05 545i Transmission Surging Issues help!

Originally Posted by velvetlevel

Hey,just took my 545i to the dealer last week with the leaking tranny-mechatronic sleeve replacement-$1032 invoice. i know a shop thru bimmershops.com and took it there this past monday-had the sleeve replaced for $330. the technician said that it's a common thing and he just did the same thing on 745 the week before.

Ok, cool. Good to know.

However, the sleeve doesn't resolve the trans. shifting issues though, right; Or did you not have those issues?

no,no surging but aiwapro said he's going to dealer to fix a 330 dolar problem for 1032. i figured i'll pass him the info

Originally Posted by velvetlevel

no,no surging but aiwapro said he's going to dealer to fix a 330 dolar problem for 1032. i figured i'll pass him the info

Oh ok, 'aiwapro' is me. Thanks, appreciate it. I dropped it off at the dealer this morning, so we will see what happens. My Service Advisor has been great to deal with in the past, so I pray the same continues, even in this instance. He confirmed your statement and others, of the sleeve possibly, to resolve the leaking. He said he has heard of the problem with the surging, and a software fix is available that is suppose to resolve the issue, and if that doesn't work, the trans. is the problem. Which by trans., I assume he means replacing the trans., but we shall see.

I will update with what happens.

Mechatronics sleeve and the tranny pan are pretty common failures around 70,000 miles I guess from the research I've done. The pans are plastic so I guess they get brittle over time. My pan had a crack in it and I had them do the sleeve at same time as I knew it was going to be an issue. Then I got the hiccups.

Aiwapro they replaced my mechatronics unit which is basically the mechanical (valve body) and electronics. The valve body basically handles the shift of the gear more or less. A bunch of valves open and close to switch gears. I would assume that they'd be replacing the mechatronics - usually the actual gears rarely fail.

Originally Posted by Ben's 545i

Mechatronics sleeve and the tranny pan are pretty common failures around 70,000 miles I guess from the research I've done. The pans are plastic so I guess they get brittle over time. My pan had a crack in it and I had them do the sleeve at same time as I knew it was going to be an issue. Then I got the hiccups.

Aiwapro they replaced my mechatronics unit which is basically the mechanical (valve body) and electronics. The valve body basically handles the shift of the gear more or less. A bunch of valves open and close to switch gears. I would assume that they'd be replacing the mechatronics - usually the actual gears rarely fail.

Ben, after they replaced the mechatronics, how did the car shift in general? Does it shift seemlessly and can you feel the shifting at all? When we got my wife's '06 325xi, that was the first car we've had where the you couldn't feel the shifting, because of the engineering and mechanicals in the car. (Our first bimmer also) My '05 545 is not like that and I can feel the shifts quite often, and sometimes its rough, but not like the slams that the broken sleeve was causing. Would replacing the mechatronics resolve this also?

I'll have to go back in since resetting the tranmission adaptation values didn't resolve the hesitations between 30-40 mph. Shocker.

Mike I didn't notice much of a difference before and after with the exception of the 30-40mph hiccups. I didn't really have any issues with shifting before the pan and sleeve were replaced. Once that was done, I got the hiccups and a few times it seemed to want to completely lock up in gear. Once the mechatronics were replaced all was back to normal.

The shifting is hard to explain. On my wife's E38 you can't feel the shifts at all. On my E60 you can feel them but not as much as on other cars. I think the E60 is meant to be a little sportier and tends to feel a bit "jumpy" or "twitchy" when you step on it. It's hard to say that you can't feel the shift when all you drive is BMW's .

Gotcha. I'm not worried about anything but the hiccups, was just wondering about shifting in general. My BMW experience was limited to E90 and X5 until I bought the 545.

New appointmet set for June 24th.

Oh btw, the left headlight went out over the weekend. Angel eyes work, xenon went pink Friday night, not on at all now. That headlight unit is less than a year old, dealer put it in new when I bought the car.

Dropped my car off this morning, mentioned that there was a SIB associated with this. I dont feel very confident that theyll find or do anything about this.

I also mentioned that when the car is in gear at a stop that the idle is a bit rough, but that the rpms dont change as well in this case. He said that was normal?

