TheCrow Posted February 21, 2009 Report Share Posted February 21, 2009 Out in the car today just a trip along the motorway and into the next town. Stopped there and when went to restart the car the "cog with and exclamation mark inside it" (gearbox warning light) came on. Typically on a sat so I cant get it to my indy until monday. Took the car home very slowly, it was still using all the gears just very harsh when changing 1-2-1 and slightly more noticeable in other gears (though I may have been overly sensitive to it) Have read up a bit about this on other forums and seems an all too common problem on the big auto diesels around the 70-80k mark (mine is 73 Wooooo!! *sarcasm*) Seems like it if is in need of anything internal gearbox we are looking at 2k minimum. Some have mentioned that it has been a fluid leak (dono how much to fix) or other sensors such as crankshaft angle something or other which is only £200 to fix. Most that have had internal failure seem to report a lack of warning light and no gears being selectable. Heavy gear changes seem to point to gearbox fluid though I doubt it will be cheap to fix. I bought the car privetly so don't have any warranty to fall back on, though I would expect the need at only 4years old and 70k, guess I was wrong. Anyone know if I can take out a warranty now? (I know some insurance co's let you take out and claim at the same time but tie you into a contract - but this is for mobile phones etc lol) car was bought from dealer in 2007 so I guess I wont have a leg to stand on if trying to push BMW to sort out this ridiculously early malfunction (esp if it is oil in a sealed for life system?)... Sorry for the rambling I just dont know what to think or hope for, non of the outcomes seem good. Any help or further info / links would be appreciated. Cheers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheCrow Posted February 22, 2009 Author Report Share Posted February 22, 2009 Sunday update, the light has gone and it is changing gears smoothly. Still going to get it looked at, I take it will have stored the error code? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark330Vert Posted February 22, 2009 Report Share Posted February 22, 2009 Yeah it should have still stored the code and id defo get it checked out or if not take a peek underneath urself and see if u can see any fluid anywhere around the box? Good luck and hope it dont hurt the wallet too much! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chris Posted February 22, 2009 Report Share Posted February 22, 2009 Hope you get it sorted. Load of balls the sealed for life gearbox and diff oil! Cant beleiev thay state that, unless they only think it will last 70-100k Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheCrow Posted February 23, 2009 Author Report Share Posted February 23, 2009 I hope its not too much as the wallet isn't feeling all that thick just now! Guess BMW is just not up to the Kia 7year unlimited warranties Gave my garage a call (which is really a Toyota indy but they all own BMW's and most of there work is now BMW (is that a bad sign??)) and they are going to read some error codes tomorrow form us. I am hopping that it was just from a low battery throwing errors, though dont think the error code will say that so will mention it to them to check the bat. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheCrow Posted February 24, 2009 Author Report Share Posted February 24, 2009 Update (After trip to garage): They took a reading of the logged error codes, cleared them all, took it for a test drive, and read the codes again. Looks like it is an ABS sensor problem though the abs is working fine. -------------------------------------------------------------- 5DC4 - wheel speed sensor ABS regulation 5DC1 - wheel speed sensor > 40km/h 5E5C - DDS button fault (though google suggests: 5E5C General wheel speed error:This code is generated when the ABS ECU sees an error in the cumulative wheel speed calculations, basically, it knows one or more of the wheel speeds are incorrect, but unsure of which one.) --------------------------------------------------------------- 5E5B is DSC button pressed for longer than 10seconds so I wonder if 5E5C could be the deflation detection button pressed for longer than 10 seconds? but how would we reset this if it didnt go away with clearing the codes? End result think will order up a ABS sensor for rear near side. Anyone got any good sources? Think about £70(part only) from BMW. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lrb Posted March 6, 2009 Report Share Posted March 6, 2009 Ive just had the same thing happen with my box at 76k miles. Warning light comes on and box goes into limp mode. Visited a gearbox specialist who plugged it into a computer and it diagnosed a fault on 5th gear which the chap said means that the gear is slipping. This means a recon box at £895 plus VAT. Ouch. Apparently its a really common problem with these autos due to the blistering torque, which I guess is why I bought the thing in the first place so Ive only myself to blame! Any other words of advice before I spend the cash? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
simonlpearce Posted March 6, 2009 Report Share Posted March 6, 2009 Bad new on the above chaps, at the end of the day if you have a fault then its going to need fixing. Some are lucky and its not too expensive, some like your case are not so lucky. At least you have the comfort in knowing it should be back to a good standard once its been repaired, oh and make sure you get some kind of warranty with the recon box, at the very least 6 months. Lastly it may be worth haggling on the price a little, tell him you have had a quote for £750 elsewhere see what he says, never take first price! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
