F10 M5 Transmission Fault!!
Discussion
So the beginning of this week has certainly been a tear between loving my M5 & not
My 250 mile schlep down to Suffolk on Monday was sublime & just furthered my love for this car as it's a pure dream to drive & i adore the luxury saloon feel when plodding & then insane beast when i want to play.
Here in lies my concern as doing the reverse trip last night was far from fun & now the car isn't happy at all. My M5 has now done over 1600 miles & had it's 1200 run in service last week.
Scenario was this, i engaged in an unavoidable Toll Booth grand prix on the M6 toll so applied M1 (Sport/Sport/Sport) with the transmission in D but setting 3, buried the loud pedal when the lights went green & off she leapt like a scalded leapord up to triple digits. Please note i didn't perform a 'launch' as still have no idea how to hook all that up, this was purely as fast getaway. On one of the changes (guessing 2nd to 3rd) the car made a loud pop/bang from behind me which sounded zorst related & very meaty which i though was fantastic & must have been meant to happen (perhaps it was & the backfire was unrelated), however only a few seconds after my dash illuminated like Santa's grotto accompanied with plenty of bongs & a Drivetrain error. "Continue the journey at a moderate speed. Full performance not available. Have the problem checked by Service".
What freaked me out is i was in the middle lane at speed & the warning disengaged my transmission settings & the car was slowing rapidly with an apparent inability to gain speed. I did manage to very slowly creep back up to 70mph, applied the cruise control & started to wonder what best to do next. I called BMW Emergency & they suggested recovery, however given it was 8pm ish they indicated it would be a contractor who'd show up & thus they'd transport me home & the car to a dealer. I was still 80 miles form home so really didn't fancy this scenario. I therefore suggested i stop at the next Service Station & see if the fault remedies itself to which the operator agreed.
After 20 miles of very lumpy & uncomfortable driving (was like driving a 20yr old diesel), i pulled into Stafford services & went for a coffee. I came out 30mins later hoping the fault had gone, however it hadn't so rather dejected i called BMW again. I got the same suggestions but now getting more pissed off & tired i decided with BMW's agreement to drive the car home as it was still drivable & decided what to do then. There followed another 20 miles of lumpy driving (is weird driving a 560bhp car that only accelerates at about 1 min for 0-62), when the yellow lights vanished & normality was restored. I got quite excited as then hoped it was a simple sensor fault & my car was now better.
I drove normally for another 10+ miles & was now only 40ish miles from home so with the check control messages gone i dropped back into M1 & performed a mid level acceleration from about 50mph but before i got to 70mph the same thing that happened at the M6 Toll Booth (minus the backfire sound) & the errors, lights & bongs returned. This stayed until reaching home.
Now more than a little pissed off & upset, so called BMW again & agreed that a BMW Technician would arrive at my house this morning (hopefully sometime before 10am).
So here in lies the question, i'm not stupid enough to think that Prestige cars don't suffer faults & that with so much technology the chances of software related issues nowadays are not uncommon, however given it happened twice during the same journey would appear to be some kind of physical fault as a although the fault appeared to clear, it very quickly returned. I had a red cog of death on my E60 M5 & never really loved the car after that as it became apparent the SMG box was a bit soft for such a high powered vehicle & they became a weak point of the car. I've not heard of any issues with the M-DCT in the F10 M5, so really looking for reassurance/guidance as to what this could possibly be & has anyone else had a similar issue?
I'll of course keep this thread updated once i've a better idea of what's happened.
My 250 mile schlep down to Suffolk on Monday was sublime & just furthered my love for this car as it's a pure dream to drive & i adore the luxury saloon feel when plodding & then insane beast when i want to play.
Here in lies my concern as doing the reverse trip last night was far from fun & now the car isn't happy at all. My M5 has now done over 1600 miles & had it's 1200 run in service last week.