Update - SA called me back already and said that there was a software update for this transmission issue and that they were installing it! He said that it also addressed the rough idle issue but that he said mine was not that bad so I may or may not notice a change.
Also - he indicated that all of the software on the car would be updated if it were relevant and that it may not be ready for pick up today because that would take a long time to go through that process.
I will try to find out the actual details on this software update and post it here.

I called my Service Advisor today for an update, and he informed me that the sleeve thing was causing the leak, and that he was going to contact my extended warranty company, Vehicle One, to open a claim.

Regarding the 35-40 shifting issue, he said there was a software update, that has resolved the issue for many. It seems a couple of people have had success with that on the forums and/or this thread, so maybe it'll work. It doesn't matter to me much, either way, as long as it is fixed, and along with the issue being resolved when you get the hard shift when decelerating to 0.

Anyone know if this software upgrade will upgrade i-Drive, as well? I was thinking about having the iPod dock connector added, or the AUX port, but that filter installed in-line, which I hear filters out a lot of the low frequencies, would bother me.

Note, Have had the 30 to 40 mph hiccup now for over a year, the SA at my dealer has already replaced the sleeve, and performed the software update, and the hiccups still remain. Now for the past couple of weeks it seems like it lurches into gear once it gets up to about 40 mph. When will BMWNA finally get through their heads that this is a problem in the E60's that maybe they should check into.

Originally Posted by RODZILLA

Hello. I actually found this site while doing a search on 545i transmission update. I have had the same thing going on with my car like others have described a sense of surging and loss of power. Anway, long story short took the car in to get a leak looked at they replaced the parts under warranty and then I noticed the surging. I took the car back this Mon b/c of the surging and b/c it still had a small leak. I just got call that it has a cracked pan and it was leaking transmission fluid. The service rep said it may have contributed to the surging issue. But he also recommended to do a software transmission update that BMW specifically rolled out to cure the problem. Well I read another person on this thread saying that it was just a program issue so I told the rep to go ahead and do it. At 135.00 I figured it would give me a sense of ease knowing that I tried that too since it will be going off CPO warranty in August. I'll share some more once I get the car back.

Any update from you, on this?

Following this thread closely.

My 05 545i w/48k is starting to surge oddly. It's as if the a lower grade of gas is in the tank. I am able to replicate it on every drive. So far it's only noticable under 60mph, but in my opinion it's more than just an adaptive throttle problem. I am planning a trip to the dealership tomorrow morning as the car is CPO'ed for another 50k miles.


UPDATE:

Dealer reset the adaptive throttle and it seems to have corrected the stutter. I am not 100% convinced this will be my last visit for this problem as other have said that the reset helps but doesn't cure the issue.

The software update appears to have worked. I havent done a whole lot of driving since I picked the car up but the surging has not happened since.

Originally Posted by togles

Update - SA called me back already and said that there was a software update for this transmission issue and that they were installing it! He said that it also addressed the rough idle issue but that he said mine was not that bad so I may or may not notice a change.
Also - he indicated that all of the software on the car would be updated if it were relevant and that it may not be ready for pick up today because that would take a long time to go through that process.
I will try to find out the actual details on this software update and post it here.

Good. I may get my vehicle back tomorrow, and they are suppose to perform the software upgrade, in an attempt to resolve the issue.

Originally Posted by aiwapro

Good. I may get my vehicle back tomorrow, and they are suppose to perform the software upgrade, in an attempt to resolve the issue.

I had the adaptive throttle reset, but I wanted the software upgrade. Let me know how that works for you. I've decided to go to a different dealership as the one I just left doesn't seem to willing to perform the upgrade as "they don't feel the car is shifting improperly".

The Software upgrade DID NOT work.
It would appear that now at 30-35 mph that this problem occurs. I dont recall it ever happening at this speed before. I have tried to get it to happen at the 4-50 and 50-60 mph range but it doesnt seem to happen there anymore.

Originally Posted by togles

The software update appears to have worked. I havent done a whole lot of driving since I picked the car up but the surging has not happened since.

Originally Posted by togles

The Software upgrade DID NOT work.
It would appear that now at 30-35 mph that this problem occurs. I dont recall it ever happening at this speed before. I have tried to get it to happen at the 4-50 and 50-60 mph range but it doesnt seem to happen there anymore.

That sucks...seems I now have a weird jump in acceleration between 0-20 mph. Even passengers notice it.

This has to be a know issue that dealerships are unwilling to address.

