auto tranny hiccup

[Whisky_Tango]

Re: auto tranny hiccup

hey guys, i jsut experienced a jerk when the tranny shifts from 2nd to third.. phenomenn occurred for a while, then went away... is this the beginning of the end??.. any advice appreciated.

Michael
E36 M40 4 potter

First what is your mileage clocked?

Typically, the lifespan of the autotran is about 150Km. However, if the trany oil is changed at intervals of 50km to 80km, lifespan will increase. This reccomendation is based on hard driving (red Lining) and its my preference. So do not take my word if you deem its irrelevant.

Although BMW claims that the trany oil is life time oil (150km as of trany life), it does not mean that the oil will not lose its properties. Heat is the main factor of oil disintegration and of course friction is the main culprit of heat.

So regular oil change will lenghten the life of any components.

With regards to your problem, perhaps you might want to check if the trany pump(inside the trany) has aged. This could be a problem, has the pump cannot provide the pressure required.

And of course whether is there sufficient trany oil.

If the trany fault indicator (a round geared liked symbol) on your instrument cluster (in between the two big dials) did not light up, your trany should be still OK.

Check the pump and change the oil first before major problem arises.

 

[gwumpkus]

Re: auto tranny hiccup

hey guys, i jsut experienced a jerk when the tranny shifts from 2nd to third.. phenomenn occurred for a while, then went away... is this the beginning of the end??.. any advice appreciated.

Michael
E36 M40 4 potter

First what is your mileage clocked?

Typically, the lifespan of the autotran is about 150Km. However, if the trany oil is changed at intervals of 50km to 80km, lifespan will increase. This reccomendation is based on hard driving (red Lining) and its my preference. So do not take my word if you deem its irrelevant.

Although BMW claims that the trany oil is life time oil (150km as of trany life), it does not mean that the oil will not lose its properties. Heat is the main factor of oil disintegration and of course friction is the main culprit of heat.

So regular oil change will lenghten the life of any components.

With regards to your problem, perhaps you might want to check if the trany pump(inside the trany) has aged. This could be a problem, has the pump cannot provide the pressure required.

And of course whether is there sufficient trany oil.

If the trany fault indicator (a round geared liked symbol) on your instrument cluster (in between the two big dials) did not light up, your trany should be still OK.

Check the pump and change the oil first before major problem arises.

thanx for the tip! i was going to change the tranny oil/filter anyway...the car's clocked about 200,000 already.. i was already thinking its way past due tranny-failure time!..not that i'm hoping for it to fail .. i suppose the cheapest thing now is to change the oil and wait and see eh?

///Michael

 

[piggyboyz]

At 200k, if u have never changed oil before, DON'T CHANGE !!!!

Changing oil might just kill it straight away.....

And from first hand info, having 2 tranny failed before, I can assure u that not all the time u will see the transmission light coming on when the tranny fail hurhurhur....

The best u can do is to keep driving and wait for the time to come, and in the midst of time, hunt for a replacement for it....

Good luck....

 

[gwumpkus]

At 200k, if u have never changed oil before, DON'T CHANGE !!!!

Changing oil might just kill it straight away.....

And from first hand info, having 2 tranny failed before, I can assure u that not all the time u will see the transmission light coming on when the tranny fail hurhurhur....

The best u can do is to keep driving and wait for the time to come, and in the midst of time, hunt for a replacement for it....

Good luck....

erm...ok..thats the advice i got from Vincent at M&Q... i still dun follow the logic..but i suppose if u've been there and done that..... how much is it going to cost me roughly? to get the tranny replaced? thanx...

 

[Whisky_Tango]

At 200k, if u have never changed oil before, DON'T CHANGE !!!!

Changing oil might just kill it straight away.....

And from first hand info, having 2 tranny failed before, I can assure u that not all the time u will see the transmission light coming on when the tranny fail hurhurhur....

The best u can do is to keep driving and wait for the time to come, and in the midst of time, hunt for a replacement for it....

Good luck....

erm...ok..thats the advice i got from Vincent at M&Q... i still dun follow the logic..but i suppose if u've been there and done that..... how much is it going to cost me roughly? to get the tranny replaced? thanx...

Bro...
The trany works like a hydraulic pump. Pressure must be present to fill up all crevices. At 200km mileage clocked and has never did an oil change, just imagine how much debris and sludge inside. The oil will be less lubricative and protective to the internals especially all the O-rings and seals which are Nitrile rubber in material.

When heat is generated, somehow there will be gases and reaction produced and thus degenerate the properties of the oil. Now the oil will have contamination and this chemical contamination will also eat away the life of the rubbers.

Why it is better not to change oil after 200km clocked?
Logic that I can think of is that, those debris & sludge somehow thickens the oil (but this does not means that with higher viscosity now will lubricate more, don't forget now the oil is contatminated).
So with a "thicker" dirty oil, it will fill up the gaps of the plates (supposedly worn-out) and thus holds the plates together. As the fine debris acts as friction barrier.

When you do an oil change, what happens is that the new oil should be thinner and slippery which will not fill up the bigger gaps (worn) and trany slippage occurs. Oil might even leak internally and externally from the aged O-rings & seals. When this happens, pressure is also lost, pumps works harder and eventually fails.

Estimate price for a recon trany (there are no new ones in the market) for your model might be in the range of S$3K to S$5K.

Above is just my theory, might be wrong or differs from others. Just sharing what I know which assist you to see the picture.

Had one E36, 320i before. Bought it at 175km mileage, did an oil change immediately. 2nd change at about 240km and drove it to about 280km and I scrap the car. No problem at all.

 

[Whisky_Tango]

I think Jack(TripleM) did post an article about the importance of Oil change.

Jack, can you recall?

 

[gwumpkus]

I think Jack(TripleM) did post an article about the importance of Oil change.

Jack, can you recall?

hmm..thanx for taking the time to explain it to me...it begins to make a little sense..hmm... now i feel like i'm driving a time bomb!..

damned auto trannies.....hehheh..

i suppose i'll wait till the ticker goes kaboom before figuring out what to do..

by the way, i've come across these guys called Top Speed Motors (automatictransmission.com.sg) who specialises in auto trannies... wonder if any of our more experienced members have any encounters with them that they might like to share?

thanx a bunch guys.. u chaps rock.. i'm going back to hunting for a spare tranny off ebay..) hehhe.. or maybe the local multi storey car park!!!!!!!!!! hehhe ..wheres my floor jack and stands....