Scenario was this, i engaged in an unavoidable Toll Booth grand prix on the M6 toll so applied M1 (Sport/Sport/Sport) with the transmission in D but setting 3, buried the loud pedal when the lights went green & off she leapt like a scalded leapord up to triple digits. Please note i didn't perform a 'launch' as still have no idea how to hook all that up, this was purely as fast getaway. On one of the changes (guessing 2nd to 3rd) the car made a loud pop/bang from behind me which sounded zorst related & very meaty which i though was fantastic & must have been meant to happen (perhaps it was & the backfire was unrelated), however only a few seconds after my dash illuminated like Santa's grotto accompanied with plenty of bongs & a Drivetrain error. "Continue the journey at a moderate speed. Full performance not available. Have the problem checked by Service".
What freaked me out is i was in the middle lane at speed & the warning disengaged my transmission settings & the car was slowing rapidly with an apparent inability to gain speed. I did manage to very slowly creep back up to 70mph, applied the cruise control & started to wonder what best to do next. I called BMW Emergency & they suggested recovery, however given it was 8pm ish they indicated it would be a contractor who'd show up & thus they'd transport me home & the car to a dealer. I was still 80 miles form home so really didn't fancy this scenario. I therefore suggested i stop at the next Service Station & see if the fault remedies itself to which the operator agreed.
After 20 miles of very lumpy & uncomfortable driving (was like driving a 20yr old diesel), i pulled into Stafford services & went for a coffee. I came out 30mins later hoping the fault had gone, however it hadn't so rather dejected i called BMW again. I got the same suggestions but now getting more pissed off & tired i decided with BMW's agreement to drive the car home as it was still drivable & decided what to do then. There followed another 20 miles of lumpy driving (is weird driving a 560bhp car that only accelerates at about 1 min for 0-62), when the yellow lights vanished & normality was restored. I got quite excited as then hoped it was a simple sensor fault & my car was now better.
I drove normally for another 10+ miles & was now only 40ish miles from home so with the check control messages gone i dropped back into M1 & performed a mid level acceleration from about 50mph but before i got to 70mph the same thing that happened at the M6 Toll Booth (minus the backfire sound) & the errors, lights & bongs returned. This stayed until reaching home.
Now more than a little pissed off & upset, so called BMW again & agreed that a BMW Technician would arrive at my house this morning (hopefully sometime before 10am).
So here in lies the question, i'm not stupid enough to think that Prestige cars don't suffer faults & that with so much technology the chances of software related issues nowadays are not uncommon, however given it happened twice during the same journey would appear to be some kind of physical fault as a although the fault appeared to clear, it very quickly returned. I had a red cog of death on my E60 M5 & never really loved the car after that as it became apparent the SMG box was a bit soft for such a high powered vehicle & they became a weak point of the car. I've not heard of any issues with the M-DCT in the F10 M5, so really looking for reassurance/guidance as to what this could possibly be & has anyone else had a similar issue?
I'll of course keep this thread updated once i've a better idea of what's happened.
Edited by W8PMC on Wednesday 13th November 08:36
Doesn’t sound good fella, we all know faults occur. You can buy a £1 million vehicle and it can still break down.
It maybe that your car is a Friday car or just a one off fault, hopefully when BMW get to look at the vehicle it will be easily remedied.
Hope it works out, I’m on 700 miles at the moment and love the car.
When you get these faults it does get you down as its your pride and joy, as it would me.
chin up
It maybe that your car is a Friday car or just a one off fault, hopefully when BMW get to look at the vehicle it will be easily remedied.
Hope it works out, I’m on 700 miles at the moment and love the car.
When you get these faults it does get you down as its your pride and joy, as it would me.
chin up
OK, quick update.
Technician arrived promptly this morning (excellent service from BMW Emergency services). Plugs his computer in & i realise at that point that i've managed to misunderstand the warning message displayed as it was Drivetrain & this relates to Engine &/or Transmission. Technician pointed out that 99% of people make the assumption that Drivetrain = transmission.
