I believe that I have fallen victim to the BMW "lifetime" fluid nonsense. Let me say at the outset that I'm not well versed in automatics so I'm hoping against logic here. My '05 has 162k on it. I've had very few problems. At about 100k the tranny started having problems downshifting and upshifting into 4th. I found the post here about the fluid change. I've done a few and the problems did get better though never really went away.

This morning on the way to work when the tranny was cold everything worked fine. After about 15 miles of driving I stopped at my first light. When it turned green 2nd wan't engaged. I shifted up to 3rd and it didn't engage either. RPMs went up but the clutch packs were not grabbing. I downshifted into 1st and it engaged. Gentle acceleration and 2nd n 3rd wouldn't engage. You could feel the tranny shift out of 1st but then nothing. Sitting for about 8 seconds, 2nd did finally engage. The next few lights everything was fine then for a few lights it would act up again.

I'm worried this is the beginning of the end. A new tranny will cost me more than the entire car s worth at this point. Has anyone experienced this before? I know the fluid level is fine and it has never acted liek this before. I'm very worried about the rush hour drive home this afternoon.

Thanks,

Ron B.

 

I've lost 3 automatic transmissions over the years (2 Volvo and 1 Lexus) and always experienced the symptoms you describe shortly before the car became undriveable. You're past the 'beginning of the end.' Sorry to hear.

 

Its not anything to do with being the victim or lifetime fluid mumbo jumbo. In an automatic transmission, the entire tranny is a wear item. It is prone to failure and wear just like brake pads or the clutch on a manual trans. If you made it 162k miles on the original tranny then no tears should be lost, in my opinion you must have treated your car quite nicely which it in turn has returned the favor by giving you much longer than I would expect the life expectancy of the auto trans to be.

Hopefully the repair won't break your bank and you can get back to motoring for the next 162k!