Car no longer has drive

[WolfAir]

Hi all.. my father has an E90 BMW 318d auto m sport. 2009 reg and around 120k. Lovely car and has really had no issues over the past 4 years he has had it.
Yesterday whilst driving, the car showing no warning signs or weird noises lost power and just stopped mid lane. The dash shows now warning symbols, the engine starts but when the car is put in drive, there is not drive. Putting the gear back into park gives a grinding noise.
Car had to be towed last night to garage, hopefully can get some sort of diagnosis but thought i would ask anyone here if they knew what was going on...
Cheers guys

[d_a_n1979]

Could be all sorts of issues (autobox failed, drive shafts failed, guibo failed etc)

You've done right in having it recovered; so leave it to see what the garage says when they get it on the ramps and inspect it

No point in guessing, would end up going round in circles

[WolfAir]

d_a_n1979 said:

Could be all sorts of issues (autobox failed, drive shafts failed, guibo failed etc)

You've done right in having it recovered; so leave it to see what the garage says when they get it on the ramps and inspect it

No point in guessing, would end up going round in circles

Appreciate the reply d_a_n i just hope its not an expensive fix. Like maybe something has 'popped out' that they can pop back in and job done.

[Pica-Pica]

Giubo...... for crying out loud. NOT guibo.

[d_a_n1979]

Pica-Pica said:

Giubo...... for crying out loud. NOT guibo.

Haha autocorrect on my iPad

[campionissimo]

when my old e46 320i did that, the differential had destroyed its internals.

hopefully it's not that bad

[skypeller]

It won’t be the giubo or shafts, they’d make a hell of a racket when they gave up

[iSore]

It does sound like a gearbox failure - could be the torque converter. Forget rebuilds, a good used gearbox and converter is the way forward.
It's the 6 speed ZF, usually a very reliable unit.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/BMW-E87-E81-E82-E88-E90...f:0

This one has a converter for £250 all in.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/BMW-E87-E81-E82-E88-E90...f:0



Labour to fit will be about 3-4 hours on a ramp and they'll need to blow the cooler lines out.

Edited by iSore on Friday 18th January 08:55

[WolfAir]

Hey fellas,
thank you all for replying. I had 5 minutes on break at work, thought I would update the thread.

The car was put on a ramp and the mechanic found that the drive shaft had apparently "broken" off the rear axle. So even the the car started, gear box was in drive, the shaft was spinning but because it was no longer connected to the rear axle, there was no drive. It was about an hour-ish fix, replaced some bolts and cost the best part of £70.
Can't really complain though, considering the potential for big bills. It has been a solid car for the past 10 years, including the 4 we have had it. Will need a couple of things next year or so, I think, but hopefully will keep pounding on.

[d_a_n1979]

WolfAir said:

Hey fellas,
thank you all for replying. I had 5 minutes on break at work, thought I would update the thread.

The car was put on a ramp and the mechanic found that the drive shaft had apparently "broken" off the rear axle. So even the the car started, gear box was in drive, the shaft was spinning but because it was no longer connected to the rear axle, there was no drive. It was about an hour-ish fix, replaced some bolts and cost the best part of £70.
Can't really complain though, considering the potential for big bills. It has been a solid car for the past 10 years, including the 4 we have had it. Will need a couple of things next year or so, I think, but hopefully will keep pounding on.

Good to hear it was something as simple as the drive shaft Glad you're back on motoring