E39 gearbox, begining of the end?

[peaktorque]

Hi,

My 535i is being replaced very soon with a nice Alfa (need something more reliable that the BM )

The car has obviously worked out that it's being replaced and decided to throw it's toys out of the pram and devolop a new fault, attention seeking............

The car drives fine most of the time, but recently it has devoloped a worrying fault. On occasions, when pulling away from a standstill there is a slight delay between using the throttle and actually moving, this is accompanied with a big jolt. Arrive at the next junction and all is fine. Then maybe a few junctions ahead it will do it again.

It is also exhibiting the same annoyance in reverse.

This is typical for me just before putting it up for sale

I'm guessing that it is one of the many solenoid valves in the gearbox sticking, so is there any thing I can try that might rectify this problem? Is a transmission reset possible?

Any ideas?

Thanks

James.

[Patrick Bateman]

Might be on its way out.

Friend's brother-in-law had similar problems with his X5 and that required a new gearbox. Notably the problem of struggling to select reverse.

[Huff]

Sounds like it could just be low fluid level. Try a search here, such symptoms have been discussed before.

The ZF 5Hp30 gearbox used in certain 5-series (e34 540, E32 740 etc) has a known issue were reverse completely disappears, and it's due to a plastic check ball popping through a hole in the valve body it shouldn't - DIYable if you are brave.

[peaktorque]

Thanks for the replies.

It may be low on fluid, but there is no easy way to check AFAIK.

Sealed for life is a great idea in theory................