The fault readout was a selection of cylinder misfires, but the one highlighted was cylinder 1 & as a result the car shut down fuel injection to Cylinder 1 (hence the lumpy driving) to protect itself. This would collaborate what i though was an overly loud bang from the rear which could have certainly been a misfire whereas i'd considered it could be some exciting zorst notes.
Fault was displayed as soon as i started the car this morning so this made it very easy for the Engineer. Naturally he couldn't carry out any remedial work so we had no choice but to drive my car to the local dealer with the Technician following. Can is now at Bowker BMW awaiting full diagnosis & hopefully repair. Technicians gut feel is an ignition coil has failed or possibly a fuel injector, he also indicated it could be as simple as a spark plus failure.
I won't know anymore until Bowker run a full diagnosis.
Enterprise are dropping off a Premium (bet it's not a M5) rental car tomorrow morning for a few days as Bowker said they won't be able to get my car into the workshop until tomorrow afternoon at the earliest. I'll report back when i know more.
Technician arrived promptly this morning (excellent service from BMW Emergency services). Plugs his computer in & i realise at that point that i've managed to misunderstand the warning message displayed as it was Drivetrain & this relates to Engine &/or Transmission. Technician pointed out that 99% of people make the assumption that Drivetrain = transmission.
The fault readout was a selection of cylinder misfires, but the one highlighted was cylinder 1 & as a result the car shut down fuel injection to Cylinder 1 (hence the lumpy driving) to protect itself. This would collaborate what i though was an overly loud bang from the rear which could have certainly been a misfire whereas i'd considered it could be some exciting zorst notes.
Fault was displayed as soon as i started the car this morning so this made it very easy for the Engineer. Naturally he couldn't carry out any remedial work so we had no choice but to drive my car to the local dealer with the Technician following. Can is now at Bowker BMW awaiting full diagnosis & hopefully repair. Technicians gut feel is an ignition coil has failed or possibly a fuel injector, he also indicated it could be as simple as a spark plus failure.
I won't know anymore until Bowker run a full diagnosis.
Enterprise are dropping off a Premium (bet it's not a M5) rental car tomorrow morning for a few days as Bowker said they won't be able to get my car into the workshop until tomorrow afternoon at the earliest. I'll report back when i know more.
humpbackmaniac said:
Sad to hear, and bloody frustrating when new expensive toys break. Next time you're in Suffolk let me know if you fancy hours of M5 chat over a beer!
My head office is in Bacton, near Stowmarket & i tend to be down there every couple of weeks although every now & again i'll get the train. Whereabouts are you?Always like chatting about cars & love beer
Zod said:
That happened to my E60 once. Emergency Service came out, took a look and cleared the fault and it was fine after that.
I had RCOD on my E60 M5 & blocked the A329 (road joining M4 to M3) for several hours which was a tad embarrassing & very annoying for the police who finally forced me to allow the recovery to drag (i mean drag) my M5 onto a low loader Had a total SMG failure which lead to an almost complete SMG replacement. This was the beginning of my dislike of my E60 M5 so am hoping this event is more nothing than something.I think that there have been a few reports of similar problems on the US forums (M5post /m5board).
My e60 threw a complete wobbler, displaying every warning under the sun, disengaging all safety systems and running at reduced power - it was the idle actuators needing replacement after about 2,000 miles. I really enjoyed the crap offer from BMW services that I attempt to drive the car through London to my "local service centre" in limp mode.
My e60 threw a complete wobbler, displaying every warning under the sun, disengaging all safety systems and running at reduced power - it was the idle actuators needing replacement after about 2,000 miles. I really enjoyed the crap offer from BMW services that I attempt to drive the car through London to my "local service centre" in limp mode.
Still no formal update. The Master Technician sent off a PUMA case to BMW late this morning. BMW responded with instruction to replace the coil packs & spark plugs to see if this clears the fault or localises it to a specific cylinder bank. If this fails then the next likely instruction will be to replace all the Injectors as the Service dept. have suggested there could be an updated/improved part available. This strikes me as a touch odd given my car is LCi & was only built 10-12 weeks ago, but i guess it's possible. BMW will also check for any similar faults/cases.
