Jerky Dirve

[willy5]

Does anyone find their F30's gearbox jerky? When driving in slow traffic (jam), I feel the box changing down with jerks when slowing down, sometimes 3 jerks consecutively (changing from 3rd to 1st I assume) when coming to a stop, especially after driving aggresively. Mine is a 320d.

 

[Juan Powerblow]

I'm driving F30 328i. I find the gearbox seamless. What you describe doesn't seem normal. Best to get it checked and resolved since still new.

 

[HypoGXII]

Mate, do you have the auto-start stop thing disabled? Maybe that's the issue? Even from the test drive, the gear shifts were pretty good, and yours seem to be isolated.

-HypoG

 

[jason]

If u r referring to the engine braking that happens after u lift of the pedal while at slow speed then it's normal. But I would not term that as jerky. I find the up shift and downshift to be smooth in all circumstance.

But one thing I noticed is that there is very little engine braking in the F30.

Jason

 

[azrolonizamo]

My gearbox is ok. No problem

 

[markx85]

On 328 and it seems fine so far... no such issues (fingers crossed)

 

[willy5]

Thanks Guys, seems like it is on mine only. It happens when I'm going slow and it jerks in both upshifts and downshifts like if in a manual you let up the clutch too fast..I'll get it checked up.

 

[benjern]

Mine started jerking today. Sometimes quite violently when you're about slow down for a hump. Did you get the problem fixed? What was it?

Thanks Guys, seems like it is on mine only. It happens when I'm going slow and it jerks in both upshifts and downshifts like if in a manual you let up the clutch too fast..I'll get it checked up.

 

[willy5]

I sent mine (320d) in 2 weeks ago. The service center said that the self learning program for gear shift may have been "confused", I was mostly in comfort mode and driving both aggressively and sedately so the program may have learnt to be aggressive. They cleared the memory so that the gear box will relearn again, and if you want to race then shift to sport mode, don't do it in comfort mode. It's been 2 weeks, the shift quality is better but far from seamless as the auto test reports claim and the feedback above says.

 

[ongss]

My mileage is 2500km now and my gearbox is ok. Fingers crossed.

 

[andrewlim8]

my friend just changed his F30 328i entire gearbox 1 week ago. AB told him , this is the 2nd case.

 

[c-square]

Was informed by the service technician that the occurance of the supposedly "jerking" gearbox (actually it should be more like "engine braking" feeling) is due to the high-torque-low-rev engine of the Diesel. So, even with the re-setting of the adaptative gearbox, the said pull-back feel will not be eliminated completely and you'll never get the seemless downshift gear change like in the petrol siblings.

 

[willy5]

in my case the upshift during acceleration 1 to 2 also jerks, the jerk happens during as the gear shifts, so it is not due engine braking here I think

 

[c-square]

Willy5.... yes, the jerk during upshift is not "normal". You should send your car in to get it checked and hopefully your particular problem can be sorted out by merely a simple resetting the gearbox adaptative memory. My upshifts are smooth and almost seemless.

 

[willy5]

Just got my car back today from Quill. They reprogrammed the control unit, not just cleared the adaptive memory. It seems a whole lot smoother now in the traffic jam on the way home. Will update again if there is any.

 

[jennypenny]

the 8-speed automatic is actually jerky at low speeds. very jerky.

however, it becomes butter smooth when accelerating and at normal drive

this is problem with too many gear ratios. however, in terms of economy and refinement as a whole. its pretty awesome

 

[astroboy]

At low speed.. the car has problem picking which gear to use.. sometimes also due to the hesitation on the driver's pedal input especially when the throttle is being feathered.. :trytofly:

 

[willy5]

Drove in to office in a jam this morning, it does seem smoother, but still not as good as the e39 6 speed auto box. I do believe it is the ecu mapping for the gearbox, BMW didn't spend enough time refining it. Maybe in Germany got no traffic jam to test???

 

[astroboy]

When I first drive my E90, I felt it's jerky too.. then I realise this is a responsive UDM, unlike other cars. It takes a while to get use to. Perhaps this is what some of you are going thru..

 

[Bruce_Z]

When I first drive my E90, I felt it's jerky too.. then I realise this is a responsive UDM, unlike other cars. It takes a while to get use to. Perhaps this is what some of you are going thru..

To me, its like night and day difference between the E90's 6 speeder to the F30's 8 speeder. In the E90 (320i at least), the 6 speeder didnt feel like it was mated correctly to the N46 engine. It had to be reprogrammed a few times during its lifetime to be less jerky. In contrast, my F30 (328i) 8 speeder is silky smooth from day one to almost inperceptible at times. Kinda reminded me of the E46's M42B19 4 speeder back in 2001.

Anyway, all these observations are subjective to each person's previous experiences, expectations and also the car's built quality (perhaps).