I've got an '06 with CVT with almost 92,000 miles. I've read some of the CVT failures that have happened to some on this board and it scares me. So, I took it in for its second tranny fluid change as well as oil change and other things that should get looked at with this many miles. That was Friday.

Saturday the car rested and on Sunday I take the car for a short 10 minute drive to church. On the way I'm hearing sounds I never heard before, what sounds to me like a tin can was ripped up and the thin wall of the can was allowed to drag lightly on the ground. It seems to make this noise more when the car is turning, but also does it on straightaways.

Then today I go to work and after starting the car, it sounds like water is running somewhere! I imagine it's the tranny fluid gushing about. Maybe I'm getting paranoid, but then it sounds like a punching bag is rolling around the trunk area! Never heard these sounds before.

So, do you think I'm about to experience CVT failure?

 

Like most people when you read or hear about problems they become more present.
I can't say much form the sounds you describe but unless the CVT is not shifting (or whatever we can CVT action) correctly I would not be to worried.
If the sounds worry you take the car someplace to have it checked out. Sounds alone are not conclusive.

 

If everything was fine before you took the car in for fluid changes, it might be more than a coincidence. I'd take it back to the place that changed the fluids and make sure they didn't screw anything up.

 

My immediate thought when thin metal scraping/moving around is usually heat shields. Crawl under there and have a kook to see if something came loose or was knocked around and now rubbing/dragging.

 

thanks for the replies. I did tried to look under the car to see if anything was loose but could not tell. Plus, if something was loose, I would think you can hear it all the time. for the most part, the sound is present when the car is cold. There is one left hander that always gets the sound to come out
on my way to work and lately, the car has been lurching or the tranny kind of slipping gears accompanied by the sound matching with each slip.

I had to come to a sudden stop today and it was like it was too fast for the tranny to catch up. I could feel it shifting down after teh fact. Never did that before.

I took it today to the shop that did the changes and of course the car wouldn't make the sound at all! The mechanic test drove it himself then I drove it and he sat in the passenger seat to listen. Nary a sound nor hiccup.

The car is going to be paid off after December. I was hoping to live car payment free for a while but it might be best to sell this and hop into a 128i.