Transmission failure and temperature Spec. HELP

[Lollybags]

I am the original owner of 330 Ci with 99,000 kms, that has been fastidiously maintained.
At 40,000 kms the transmission failed and I was advised by the local dealer that a replacement / rebuilt transmission was required.
$10,000-00 later the car was back on the road - no further issues till now at 90,000 kms.
A few months back the car went into "Limp mode" with the flywheel icon alight. I stopped the car and restarted, resetting the fault. This occurred randomly though not often and was resolved the same way. At service time the mechanic agreed there was a fault detected and he would investigate at some stage.
Before this could be done the Transmission went into Limp mode, and was unable to be reset by simply turning the ignition on and off.
I had it towed to a Transmission shop, where a rebuilt transmission was fitted due to damage and the effects of heat. $6,000.00.
After road testing the car it again went in to Limp mode. The temperature was found to be 120 - 150 deg C. Probably too hot ?
The mechanic suggested that the radiator be replaced along with various other drains, bleed and replacement of trans cooler radiator. $750.00
This achieved a lowering of the temperature to 105 - 110 deg C. Invoice notes that this may be too high however no information is available to determine the correct temp. Spec. It was suggested that I take the car to a dealer to check the operation of the Fan ( ?)

The car went into limp mode again after 20 km of driving that day.
I delivered the car to the local BMW dealer and provided all the mechanics notes and outlined the relevant history. They contacted me to day that the coolant fitted was not correct and that there was a leaking hose.$480.00. I explained that this action was not warranted as the Transmission failures were occurring LONG before the radiator etc was replaced. They claimed that upon driving the car there were no faults and it was a " Happy Car". Frustrated I predicted that as they had not made any effort to discover the cause of this fault. Q.Did they know what the correct temperature should be ? A. No, but they did check the temperature. Q.Was it too high ? A. We cant tell !
I predicted that the car would be in Limp mode again.
Within 20 kms the car again went in to Limp mode. It has been reset in the same way again.

Now after $7,000.00 + spent I have a car that is exactly as it was months ago. I cant in conscience sell or trade it even though without a long test drive the fault probably wont be obvious. Particularly as I wouldn't recoup what I have spent. ( It has just been serviced, new tyres and full registration for 12 months paid)

If anyone has any opinions or advice I'll be eternally grateful.

Otherwise there'll be an an immaculate low km 1 owner 330 Ci convertible parked on a busy road with the keys in the ignition a tank full of fuel a Car wash voucher and a " Good Luck" card and a window sticker FREE TO A GOOD HOME !!!

[MarcoZandrini]

A car goes into limp mode to protect the engine and/or the automatic transmission from damage or additional damage. Those temperatures are not excessive. Think of transmission fluid as a specialized type of engine oil. Engine oil gets up to temperatures of ~250*F without any issue. Yes, the transmission isn’t an engine. However, it’s designed to run at fairly high temperatures.
Some advice:
1. Don’t take the car to the dealer as techs don’t see older bimmers that often, and they are trained to rely on the deslership’s conputers which are connected to computers at BMW in Munich. Why? Modern cars are just too complex for the average tech to properly diagnose issues.
2. Find a reputable indie shop in your area at www.bimrs.org. Yes, the shop will have the same computers as the dealer, but the tech sees a wide range of bimmers, so they will interpret what the computers find with a broader knowledge of issues.
3. Stay away from transmission shops as they may not have the correct diagnostic computers and they make their money by rebuilding transmissions, not by diagnosing a problem and performing a $400 fix.

JMHO. YMMV

[jmo69]

If you're looking for the correc operating temp of the engine coolant it should be in the 92-95°C range. If you google e46 hidden menu it will show you how to find the actual coolant temperature. Much more accurate than the dash gauge. You could also get the OBD Fusion app for your smart phone. I've got the Android version and with the Bluetooth device it was about $15. The dashboard will show any number of PIDs. It will log data, show and clear fault codes. This is mine with a little idle time after a couple mile drive.


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