E61 V8 Bearding
Discussion
wsurfa said:
ATM said:
Lovely and mental, but at 22k too much for me 
I'm working through the man maths right now to see if it will work. I can get a loan a lot quicker than I can get access to savings and I think I would prefer to keep the savings for huge bills (cars and dogs - especially as the dog is no longer covered for his illness), so 2yr loan it is. Now to work out which car gets the NCD.
Simon,
PMs don't seem to be working - get an error every time I hit send?!
When the car was cold (not easy to find flat roads as I live round Epsom Downs) I don't think it was doing the 'surge' thing with cruise control on. Once the car was warm, I think it may have been doing it slightly. If it was, it was less pronounced than when I'm the throttle input.
It could have just been psychosomatic though!? What do you think it could be?
PMs don't seem to be working - get an error every time I hit send?!
When the car was cold (not easy to find flat roads as I live round Epsom Downs) I don't think it was doing the 'surge' thing with cruise control on. Once the car was warm, I think it may have been doing it slightly. If it was, it was less pronounced than when I'm the throttle input.
It could have just been psychosomatic though!? What do you think it could be?
smashie said:
I'm working through the man maths right now to see if it will work. I can get a loan a lot quicker than I can get access to savings and I think I would prefer to keep the savings for huge bills (cars and dogs - especially as the dog is no longer covered for his illness), so 2yr loan it is. Now to work out which car gets the NCD.
I think this thread is jinxing me... Had an emergency trip to the vet today as my black lab decided to cut her leg open in the woods this morning!Sorry for being cryptic last night! Doesn't really matter if I post it here. My second 545i ended up having a new gearbox and the first perceptible symptom of anything going wrong was exactly what you described; generally it wasn't obvious that anything was wrong. But if the car was going along a nice flat road so you know it should be perfectly smooth, you could feel a slight hiccup every 10-20s (sorry, can't remember exactly); it felt like a fraction of a second's interruption in drive. This was after I'd had the fluid changed. I just monitored it for quite a while and eventually I got a gearbox error on the display and it stuck in 3rd; turning off and on again reset it. The BMW dealer couldn't find a fault code, amazingly, but I managed to get it to do it as I was pulling away so turned round and went back, leaving the engine running so the fault code was on display.
Now I don't know what the actual fault inside the box was, but BMW simply replace the whole gearbox. Which they did, under drivetrain warranty, quite happily - though the cost of the repair would have been a little over £5k and since that's the warranty claim limit they very kindly found a way to keep it down to that sum. If you were in the same situation in the SE, check how much the cost would be; I suspect the labour rate might push it a bit higher.
Anyway, keep monitoring it. I am fairly certain that if you don't have a warranty, a gearbox rebuild by a specialist wouldn't be £5k. And if you get the opportunity when sitting on a flat straight road at ~40, stick cruise on and see. These boxes are pretty refined but they're not perfect, so you can get lumpiness even when they're working fine.
Now I don't know what the actual fault inside the box was, but BMW simply replace the whole gearbox. Which they did, under drivetrain warranty, quite happily - though the cost of the repair would have been a little over £5k and since that's the warranty claim limit they very kindly found a way to keep it down to that sum. If you were in the same situation in the SE, check how much the cost would be; I suspect the labour rate might push it a bit higher.
Anyway, keep monitoring it. I am fairly certain that if you don't have a warranty, a gearbox rebuild by a specialist wouldn't be £5k. And if you get the opportunity when sitting on a flat straight road at ~40, stick cruise on and see. These boxes are pretty refined but they're not perfect, so you can get lumpiness even when they're working fine.
Jobbo said:
Sorry for being cryptic last night! Doesn't really matter if I post it here. My second 545i ended up having a new gearbox and the first perceptible symptom of anything going wrong was exactly what you described; generally it wasn't obvious that anything was wrong. But if the car was going along a nice flat road so you know it should be perfectly smooth, you could feel a slight hiccup every 10-20s (sorry, can't remember exactly); it felt like a fraction of a second's interruption in drive. This was after I'd had the fluid changed. I just monitored it for quite a while and eventually I got a gearbox error on the display and it stuck in 3rd; turning off and on again reset it. The BMW dealer couldn't find a fault code, amazingly, but I managed to get it to do it as I was pulling away so turned round and went back, leaving the engine running so the fault code was on display.
Now I don't know what the actual fault inside the box was, but BMW simply replace the whole gearbox. Which they did, under drivetrain warranty, quite happily - though the cost of the repair would have been a little over £5k and since that's the warranty claim limit they very kindly found a way to keep it down to that sum. If you were in the same situation in the SE, check how much the cost would be; I suspect the labour rate might push it a bit higher.
Anyway, keep monitoring it. I am fairly certain that if you don't have a warranty, a gearbox rebuild by a specialist wouldn't be £5k. And if you get the opportunity when sitting on a flat straight road at ~40, stick cruise on and see. These boxes are pretty refined but they're not perfect, so you can get lumpiness even when they're working fine.
Interesting... Mine decided to stick in gear after a really long run the other night but that cleared after stopping and it hasn't done it again. I felt that was my fault though as I did 'confuse' it with some heavy inputs in the overtaking lane and then coming off the throttle. Hadn't noticed a problem before that, I don't think.Now I don't know what the actual fault inside the box was, but BMW simply replace the whole gearbox. Which they did, under drivetrain warranty, quite happily - though the cost of the repair would have been a little over £5k and since that's the warranty claim limit they very kindly found a way to keep it down to that sum. If you were in the same situation in the SE, check how much the cost would be; I suspect the labour rate might push it a bit higher.
Anyway, keep monitoring it. I am fairly certain that if you don't have a warranty, a gearbox rebuild by a specialist wouldn't be £5k. And if you get the opportunity when sitting on a flat straight road at ~40, stick cruise on and see. These boxes are pretty refined but they're not perfect, so you can get lumpiness even when they're working fine.
It certainly doesn't do it at higher rpm (i.e. on the motorway) or when accelerating or decelerating.
I haven't had an error message but coincidentally, this has happened not long after the transmission fluid change. Might drop those guys a message next week and see what they think/ know. A gearbox rebuild by them was 'only' something starting with a '1', so it's not too scary but I'll get all that confirmed and they are ZF specialists.
dom9 said:
Good lad! Welcome to the club! Let us know what it's like!
Well it's fast. Gonna need to be careful with my right foot. Last 4.8 I had didn't go anywhere near as quick, but then again it was in a Range Rover and the last 5 series was only a 3L diesel. It sure does feel good to finally have another petrol car. Just got to remember I have one of each now and therefore need to fill them with the correct fuel.smashie said:
dom9 said:
Good lad! Welcome to the club! Let us know what it's like!
Well it's fast. Gonna need to be careful with my right foot. Last 4.8 I had didn't go anywhere near as quick, but then again it was in a Range Rover and the last 5 series was only a 3L diesel. It sure does feel good to finally have another petrol car. Just got to remember I have one of each now and therefore need to fill them with the correct fuel.smashie said:
Well I went and done it. The 550i is on my drive now. Man maths did not fully add up, but hey you only live once and the other half likes it so at least not in the Dog house.
Congrats mate. I thought about selling mine in a year or two but I keep thinking more and more ill just run and run it. My mileage is only 3/4k a year so it should stay pretty fresh.
It's a lovely engine with a decent turn of speed when needed.
I think PH may own the majority of these cars shortly! I think one fella has two..
Well I found out bad point number 1. After the car being locked up all night, I got in it this morning and boy did it stink of stale cigar smoke. Spent most of the morning cleaning and deodorising the interior. Hopefully that will do the trick. If not then I will see if I can find someone to give it the ozone treatment.
philmots said:
smashie said:
Well I went and done it. The 550i is on my drive now. Man maths did not fully add up, but hey you only live once and the other half likes it so at least not in the Dog house.
Congrats mate. I thought about selling mine in a year or two but I keep thinking more and more ill just run and run it. My mileage is only 3/4k a year so it should stay pretty fresh.
It's a lovely engine with a decent turn of speed when needed.
I think PH may own the majority of these cars shortly! I think one fella has two..
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