Originally Posted by togles

The Software upgrade DID NOT work.
It would appear that now at 30-35 mph that this problem occurs. I dont recall it ever happening at this speed before. I have tried to get it to happen at the 4-50 and 50-60 mph range but it doesnt seem to happen there anymore.

They reset mine three times and it took all of about 50 miles for it to start acting up again. Only thing that stopped it was replacing it.

SirLoins - you're right they HAVE to know about this. There's a bunch on here who have all been into their dealers for various complaints about the same thing and have all heard various stories about the "fix".

I could use some advise on my next step with the dealership:

Symptoms: Car has a jerk/lurch from start, almost as if I got bumped in the rear fender. It also seems to do the same thing when coming to a stop. I believe that my car is currently running program E60/E63 PROGMAN 20.01.00 (Target data Status E060-05-12-510). I am also not able to play MP3 CD's from the in dash unit (reason 2 I feel a complete software update is needed).

Next Step I've spoken to my SA at BMW about the issue. I was told if it was the tranny then my CPO would cover it but if it was software related I would have to cover the cost. According to the SIB the software was updated in an attempt to solve a know issue. Do SIB's only relate to cars under original warranty and not CPO vehicles?

Any advise on how to handle this? As I know I'm not getting a new transmission that easily, more than likely they will tell me the car is driving fine and I'll need to pay for the software diagnosis...only to bring the car in later with the same problem.

I've attached the SIB list.

Thanks

Originally Posted by SirLoins

I could use some advise on my next step with the dealership:

Symptoms: Car has a jerk/lurch from start, almost as if I got bumped in the rear fender. It also seems to do the same thing when coming to a stop. I believe that my car is currently running program E60/E63 PROGMAN 20.01.00 (Target data Status E060-05-12-510). I am also not able to play MP3 CD's from the in dash unit (reason 2 I feel a complete software update is needed).

Next Step I've spoken to my SA at BMW about the issue. I was told if it was the tranny then my CPO would cover it but if it was software related I would have to cover the cost. According to the SIB the software was updated in an attempt to solve a know issue. Do SIB's only relate to cars under original warranty and not CPO vehicles?

Any advise on how to handle this? As I know I'm not getting a new transmission that easily, more than likely they will tell me the car is driving fine and I'll need to pay for the software diagnosis...only to bring the car in later with the same problem.

I've attached the SIB list.

Thanks

I think they are trying to bleed you.

SIB 242307, 240308 and 240808 lists that the Warranty coverage applies to new and CPO... the significance of these SIB's is that the cure is programming and it covers your CPO. Now if you can narrow it down to an SIB that best matches your actual issue you can make a case for a software update. The below SIBs are just examples....

http://www.bmwtis.com/tsb/bulletins/...p/B242307g.htm
http://www.bmwtis.com/tsb/bulletins/...p/B240308g.htm
http://www.bmwtis.com/tsb/bulletins/...p/B240808g.htm

EDIT: On the flip side, your MP3 playback issue reprogramming is not covered per warranty info below.

http://www.bmwtis.com/tsb/bulletins/...p/B653005g.htm

Good luck!

Originally Posted by Nube1kenobi

I think they are trying to bleed you.

SIB 242307, 240308 and 240808 lists that the Warranty coverage applies to new and CPO... the significance of these SIB's is that the cure is programming and it covers your CPO. Now if you can narrow it down to an SIB that best matches your actual issue you can make a case for a software update. The below SIBs are just examples....

http://www.bmwtis.com/tsb/bulletins/...p/B242307g.htm
http://www.bmwtis.com/tsb/bulletins/...p/B240308g.htm
http://www.bmwtis.com/tsb/bulletins/...p/B240808g.htm

EDIT: On the flip side, your MP3 playback issue reprogramming is not covered per warranty info below.

http://www.bmwtis.com/tsb/bulletins/...p/B653005g.htm

Good luck!

As described in 240808, ''...accompanied by a "bang", felt in the rear of the vehicle after engine start-up.''

Can you tell me how you found these?

Thank you!

update from my last post... Sept 09...!!!
In February, finally decided to bring my car in (maintenance) and mentioned the problem...
My SA kept the car a few days - I was told he was waiting for software from Germany. The car was still on extended warranty and they fixed it without any cost to me.
Very susceptible shift change between 1 and 2nd remains, ... but muchhhh betterrr all around!