Low Gear Problems

2007 BMW X3 3.0si
50,000 Miles
Automatic
Out of Warranty


Hi everyone, I've been a occasional lurker of the forums, but I'm creating this thread in hopes that someone can lend me their expertise. Any help is greatly appreciated.

I've been experiencing problems with my car. Although I wish I was, I'm far away from being a car buff so I'm going to try my best to explain this situation.

At low gears (I'm guessing 1-2), the gear changes are not "smooth". It makes a subtle thudding noise. I'm assuming this is a delayed up shift as when I accelerate the car seems to be at 1st gear a couple seconds longer than it should be which causes a split second lounging noise. Also when I decelerate to come to a stop, the subtle thudding noise comes back once I approach 20mph to 0mph. The thuds in both acceleration and deceleration sound identical to me and there is probably 4-5 subtle thuds at half second intervals.

A friend suggests it could be a problem with the transfer case. I've researched a bit into that online, but was a bit overwhelmed.


I would greatly appreciate any input and advice as to how to solve this problem. Thanks!

Just saw the transfer case sticky. I'll check it would. Apologies if the problem was discussed already.

I just finished my call with BMW Customer Service. The rep was courteous and understood my frustration, however, he said he never heard of the problem before and couldn't offer much assistance. I requested to speak to a higher up which I will be getting a call sometime tomorrow. The only thing I was able to accomplish was to submit a complaint of which I said: "I'm deeply disappointed with BMW's, a company that prides itself on quality, decision to, more or less, ignore this widespread problem. Acknowledging this problem will be without a doubt costly, but continuing to turn away from quality issues like this will cost BMW more in the long term."

It's probably a lost cause, but it can't hurt I suppose.

We'll see how tomorrow's call will turn out.

Transfer case or auto transmission issue? For the transmission, save e yourself trouble and time and just take it to a dealer and pay to have them update the software to the latest version.

Originally Posted by J Park

I just finished my call with BMW Customer Service. The rep was courteous and understood my frustration, however, he said he never heard of the problem before and couldn't offer much assistance. I requested to speak to a higher up which I will be getting a call sometime tomorrow. The only thing I was able to accomplish was to submit a complaint of which I said: "I'm deeply disappointed with BMW's, a company that prides itself on quality, decision to, more or less, ignore this widespread problem. Acknowledging this problem will be without a doubt costly, but continuing to turn away from quality issues like this will cost BMW more in the long term."

It's probably a lost cause, but it can't hurt I suppose.

We'll see how tomorrow's call will turn out.

This is a clear cut case of the Automatic transmission. To put it bluntly, the rep is either a complete moron or a liar. It is not a lost cause. Is this a used car purchase, recently? Lemon it immediately. There are hundreds of complaints on this if not thousands. BMWNA buried this by buying people off. Mistake they made with me is the NDA I signed only covered money. I cant discuss the money involved, but I can tell you the VP of BMWNA told me that they couldn't guarantee it would be solved by giving me another AT X3. I now drive a MT.

The attitude you're getting is one of many reasons I am trying my hand at an Audi this time around. It's one thing to have a problem, it's another to deny any knowledge of something that has had multitude of TSB's and tons of coverage across the internet on this exact problem.

Read the sticky and then PM me. I will try to help in any legal way i can.

EE

Unfortunately this wasn't a recent purchase. I believe we purchased the car in 2009. It was purchased as a certified pre-owned vehicle at a BMW dealership.

Originally Posted by Evlengr

This is a clear cut case of the Automatic transmission. To put it bluntly, the rep is either a complete moron or a liar. It is not a lost cause. Is this a used car purchase, recently? Lemon it immediately. There are hundreds of complaints on this if not thousands. BMWNA buried this by buying people off. Mistake they made with me is the NDA I signed only covered money. I cant discuss the money involved, but I can tell you the VP of BMWNA told me that they couldn't guarantee it would be solved by giving me another AT X3. I now drive a MT.

The attitude you're getting is one of many reasons I am trying my hand at an Audi this time around. It's one thing to have a problem, it's another to deny any knowledge of something that has had multitude of TSB's and tons of coverage across the internet on this exact problem.

Read the sticky and then PM me. I will try to help in any legal way i can.

EE