Doubt i'll be seeing my car for a few days so in the meantime i'll be schlepping round in one of Enterprises Premium collection. Was hopeful when i saw them coming down the drive that they'd sent a decent model of 5 Series as the colour looked good, wheels looked big, saw some wing mounted M badges (when did BMW start glueing these on?) & tinted rear glass, however this hope soon faded when i opened the front door, heard said car & spotted the less than excitement inducing badge on the back. Spotty yoof who delivered it looked all excited when about to explain it was an Executive Saloon from BMW, however this soon turned to misery when i explained to him what it was replacing.
Perhaps a further update later today but i fear i'll hear little more until tomorrow.
Doubt i'll be seeing my car for a few days so in the meantime i'll be schlepping round in one of Enterprises Premium collection. Was hopeful when i saw them coming down the drive that they'd sent a decent model of 5 Series as the colour looked good, wheels looked big, saw some wing mounted M badges (when did BMW start glueing these on?) & tinted rear glass, however this hope soon faded when i opened the front door, heard said car & spotted the less than excitement inducing badge on the back. Spotty yoof who delivered it looked all excited when about to explain it was an Executive Saloon from BMW, however this soon turned to misery when i explained to him what it was replacing.
Perhaps a further update later today but i fear i'll hear little more until tomorrow.
Oh dear, my mild frustration/annoyance is very quickly turning into anger/rage.
Had no communication from BMW or dealer yesterday & given this was the 4th day they've had my car, my frustration was rapidly growing. I decided to call around 4pm to get an update & after chasing a few people around i finally spoke to someone who could read notes off a computer.
Basically the moving around of coil packs & spark plugs didn't help & the fault kept returning so attention turned to the injectors under BMW's instruction. At this point the dealer had my car connected to there diagnostic computers & it was communicating with the diagnosis systems at BMW in Germany (seems a bit far fetched). They've moved the injectors around to try & isolate cylinder 1 &/or a bank of cylinders but this process proved fruitless so i was told by the dealer they were awaiting further instruction from BMW & expected to change all the injectors.
I questioned this due to them telling me they'd changed the injectors around & the fault remained so unless all the injectors are faulty i feel they're still barking up the wrong tree.
My faith in this car is dwindling as each hour passes & i can't believe that with such an advanced car & such advanced diagnostics that it takes to date 4 days & still no diagnosis can be reached, but more importantly how it can be fixed.
Cylinder misfires on a performance car such as the M5 is at best concerning & in the back of my mind i can't help thinking that other mechanical damage may have occurred as a result.
Not sure where to go from here but considering a call to BMW UK later as now we're entering day 5 & i'm still none the wiser as to what's happened & happening.
Had no communication from BMW or dealer yesterday & given this was the 4th day they've had my car, my frustration was rapidly growing. I decided to call around 4pm to get an update & after chasing a few people around i finally spoke to someone who could read notes off a computer.
Basically the moving around of coil packs & spark plugs didn't help & the fault kept returning so attention turned to the injectors under BMW's instruction. At this point the dealer had my car connected to there diagnostic computers & it was communicating with the diagnosis systems at BMW in Germany (seems a bit far fetched). They've moved the injectors around to try & isolate cylinder 1 &/or a bank of cylinders but this process proved fruitless so i was told by the dealer they were awaiting further instruction from BMW & expected to change all the injectors.
I questioned this due to them telling me they'd changed the injectors around & the fault remained so unless all the injectors are faulty i feel they're still barking up the wrong tree.
My faith in this car is dwindling as each hour passes & i can't believe that with such an advanced car & such advanced diagnostics that it takes to date 4 days & still no diagnosis can be reached, but more importantly how it can be fixed.
