if they suggest they only retreive the code and erase/clear the code without having done anything else, then the issue may still be there and will come back later on. You will surprised that some dealers are doing just like that. Even for me in North America, some dealers are lazy and some dealers are very good in solving problems. When I had mine at brand new, I got failures on couple of components and they took literally 3 tries and eventually decided to replace the parts/modules.

These days, you, the driver need not to have done anything excessive/abusive to the engine & tranny, if the computer software has a glitch, then it will throw a code and cause the tranny to shift in an abnormal manner, simple as that.

If this dealer is not resolving the issue, maybe you should consider taking it to another dealer (hopefully it's not very far from where you are)

[rhinosaur]

Geez, darrko.

I hope BMW solves that problem quickly and professionally.

[r3amir]

Your accelerator needs to be reset. There is a way to remove the jerkiness, it is present on this forum, search for it.

The dealer probably pushed your car Alot and now your accelerator is behaving to slight inputs.

Best wishes

[darrko]

One dealer for the whole country. However, I am sure there are independent workshops that offer similar services and may help, I just don't want to do that right now because of warranty. Tell me: can there be something wrong with the transmission even if there is no error thrown? Because the transmission fault error is gone, hasn't shown up since but the system is jerky. Can the dealer simply suppress the error?

I intend to talk to the technical head again today if the issue persists, I am kinda hoping it will be gone. I shall ask for a reset or an update, see what happens.

Thanks for the advice and kind words.

[darrko]

Happened again this morning, spoke to the technical guy at the dealership. He says the advice they got on the case they raised is to update the software. I have sent in the car, keeping fingers crossed.

[bobblehead]

One dealer for the entire country ? It sounds like if something goes wrong, you are being held for ransom to get your car fix.

[darrko]

They tried the software update, the problem persists. They have been advised by the regional HQ to replace the transmission. Can you believe that?! I can't. Should I try to avoid that, I don't know what else to ask them.

[bobblehead]

It's under warranty. Let them replace the transmission.

[BigKutta]

Darrko - Given where you are based, I would be more comfortable with the tranny being replaced rather than them screwing around with the car to find what is wrong and tinkering with other components. Unfortunately, the techs in that part of the world just aren't savvy or experienced enough, given how new some of these brands are to that part of the world. I would just make sure that you get the master tech to work on your car, and someone who has experience replacing transmissions at the dealership. Its too bad that you have to go through this on such a new car, but it will all work out

[darrko]

Yeah they will cover it, its just that I am just not mentally prepared to accept that my new car is already getting something as major as the transmission replaced. Just a week back this same technical manager and I were discussing how he would not advise me to remove the door panels to allow the 3M guys to install the security film since they are "factory fitted". And here we are.

They say it may take 2 to 3 weeks since the assembly will be shipped from Germany. This sucks so much.

[darrko]

Originally Posted by BigKutta

Darrko - Given where you are based, I would be more comfortable with the tranny being replaced rather than them screwing around with the car to find what is wrong and tinkering with other components. Unfortunately, the techs in that part of the world just aren't savvy or experienced enough, given how new some of these brands are to that part of the world. I would just make sure that you get the master tech to work on your car, and someone who has experience replacing transmissions at the dealership. Its too bad that you have to go through this on such a new car, but it will all work out

Yeah what you say makes sense. Tell me: will I be able to tell the difference between the old transmission (until it stopped working) and the replacement? Just how much of a difference does "factory installed" make as opposed to retro-fitted? Its all plug-and-play right?

[BigKutta]

Not sure of the mechanics of a transmission replacement but I would think it is mostly "plug and play". As far as you are concerned, you wont notice the difference. Make sure you request a "new" transmission and not a re-manufactured one.

[Vallabh S Dhawan]

Darrko, there have been few cases with the 520d transmission failures in our country as well. There is definitely some manufacturing defect that the company hasn't came across till now. It's best to get a new transmission replaced by the official dealer.

P.S: It's a wrong place and wrong time, but Congratulations for the F10, i haven't been following up lately. Checked some pictures, they look great.

[darrko]

Originally Posted by BigKutta

Not sure of the mechanics of a transmission replacement but I would think it is mostly "plug and play". As far as you are concerned, you wont notice the difference. Make sure you request a "new" transmission and not a re-manufactured one.

Yes good point, will check with the dealer.

Originally Posted by Vallabh S Dhawan

Darrko, there have been few cases with the 520d transmission failures in our country as well. There is definitely some manufacturing defect that the company hasn't came across till now. It's best to get a new transmission replaced by the official dealer.

P.S: It's a wrong place and wrong time, but Congratulations for the F10, i haven't been following up lately. Checked some pictures, they look great.

Thanks buddy, just having some bad luck lately. I just don't get how something as critical as the transmission can have frequent problems and not get addressed by BMW. I am going for the replacement.

[EBRSKIH]

Had the same problem with my old F10 as well as new one. It was as easy as wrapping the fuel lines with heat shield tape and the problem went away. I had drive train malfunction along with transmission failure happened with my new F10 at only 44 MILES. Wrapped the fuel lines with the tape and it has been fine so far. The fuel lines are located near the turbos therefore the excess heat heats the fuel lines and fuel eventually begins to evaporate and at that point its basically hot air in the fuel lines. Hope everything works out.

[darrko]

Originally Posted by EBRSKIH

Had the same problem with my old F10 as well as new one. It was as easy as wrapping the fuel lines with heat shield tape and the problem went away. I had drive train malfunction along with transmission failure happened with my new F10 at only 44 MILES. Wrapped the fuel lines with the tape and it has been fine so far. The fuel lines are located near the turbos therefore the excess heat heats the fuel lines and fuel eventually begins to evaporate and at that point its basically hot air in the fuel lines. Hope everything works out.

Hey thanks for sharing. Just some questions so I can convince my dealer:


1. Do the fuel lines have anything to do with the transmission? I can understand the jerking because of intermittent fuel supply issues.
2. Was this issue present from day 1 in the older F10 or did it show up suddenly after a few weeks, as in my case?

[EBRSKIH]

Well I'm guessing they have nothing directly connected to the transmission but if the fuel is not there it would definitely be felt in the transmission and errors would pop up on screen. Did you get the "power reduced drive moderately" as well? On my old F10 it happened within the first 1000 miles, but it was just a false alarm because as soon as I turned the car back on it went away and didnt come back until 20k~ miles. Like I said with the current one it occurred at 44 miles and since then the problem has been taken care of. Fuel lines were replaced and wrapped with the heat shield. Nothing else was changed.

[Gran Turismo]

Not sure if that solution for a 550i will also apply to a 520d - let's just start with the higher evaporation / boiling temps of diesel compared to gas/petrol.

[EBRSKIH]

Yea I wasnt sure if it would work as well. Wouldnt hurt to try.