possible gearbox problem?

[Jayx5]

The wife got in the x5 yesterday put the fob in the dashboard and a message came up on the idrive something along the lines of 'transmission failure p may not be available '.
The message went away when it was started and drove like normal, I had the gearbox oil changed a few weeks ago could it have anything to do with this?
It only does short journeys so would a low battery start throwing up weird messages( like my e53 did)?
Were away with the caravan next month and I'm starting to get nervous

[Jase0851]

Mine did this because of a canbus error, my gearbox was fine but the rear right hand side in the boot was full of water which was earthing the cabling.

[X5Sport]

Low battery is a likely cause. Give it a charge and see what happens. If really worried then get a diagnostic check done to see if anything has been logged, clear the errors and see if they come back.

[Jayx5]

first trip out with the caravan this year and the gearbox starts playing up! jumped out of gear and this came up on the screen

IMG-20190411-WA0003.jpg (107.59 KiB) Viewed 2887 times

pulled over turned it off and on and it was fine, that happened twice it only seems to happen when I put my foot down.
Am I looking at a new gearbox or do you think it can be fixed?
jay

[X5Sport]

If you have a local Bosch Autocentre it would be worth seeing what error code is causing this to appear. Might be cheaper than a BMW Dealer (~£120).

Boxes can be repaired with overhaul kits if needed, or it could be a bad sensor, old oil or something unrelated.

[Jayx5]

the gearbox oil was only changed about 2 months ago, I was hoping that would sort it I'll take it to a transmission place when I get back.......if it makes it back

[X5Sport]

Has it got enough oil in it? If it wasn’t changed using the correct procedure then it may have too little in it. That can cause pressure maintenance issues and you lose drive. Auto-boxes use oil to generate hydraulic pressure to work as well as oil for lubrication. Too little could cause a pressure drop, or cause insufficient pressure to keep the clutches and brake bands ‘locked’.

[Jayx5]

Took it into BMW yesterday as they fixed it the first time when it happened before when it was under warranty back in November and they are gonna have a look at it next Friday and said it will cost £99 to plug it in the diagnostic machine.
If they find a fault that they missed the first time they will fix it free of charge and not charge for diagnosis so fingers crossed

[Jayx5]

BMW had a look at my gearbox and apparently topped it up with oil and one of the technicians took it home so it had a proper test drive, he came in the next morning and said it was fine.
I went to collect it and they couldn't even move it out of the parking space without it jumping out of gear!
so I'm not sure what their next move is, a new gearbox would be nice if they can honour it out of warranty, as they failed to fix it when it was under warranty, I think I might be in for a battle

[Jayx5]

Just back from BMW, it needs a new gearbox
They are gonna speak to bmw and hopefully get some goodwill out of them.
Has anyone else managed to get any goodwill? What percentage of the total cost did you have to pay?

[X5Sport]

Failures on E70 boxes are very rare and I can’t remember more than one other on here (it was an 8-sp) over the last few years, and that was still under factory warranty.

If you don’t get a sensible offer then it will be worth talking to any local gearbox rebuilder who specialises in ZF boxes.

When BMW told me that my E53 needed a new box, there was no goodwill (it was many years back and times have changed) so they quoted me £7k plus labour.

The box was rebuilt in Biggleswade, Bedfordshire by a ZF specialist for £2,200 and came with a 12-month Warranty.

BMW will only replace rather than repair - hence the high cost - and your old box goes off to be rebuilt. You don’t get a brand new unit, just a ‘remanufactured’ one which is someone else's that suffered a similar failure of some sort.

You may get the box paid for (the expensive bit) and a proportion of the labour (the not so expensive bit).

Given it was flagged under warranty and misdiagnosed they should cough up the lot. Stand your ground

[marti]

9 out of 10 times there's nothing actually wrong with the box ...its the VCB (valve control body) or a faulty solenoid on the VCB easily changeable.....

It would be interesting see what codes you got ......

[Jayx5]

If it's crazy money including the goodwill , I'll take it to A+M gearbox services which is round the corner from cooper BMW in chelmsford and hopefully they can fix it. thanks guys

[Jayx5]

I had to pop in to BMW today to pick up a courtesy car (220d gran tourer) The guy I'm dealing with reckons a new box on it's own is about £5000, I should know the outcome on tuesday

[X5Sport]

Be interested in your thoughts about the Gran Tourer. We have a MY2019 220D xDrive Msport Auto version. It’s not going to set the world alight, but we both think it’s a pretty good runabout.

Not surprised at that quote. The biggest cost on a repaired one is the 17.5 hours of labour to get in off and on, plus fix it. The repair kits for the 6-sp were about 25% of the total bill.