Results 1 to 8 of 8

Thread: So first gear is pretty much broken (E88 2011 135i-cab). Too expensive to fix.

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Apr 2010
    Location
    USA
    Posts
    16
    My Cars
    2010 535 Wagon

    So first gear is pretty much broken (E88 2011 135i-cab). Too expensive to fix.

    So a long time ago I posted here about my 2011 135i cab and how it occasionally very rarely would fall out of first gear. Back when it had a warranty I mentioned it at the dealer and they could never reproduce it, and just blamed me not getting it fully in gear. It also happened maybe once a month.

    Fast forward 7 years and 75,000 miles and now (long post warranty) the car started to fall out of gear once a day at least. Sometimes with a BANG. You would put it in first gear and then give it gas and BAM you'd be in neutral. And when I started to really try to hold it in gear as I went, if it fell out it would kick my hand back and then pop into gear. Long conversations with my master BMW mechanic (Eurosport Motors in New Jersey) did not provide me with too many simple possible fixes.

    Now I would say my car falls out of first gear 10% of the time. We lifted the car and opened the drain to the transmission lubricant and drained the fluid. We collected about a beer caps full of little shiny metal particles by straining the fluid. New fluid was no help. I think some aspect of my first gear or the synchromesh for first gear was in that little pile of metal chips.

    So he says pretty much the only solution he can offer is a new transmission. Which would run about $7000. I can't see dropping that much money into the car at this point, but I'm pretty much left unable to sell it also.

    I've sort of learned to live with it. I put it into first gear, and when it falls out the vast majority of the time I'm moving forward fast enough to just put it into second and keep going. Sometimes it pops out with a startling BANG and being random it can be stress inducing. You never know when it will happen.

    Do people part out their cars? I'd love to find a cheap working transmission to buy. It's a surprisingly tiny part - amazing that it drives the car. If this was a vintage Honda motorcycle I'd find a dozen of whatever part I was looking for on eBay.

    I really want to keep the car for a lot longer but I can't come up with $7000 and it does sort of still work.

    I'm kinda bummed that the transmission really only lasted 75,000 miles - and that there was probably something wrong with it on day 1 but it was so intermittent that it didn't rear its ugly head until the warranty was long gone. I think I just got unlucky.

    Just venting. Thanks.

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Jul 2011
    Location
    Arlington, VA
    Posts
    9,926
    My Cars
    2018 BMW M240i
    I'm not a tranny guy, bough I do know how to heel/toe shift! I'm betting you could find a used manual tranny for your car. There are a few 88s with a manual tranny out there.

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Apr 2010
    Location
    USA
    Posts
    16
    My Cars
    2010 535 Wagon
    Where could one buy a used transmission?

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Jul 2011
    Location
    Arlington, VA
    Posts
    9,926
    My Cars
    2018 BMW M240i
    Try Bavarian Auto Recycling in Southern California. (800) 269-8970. Your profile doesn't say where in the US you're located. I bet there a recycling yard within 50 miles of your location. Also, you need to find out if the tranny in your car was used in other BMWs.

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Apr 2010
    Location
    USA
    Posts
    16
    My Cars
    2010 535 Wagon
    Quote Originally Posted by MarcoZandrini View Post
    Try Bavarian Auto Recycling in Southern California. (800) 269-8970. Your profile doesn't say where in the US you're located. I bet there a recycling yard within 50 miles of your location. Also, you need to find out if the tranny in your car was used in other BMWs.
    I have a N55 engine E88 car. I think it was used in a bunch of cars at BMW.
    Last edited by jayelwin; 07-13-2017 at 10:59 AM.

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Apr 2010
    Location
    USA
    Posts
    16
    My Cars
    2010 535 Wagon
    Bavarian went out of business but the number was purchased by another recycler.

    Specialized German
    Last edited by jayelwin; 07-13-2017 at 11:27 AM.

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Apr 2010
    Location
    USA
    Posts
    16
    My Cars
    2010 535 Wagon
    Specialized German had a 2011 135i crashed - they're pulling out the tranny and shipping it to me for $2150. The car only had 18k miles.

  8. #8
    Join Date
    Jan 2008
    Location
    Arida Zona
    Posts
    30,094
    My Cars
    z3
    You can use www.car-part.com - it is a junkyard locator and will search all junkyards in the area you specify for the part you are looking for. It even has built-in functionality to support cross-compatible parts, so if the transmission is shared with a 335i/535i (which it is) it will also return results for those cars. There appear to be three currently available in the $1200-1800 range.

    Going into my TENTH YEAR of providing high quality reproduction BMW fabrics!

    PRICE CUT on ALL FABRICS
    Offering the best prices on the best quality reproduction fabrics!

Similar Threads

  1. This is pretty much what my daily BMW drive is like...
    By seme0021 in forum 1999 - 2006 (E46)
    Replies: 0
    Last Post: 07-30-2008, 02:40 PM
  2. First gear is sometimes tricky to get into...
    By Righteous in forum 1991 - 1999 (E36)
    Replies: 5
    Last Post: 01-29-2007, 06:16 AM
  3. SC is pretty much sold = e36!!
    By neoprelude in forum 1991 - 1999 (E36)
    Replies: 7
    Last Post: 09-18-2005, 02:30 PM
  4. Racecar is pretty much done...
    By sunir in forum Track, Auto-X & Drag Racing sponsored by Bimmerparts.com
    Replies: 35
    Last Post: 03-31-2004, 08:10 PM

Bookmarks

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •