E46 Gearbox rebuild.. $4.1k ouch

[primaus]

Maybe I am picky.. but gear changes was a bit rough and thud from the rear (transmission?) when braking hard.. e.g. engine steps down from 2nd to 1st too quickly...

anyways.. bmw doncaster rebuilt the gearbox.. they said the clutches were worn.. just got the car back today.. so we'll see how it goes...

1999 323Ci E46 Auto coupe bought 6months ago with full service history. Had
100,XXXX kms on the clock when I put it into get rebuilt.. total cost... $4.1k ouch

Anyone else with similar experiences?? Maybe it'll make me feel better

[Pegus]

Hmmm thuds eh.... have you checked your rear subframe?

[r6p0wer]

yeah this guy on the e46fanatics forum busted a steptronic gearbox as well

http://forum.e46fanatics.com/showthread.php?t=416317

[crombo97]

Ouch 4k for a rebuild
What was a new box worth???

[primaus]

new box is 9k-ish

[Etez]

Originally Posted by primaus

new box is 9k-ish

For a gearbox for a 323ci? Man that is absurd.

[BMWE36325i]

i dont' know if its just me but i find doncaster bmw has a higher mark up. when i was purchasing a few parts, i rang them and another dealer (bib still well) and they were able to come under the price doncaster gave me inc gst. maybe next time when doing a big job to ask around.

[primaus]

an update.... 6 months later down the track and about 10 visits back to BMW the problem still is present.....

To rectify the problem, they have done:

* partial reset of computer
* full reset of computer
* flushed fluids
* replaced differential

in addition to gearbox rebuild.


Some key points about the issue:

* Occurs when engine is at running temperature, less noticable when car is cold
* Noise occurs when coming down from 2nd to 1st gear (e.g. stopping at the red lights)
* Noise comes from the gear of the car similar to a muffled "thud". The harder the brakes are applied, the louder the noise.

Any ideas what the problem could be? If they rebuilt the gear box and diff.. could it be the tie rod ends? suspension bushes?

Thanks in advance

[Pegus]

It wouldn't hurt to get the subframe checked out.

[1q2w3e4r]

You'd know if it was the subframe, and BMW sure as hell should have been able to spot it.

Maybe its time to go to an independant specialist for an alternate view?

[CortinaD]

Did they replace the valvebody in the trans? mine was doing similar when they rebuilt it and got it back so they pulled it out and redid it again. The valvebody come from NZ. Apparently there was some fault with it that was causing the pressure to be high and it giving it a solid thud on the crawing downchange.

my m3 has suffered the subframe failure, didn't even know about it until i checked it out. Have you checked your RTABS?

[mkmuscle]

my gearbox was fucked after around 60,000kms... bmw fixed it for free because we made a big stinkup about it. they quoted me 10,000+ for new box, computer etc... BMW parramatta autohaus ended up footing it and even gave me service for free it was 2 years out of warranty as well which i thought was pretty cool... then again family has bought heaps of shit from them, x5, new 335i vert etc.

[momoc]

I have a 323Ci 2000, 100,XXX kms and i have the exact same problem.. i got my gearbox serviced few days ago and the Thud noise is still there but not as bad. still dont know whats causing it. i was told from a BMW specialist that it might be the clutches that are worn or possibly the mounts. im still looking into it.

[DTME30ic]

Years ago we had an E36 320i and the 5 speed auto let go with 96000 on it. Got it done under warranty. They said it was a $5k + job.

[GHaST]

wow. sounds like bmw are cheaping out with shit gearboxes.
I mean really, even with the 320i auto - how much abuse could you really give it ?