My E39 5HP19 transmission fail again!

[sewell]

dear all sifu,As per topic, my E39 5HP19 transmission fail again. 1st time the car broke down is was around september near the tunnel from Kuala Kangsar to Ipoh. As from the mechanic he say the oil pump is stuck and forece one of the oil seal to split out and my transmission broke. Tow back to hometown and send to M-Scope in batu caves to rebuilt the transmission. (No any warning signal )On last saturday, with 5 people loaded into the car on my way to genting, the transmission fail again ! The transmission start to give me problem just after i pass the 1st pondok polis. after the pondok, i switch to manual mode, and is only about 1km the transmission refuse to change gear. i have to pull my car aside to engage the gear to N. then i push to D then i go again. nothing was happen untill somewhere reach the gotong jaya, the fault massage come out "trans fail save prog". i stop my car at gotong jaya to reset the gear box ( push the Acc pedal for 30sec then start again" as the fault are no more then i go again till 200m near by the chinese temple, the fault massage come out again and this time could not reset anymore even though i push the Acc pedal for 30sec. i call M-scope, and he say it was just overheat, wait till the transmission get cool down then it can move edi. but i dont want to wait anymore, i call the insurance company to ask for tow truck to tow back to batu caves.and now i yet to contact M-Scpoe to check what was happen to my car.what is the main reason that the transmission that causes fail again?

 

[moots]

battery low voltage have been known to cause the"trans fail save prog" message to appear.when was the last you chk'd/change the battery?worth to chk the battery 'on load' before suspecting the gearbox......

 

[sewell]

battery low voltage have been known to cause the"trans fail save prog" message to appear.when was the last you chk'd/change the battery?worth to chk the battery 'on load' before suspecting the gearbox......

i dont think is battery fault. i just change my battery last year April. Bosch DIN88 S5. somemore, when my car stuck in genting half way, when i engage to D, the car could not move at all !

 

[erica34]

do let us know m-scope's diagnosis and outcome. also facing issues with 5hp19 on my e46 328 but have yet to encounter situation where car "could not move at all" when engage D. normally still driveable in 3rd gear. if lucky, car would still drive normally despite trans warning light! did a flush a couple of years back and also added oil cooler.

 

[sewell]

do let us know m-scope's diagnosis and outcome. also facing issues with 5hp19 on my e46 328 but have yet to encounter situation where car "could not move at all" when engage D. normally still driveable in 3rd gear. if lucky, car would still drive normally despite trans warning light! did a flush a couple of years back and also added oil cooler.

took back my car in the evening, he say it might be the transmission overheating. yet still waiting to arrange a time with the mechanic to go genting test for a round.

 

[venger]

Bro...i feel you man. My E46 325i GB failed at the same spot 2weeks ago. I couldn't do anything as I was stuck in the middle of the curb. Waited for 2hours before the tow truck came...I feel you man.

 

[sewell]

Bro...i feel you man. My E46 325i GB failed at the same spot 2weeks ago. I couldn't do anything as I was stuck in the middle of the curb. Waited for 2hours before the tow truck came...I feel you man.

bro venger,

wow, how come all BMW stuck in the same place? so what happen to your GB? and which workshop?

 

[sewell]

after few time visit the workshop, and found out is the auto transmission overheat. this problem will not happen to normal driving or even high speed driving. We drive few time up and down to genting (which is the place my car stuck ). and notice that the transmisson cooling system is not that great.

Engine Temp : 89-94'c when going up hill but the Auto Transmission temp go up to nearly 120'c.

so add oil cooler or cooler fan ?

 

[rpmnut]

Hey bro,

You might want to check the ZF5HP's thermal bypass relief valve. This valve is like the thermostat in car's engine. It keeps the gearbox fluid at the optimum temperature by shutting off the fluid flow to the radiator core when the transmission is cold, and opening the flow when the fluid gets hot.

My mom's 325i (E46) had a gearbox that constantly overheated, especially going up hills. AB diagnosed it as a stuck bypass relief valve. They swapped out the valve and the gearbox never overheated since then.

 

[sewell]

do you mean the valve is something like thermostat ? also, where is the location of the valve?

