05 545i Transmission Surging Issues help!

Got the car back yesterday with new mechatronics. World of difference. No hiccups, shift from 5th to 6th is smooth and the car just seems to run through the gears better. Crazy that a transmission with only 65k on it was that out of whack.

For reference, Baron BMW in KC got BMW to approve the repair for my car.

Originally Posted by Ben's 545i

I too was out of warranty and after a few trips to dealer they opened a PUMA and authorized mechatronics replacement. As I said in my last post I think the replacement has to do with your relationship with the SA and how hard they are willing to fight for you.

Thanks for the insight but the verdict is in and here's the dillemma:

Dealership called and said BMWNA will NOT offer good will. SA at first seemed to be pushing but when I expressed great disappointment he referred me to his Supervisor who I've emailed with no response. Best they can do is give me a 'great price'. Per BMWNA trans is shout and they want to do a major overhaul by replacing the trans and software which comes out close to 8.5K with labor. And this getntlemen occurred at ~78,300 miles.

Called BMWNA and spoke with a case manager and when they tried to research if this is a PUMA case there was no record. Leaves me thinking if they really reached out to BMWNA or if this is a stonewall tactic?!? Case manager understood my frustration and was willing to offer 10% off from Coprporate and will be calling the dearlership to broker something. Reasonable is probably out of the question at this point.

I emailed and will be calling an independent BMW shop regarding the following that did my brakes/oil change when I first purchased for a quote.

Question: Has anyone ever dealt with their independent BMW reapir shop in this type of circumstance given the scope of work entailed? Would they have ability to change the trans+software or is this something the dealership can only do?

Thank God for my E500.

Originally Posted by shorttough

Lets All of Us do a complain at NHTSA (National Highway Traffic Safety Administration), this will definitely grab BMWNA's attention.

Let me know how to do so and I will join in this effort. Thanks.

P.S. I test drove a 545i today that was for sale locally and it did NOT have the surge issue that my car does.

Originally Posted by VJaguar

Let me know how to do so and I will join in this effort. Thanks.

P.S. I test drove a 545i today that was for sale locally and it did NOT have the surge issue that my car does.

https://www-odi.nhtsa.dot.gov/ivoq/Complaint.cfm

Ok, I believe the dealer finally figured it out, check out the picture of the report.

Gotta say, it's inspiring to see people come together in the face of the corporate monolith and manage to knock out a chip. Kudos to everyone contributing to the resolution and sharing of the final outcome. It's posts like this that will keep me coming back as a forum member.

Can others who have had the Mechatronics unit replaced successfully, post a scan or quote from your service invoice, that way I and others who are not getting this resolved, can have proof to show to our dealers, that there is a problem.

Originally Posted by mheezee

Thanks for the insight but the verdict is in and here's the dillemma:

Dealership called and said BMWNA will NOT offer good will. SA at first seemed to be pushing but when I expressed great disappointment he referred me to his Supervisor who I've emailed with no response. Best they can do is give me a 'great price'. Per BMWNA trans is shout and they want to do a major overhaul by replacing the trans and software which comes out close to 8.5K with labor. And this getntlemen occurred at ~78,300 miles.

Called BMWNA and spoke with a case manager and when they tried to research if this is a PUMA case there was no record. Leaves me thinking if they really reached out to BMWNA or if this is a stonewall tactic?!? Case manager understood my frustration and was willing to offer 10% off from Coprporate and will be calling the dearlership to broker something. Reasonable is probably out of the question at this point.

I emailed and will be calling an independent BMW shop regarding the following that did my brakes/oil change when I first purchased for a quote.

Question: Has anyone ever dealt with their independent BMW reapir shop in this type of circumstance given the scope of work entailed? Would they have ability to change the trans+software or is this something the dealership can only do?

Thank God for my E500.

Looks like you nailed that one...

Originally Posted by RODZILLA

Ok, I believe the dealer finally figured it out, check out the picture of the report.

Thank you for this! Giving it to the SA in the morning, car has been there for days now, maybe this will shed some light on the issue!

Originally Posted by RODZILLA

Ok, I believe the dealer finally figured it out, check out the picture of the report.

I made a copy of this and showed it to my SA yesterday and he said it's not in his hands to open a PUMA case, wanted to setup yet another diagnostic test even though the car was in just a couple weeks ago. At that time they experienced the jolting stutter between 30-40mph with no leaks or fault codes. I'm not sure why a PUMA case was not opened for me...any ideas for the next steps to take?

