I tried to replace it myself going through the top, it wouldnt clear the trans case by several millimeters. Paid a "comes to your house" mechanic $300 to install and he destroyed the new mount in the process of tying to finagle it onto the car, so it now drives just as bad as with the old mount (jerks whenever coming off or going on throttle suddenly). Ive searched for weeks and cant find a DIY on any of the F-series or even X1/X2 forums. You clearly cant replace it through the top, I've figured out. So it would be great to know what BMW actually recommends as the correct way to replace!

Thanks in advance for any info!!

 

Interesting to say the least -- instructions I have seen from BMW say to remove it from above, as it sounds like you tried to.

EDIT: found your other thread (2022) on this subject and how your back-then attempt went. The instructions provided early in that thread match BMW official, so far as I am aware.

That said, with the 4 cylinder engine there isn't much room to its front (right side of car) or rear (transfer case, left side of car). It's a ridiculously tight fit. The only thing I can think of would be to lower the engine, which is the same conclusion you came to in that thread. For sure, I don't see a way that upper transmission mount is coming out unless you accomplish that lowering to get the transfer case out of the mount's way for removal, or completely pull the engine from the vehicle (unlikely that engine removal would be standing protocol). You've got me on this one, I don't know the car well enough yet to improvise on that one.

 

Update FWIW: I found a short video that shows 2 mechanics working to change out both upper mounts (engine and transmission) -- and interestingly, you can tell that they burn some time trying to figure out how to get that transmission mount out of there after lowering the engine. Then the video cuts away to dealing with the engine mount we all know and love (RH side), and when they go back to the LH side they're putting things back together again -- the actual removal of the transmission mount as well as positioning its replacement are off-camera.

My takeaway is that even in a shop full of pro tools, getting that upper transmission mount out and back in is a pain.

Link:

 

Thanks for that Video. I actually saw it and unfortunately, as you mention, most of the transmission mount (there's just 1, no upper vs lower) work was off camera. Ive had a mechanic tell me that it's actually necessary to go through the wheel well and underneath, removing the subframe for enough room. No wonder they want to charge so much to replace it! Still would love to see some actual instructions on this some day!

 

There got to be some tricks. I was only charged for 1.5 hour of labor to replace the transmission mount in 2021.

 

@2014MCS_Miami did you lower the engine and if so, what were the specific challenges you ran into?

 

So, as Im sure you all know, the F56 utilizes 3 mounts for the engine/trans assembly. There is one on the passenger side behind the headlight (engine upper), one in the lower center of car (engine lower) and, one on the driver side (trans mount). I was able to replace the Upper and Lower (even swapped poly bushings in lower) with fairly little trouble, even if removing the headlight clamps was a total bi%$@. lol.
Then, someone on this forum suggested I access the trans mount thru the top by removing battery, battery tray + wheel well cover to access the last bolt. Removing the battery tray was beyond my worst nightmare. There were SOOOO many things attached to it like the ECU, etc!! Finally got it all out and could see ALL the bolts. Unscrewed them all only to realized that the mount itself would not clear the side of the transmission case by about 5mm, no matter how much finagling. And trust me, I went at it from every angle trying to pry it out.

So, I called my BMW mechanic only for him to advise he'd NEVER try to remove it from the top, the battery tray was indeed a nightmare to deal with, and BMW recommended to drop or loosen the subframe and move the axle out of the way. Im not going to even pretend I know exactly what that means or entails. He quoted me $750 (dealer quoted me double or triple that, I forget).
I found some online (comes to your house) mechanic who swapped it out for $350 (oem part was only $55). He went through the top, loosened the subframe, and I watched him use what looked like crowbars to force it in. I suspected he might destroy the new transmission mount by doing it that way. Sure enough, he did. The engine/trans jerks aggressively as if it's still broken/failed, which im sure it still is.

Thus, here I am looking for a DIY to try it all over again!!

 

Thats very likely to be the 1.5hrs required for the lower engine mount or even perhaps the upper engine mount. DEFINITELY not for the transmission mount on F56. Dealer quote me 5hrs or so for that one.

 

I get all this, but the from-above instructions come from BMW, and your post doesn’t specifically say whether you (or “fun mechanic”) tried lowering the engine while the battery tray (whose removal, as well as going at this from above, BMW TIS explicitly directs).

let us know

 

Yikes! I wont attempt to mess with that tray again. Took me like 2hrs to get it back in. I guess Ill just need to start saving the $700 :(

Totally off topic, do u know if the front control arms are DIY friendly?

 

Not sure. I want to say it's doable in principle -- it's not like you can't get to the things or have to move other parts to reach their attachment points. But I have never attempted it personally.

 

I actually had all 3 mounts replaced at different time. It was 1.5 hrs for the upper engine mount (dealer quoted 5.1 hrs), 0.5 hr for the lower mount, and 1.5 hrs for the transmission mount. The shop is specialized in Mini and Italian cars. I guess they are just too efficient.

 

Helpful intel. Thx for this!

 

Wooooooow!!!
Im in Miami. If you're anywhere near here I'd love to know where you got this done. The dealer wanted $3100 for all 3. My specialist wants $750 for the transmission mount alone!

 

Unfortunately, the shop is very far from you. It is in San Carlos, CA. https://www.yelp.com/biz/mini-werks-san-carlos
My local Mini Dealer frequently offers 15% discount on service and parts. Hope your dealer does that too. If you put the car in sport mode, does it drive more smoothly? I can't explain it, but that's what happened to me.

 

Yeah, I always use sport mode. Find it shifts more crisply too. The throttle mapping seems to make a difference. I'll call around for different shops I guess, seeing how you were able to get it done for 1.5hrs labor, Im hoping I can find the same or close to it!

EDIT: So I just realized something! I have a manual. The 1.5hrs labor for the transmission mount might be for the automatic?? Manual Trans cars require the axle moved out of the way. Perhaps Auto's dont?

 

Bingo, BMW's instructions are different for manual vs auto, and the manual instructions list removal of the axle -- and within *that*, removal of "front axle support" -- as prerequisite steps for removal of the upper transmission mount.

Why you wouldn't need to do same for the auto, I dunno, haven't tried it myself so no hands-on experience here -- but "that's what the book says" so there you go.

 

Here's my take.

Support the engine.
Remove the passenger engine mount.
Remove all fasteners on the drive's side trans mount.
You can now move the engine over the 1/2" needed to clear the trans mount, and remove.

 

Not a bad idea, when I replaced my passenger-side engine mount (aka upper engine mount) I noticed I had some solid ability to push the engine left-right while supported underneath. Enough that it didn't naturally align to the bolt holes, in fact, I had to get it just right (not hard, just had to do that).

If the engine/trans only needs to move an additional ~1cm or ~1/2" to the RH side of the vehicle to pop the transmission mount, seems a viable approach and less crazy than dismantling the living daylights out of stuff down low.

 

Damn, why didnt I try this when I had it all apart. Removing the central wishbone style engine mount may have allowed me to drop the engine another 1/2" as needed!
At this point, Im too intimidated to take apart the entire battery tray once again which involved disconnecting the ECU cable and was a nightmare to reassemble.
I do appreciate your input though, thank you!

Separately, would you mind PM'ing me advice/instructions on how to replace front control arms if you have them? Thank you either way!