E90 GM gearbox failure

[acemccloud]

well i had low gear jarking problem with my e90 lci. after the car was sent to service centre a thorough dognostic was carried out and it was found that there was a leak in the gearbox heat exchanger. as a result of coolant from the radiator leaked into the gearbox. atf fluid was changed with a new heat exchanger but my gear box was already damaged.eventually the gear box had to be changed.surprised by fact that such a minor part can lead to total gearbox failure.

 

[wingzee]

When does it jerk? Up or downshift? Any warning symptoms?

 

[jarance]

The oil pressure from the GB is much higher than the pressure in the water coolant.

Normally, it is the ATF oil that get into the radiator.

 

[astroboy]

Scary.. how to prevent this? Keep changing heat exchanger? Did the coolant level drop? Oil stain in the coolant?

 

[jarance]

Scary.. how to prevent this? Keep changing heat exchanger? Did the coolant level drop? Oil stain in the coolant?

change to air cool type like E36.. hehe

 

[ND4SPD]

yes i had the same issue.the atf came into the radiator. when the radiator cap was open the liquid inside looked milky white.there was no fault alarm in the i drive. which means it was leaking for a while and i was cooling my engine with atf+coolant cocktail without realizing. only symptom was the jerk between N-1-2 specially at the traffic lights. at normal cruising speed nothing felt.

 

[wingzee]

yes i had the same issue.the atf came into the radiator. when the radiator cap was open the liquid inside looked milky white.there was no fault alarm in the i drive. which means it was leaking for a while and i was cooling my engine with atf+coolant cocktail without realizing. only symptom was the jerk between N-1-2 specially at the traffic lights. at normal cruising speed nothing felt.

Damn that's scary. What's the milleage when this happened? GM or ZF gearbox?

 

[jarance]

Damn that's scary. What's the milleage when this happened? GM or ZF gearbox?

Failure of heat exchanger has nothing to do with the type of GB installed.

 

[wingzee]

Failure of heat exchanger has nothing to do with the type of GB installed.

True. Forgotten about that. But perhaps GM gearboxes comes with different batch of heat exchangers? Have not heard of a ZF-type failure yet so far.

 

[ck82]

How to check for leaks... From a preventive maintenance standpoint?

 

[ND4SPD]

How to check for leaks... From a preventive maintenance standpoint?

there is no way to check for leak as it is internal. and there will not be any warning in the idrive since it is not electronic failure.

 

[ND4SPD]

this is the culprit heat exchanger. Located behind the radiator

 

[wingzee]

Just check coolant reservoir tank every now and then.

 

[rayncc]

My mechanic suggest to replace this heat exchanger once car clocked 160k km as preventive maintenance.

 

[Nmr Nik Soh]

hi guys..how to know what type of Gearbox on my beloved car 320d e90 2011, Gm or ZF, i heard ZF gearbox can give a problem, it
that true??