Originally Posted by VJaguar

I made a copy of this and showed it to my SA yesterday and he said it's not in his hands to open a PUMA case, wanted to setup yet another diagnostic test even though the car was in just a couple weeks ago. At that time they experienced the jolting stutter between 30-40mph with no leaks or fault codes. I'm not sure why a PUMA case was not opened for me...any ideas for the next steps to take?

Its in his and the Service Manager's hands to open a PUMA. Then BMWNA's hands to diagnose and possibly approve the repair. Not sure why they would be against opening a PUMA though. My SA opened a PUMA case twice before BMWNA would approve the repair.

I called my SA and demanded for them to open a PUMA case and I'm scheduled to bring the car in next week. On the way home, I noticed my car is no longer surging! Kept it steady at different speeds between 30-40 and nothing, smooth as butter. I would be happy, but who knows if this is going to last. I mean it's been surging consistently everyday since I bought it a month ago and now that I'm scheduled to get something done it's behaving...argh!!!

Bump.
Anyone got anything new on this. I had the software update, seemed better for a while, now it's worse. Bringing the car to the dealer today w/o an appointment to chat. I still have CPO warranty for another year, I PROMISE I will sue BMWNA if they do not replace my mechatronics unit.

Originally Posted by Bad Debt

Bump.
Anyone got anything new on this. I had the software update, seemed better for a while, now it's worse. Bringing the car to the dealer today w/o an appointment to chat. I still have CPO warranty for another year, I PROMISE I will sue BMWNA if they do not replace my mechatronics unit.

My car is still doing fine, it's been almost 3 weeks now (fingers crossed).

I think the only thing you can do is tell your SA you demand to open a PUMA case regarding your issue and then hope that BMWNA will give them to go ahead to replace.

so you didnt have anything done?

I wanted to reply to Tommy Sea's posting and ask him a question about his solution to the 545 transmission problem he had. Can you contact me? Jennifer.duffy@yahoo.com. Thank you!

Originally Posted by Bad Debt

so you didnt have anything done?

They deleted the previous owners 'driving adaptations' that were stored on the computer. It made the surge less noticeable, but it was still there. A couple weeks later the issue suddenly stopped. We'll see how long it lasts though...

I got a new mechatronics unit, pan, and fluid under CPO and the transmission is silky smooth. That's what this tranny should feel like, no surge between 30-40, no lurch as you come to a stop. You can keep your reprograming and tip in procedure. It's a waste of time.

I took my vehicle to another dealership this week, and they said they don't see anything wrong.

This is the second dearlership. This is absolutely not acceptable. How do we get this resolved. I filed a complaint a couple of weeks ago with the NHSTA, or whatever the acronym is.

today i had a problem with my Crank Ventilation Valve, i believe its just 2 pieces of caps that go by the engine, apparently they had some cuts in them, so the air/fuel mixture was not proportionate. I didn't get any faulty codes, until recently "Increase Emissions" in the IDRIVE. So those Ventilation Caps were replaced, and i've not noticed that surges so far between 30-40 m/h, although the rough idle hasn't gone away. Will monitor it for 2 weeks to see if it comes back again.

Originally Posted by shorttough

today i had a problem with my Crank Ventilation Valve, i believe its just 2 pieces of caps that go by the engine, apparently they had some cuts in them, so the air/fuel mixture was not proportionate. I didn't get any faulty codes, until recently "Increase Emissions" in the IDRIVE. So those Ventilation Caps were replaced, and i've not noticed that surges so far between 30-40 m/h, although the rough idle hasn't gone away. Will monitor it for 2 weeks to see if it comes back again.

I had that exact same issue several weeks ago, but it's still kinda surgy in the 30-40mph range and has a rough idle. Resetting the adaptive transmission helped a bit, for awhile, but eh. I may just have to learn to live with it since no one has a tried and true solution that I've heard (and which actually completely works).

^^^ Again the new Mechatronics gets rid of the surge and the learch when you come to a stop.

Originally Posted by Bad Debt

^^^ Again the new Mechatronics gets rid of the surge and the learch when you come to a stop.

Hmm, and how much does that usually cost? I've looked around here and elsewhere but haven't found any good sources for what to expect. Also, my issue more of a hesitation than the "slamming" some people have mentioned, so I'm not sure if it's the exact same issue, but it does happen during both acceleration and deceleration (so "surging" could be accurately used to describe it I guess). I'm kind of at a loss for what to do about it, it's not super bad, but it's annoying and shouldn't be happening.

Originally Posted by sigterm

Hmm, and how much does that usually cost?

From the other posts where people have gotten quotes from the dealer, around $5K give or take

I know, eeesh.

Christ, that rather blows. I could swing it if I absolutely had to, but there are tons of other things I'd rather drop $5k on, car-related or otherwise.