Cylinder misfires on a performance car such as the M5 is at best concerning & in the back of my mind i can't help thinking that other mechanical damage may have occurred as a result.
Not sure where to go from here but considering a call to BMW UK later as now we're entering day 5 & i'm still none the wiser as to what's happened & happening.
W8PMC said:
Oh dear, my mild frustration/annoyance is very quickly turning into anger/rage.
Had no communication from BMW or dealer yesterday & given this was the 4th day they've had my car, my frustration was rapidly growing. I decided to call around 4pm to get an update & after chasing a few people around i finally spoke to someone who could read notes off a computer.
Basically the moving around of coil packs & spark plugs didn't help & the fault kept returning so attention turned to the injectors under BMW's instruction. At this point the dealer had my car connected to there diagnostic computers & it was communicating with the diagnosis systems at BMW in Germany (seems a bit far fetched). They've moved the injectors around to try & isolate cylinder 1 &/or a bank of cylinders but this process proved fruitless so i was told by the dealer they were awaiting further instruction from BMW & expected to change all the injectors.
I questioned this due to them telling me they'd changed the injectors around & the fault remained so unless all the injectors are faulty i feel they're still barking up the wrong tree.
My faith in this car is dwindling as each hour passes & i can't believe that with such an advanced car & such advanced diagnostics that it takes to date 4 days & still no diagnosis can be reached, but more importantly how it can be fixed.
Cylinder misfires on a performance car such as the M5 is at best concerning & in the back of my mind i can't help thinking that other mechanical damage may have occurred as a result.
Not sure where to go from here but considering a call to BMW UK later as now we're entering day 5 & i'm still none the wiser as to what's happened & happening.
If not resolved promptly, I'd take steps to reject the car.Had no communication from BMW or dealer yesterday & given this was the 4th day they've had my car, my frustration was rapidly growing. I decided to call around 4pm to get an update & after chasing a few people around i finally spoke to someone who could read notes off a computer.
Basically the moving around of coil packs & spark plugs didn't help & the fault kept returning so attention turned to the injectors under BMW's instruction. At this point the dealer had my car connected to there diagnostic computers & it was communicating with the diagnosis systems at BMW in Germany (seems a bit far fetched). They've moved the injectors around to try & isolate cylinder 1 &/or a bank of cylinders but this process proved fruitless so i was told by the dealer they were awaiting further instruction from BMW & expected to change all the injectors.
I questioned this due to them telling me they'd changed the injectors around & the fault remained so unless all the injectors are faulty i feel they're still barking up the wrong tree.
My faith in this car is dwindling as each hour passes & i can't believe that with such an advanced car & such advanced diagnostics that it takes to date 4 days & still no diagnosis can be reached, but more importantly how it can be fixed.
Cylinder misfires on a performance car such as the M5 is at best concerning & in the back of my mind i can't help thinking that other mechanical damage may have occurred as a result.
Not sure where to go from here but considering a call to BMW UK later as now we're entering day 5 & i'm still none the wiser as to what's happened & happening.
W8PMC said:
At this point the dealer had my car connected to there diagnostic computers & it was communicating with the diagnosis systems at BMW in Germany (seems a bit far fetched).
This is absolutely possible... gotta love technology! W8PMC said:
Not sure where to go from here but considering a call to BMW UK later as now we're entering day 5 & i'm still none the wiser as to what's happened & happening.
Not sure you'll get anywhere with BMW UK without turning the screw... say you're extremely unhappy and are considering rejecting the vehicle under the Sale of Goods Act.dazren said:
Damn just seen this thread. Another long term PHer I know who has had problems with the F10 M5. The other being rich1231. Not a good trend as I'd quite like to get a depreciated one in a few years as a daily driver.
Hi Daz, you well?Can't say i'm tickled about this situation, especially given the car is only 6 weeks old & covered 1600 miles. Now heard about a few with similar fault warnings, although i don't know yet if this means the same actual fault as Drivetrain covers a multitude.
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