 

[moots]

bro the e39 oledi got an atf oil cooler.the atf oil cooler aka radiator is on the right.the left piping is the cooling tube for the power steering.this view can only be seen with the main radiator removed.perhpas what bro rpmnut mentioned is worth checking......"You might want to check the ZF5HP's thermal bypass relief valve:.......so where IS this valve located........?

 

[rpmnut]

do you mean the valve is something like thermostat ? also, where is the location of the valve?

It's not a user-serviceable part, unfortunately. You need to take out the valve body to inspect the valve and/or replace it. Best send your car to a ZF specialist and get them to check it.

 

[sewell]

bro rpmnut, moots

My car just come out from the workshop, they flush my ATM oil cooler and they say nothing is wrong to it and i'm sure they re-do my transmission that time they did check the valave. now the thing is, do i really need to modify the oil cooler ? coz i can see most conti car have this kind of overheating problem, and the mechanic told me all BMW always stuck in or about the same place due to ATM overheating. Further more i also notice that japanese made their ATM oil cooler is much more bigger than our conti.

 

[Herbert]

bro rpmnut, moots

My car just come out from the workshop, they flush my ATM oil cooler and they say nothing is wrong to it and i'm sure they re-do my transmission that time they did check the valave. now the thing is, do i really need to modify the oil cooler ? coz i can see most conti car have this kind of overheating problem, and the mechanic told me all BMW always stuck in or about the same place due to ATM overheating. Further more i also notice that japanese made their ATM oil cooler is much more bigger than our conti.

Sewell,

By the way what is the name of workshop that repaired your auto-trans?? I find it rather strange that your mech asked you to add ATF oil cooler coz if he did repair your auto-trans and experienced enough , he should bloody well know that our e39 comes with AFT cooler. What nonsense is your mech talking about that all BMW always stuck in or about the same place due to AFT overheating?? He is just talking rubbish and pulling a fast one on you.

 

[initialM]

Sewell,

By the way what is the name of workshop that repaired your auto-trans?? I find it rather strange that your mech asked you to add ATF oil cooler coz if he did repair your auto-trans and experienced enough , he should bloody well know that our e39 comes with AFT cooler. What nonsense is your mech talking about that all BMW always stuck in or about the same place due to AFT overheating?? He is just talking rubbish and pulling a fast one on you.

He mentioned earlier the workshop is M-Scope at Batu Caves. Heard they are BMW gbox specialist???

 

[sewell]

Sewell,

By the way what is the name of workshop that repaired your auto-trans?? I find it rather strange that your mech asked you to add ATF oil cooler coz if he did repair your auto-trans and experienced enough , he should bloody well know that our e39 comes with AFT cooler. What nonsense is your mech talking about that all BMW always stuck in or about the same place due to AFT overheating?? He is just talking rubbish and pulling a fast one on you.

Hebert,

Since you are the specialist, can you or anyone let me know what is the temp of the ATM tranmission when our car climbing up to Genting. that day i test with the mechanic, no any fault massage coming out and the dignostic computer show 125'c the highest.

 

[Herbert]

Does not matter whether climbing Genting or elsewhere....auto trans temp should be more or less same with engine's temp. That is the whole purpose of ATF oil cooler unit and water radiator & clutch fan. I don't think anyone here can offer you much help as your car is already attended by a auto trans specialist.

 

[rpmnut]

bro rpmnut, moots

My car just come out from the workshop, they flush my ATM oil cooler and they say nothing is wrong to it and i'm sure they re-do my transmission that time they did check the valave. now the thing is, do i really need to modify the oil cooler ? coz i can see most conti car have this kind of overheating problem, and the mechanic told me all BMW always stuck in or about the same place due to ATM overheating. Further more i also notice that japanese made their ATM oil cooler is much more bigger than our conti.

Hey bro sewell,

I've driven my 525i up Genting twice since I got the car - the transmission has never overheated. It's always smooth sailing up the hill and back down again, so I'm a bit suspicious that your mechanic is telling you that it's "normal" for our UDM's to suffer transmission failure at the same place in Genting due to the same problem. If such a thing was "normal" it would be a major design flaw which I doubt BMW would've left unchecked.

My ten cents worth - perhaps you should seek a second opinion from another workshop....

 

[sewell]

Hey bro sewell,

I've driven my 525i up Genting twice since I got the car - the transmission has never overheated. It's always smooth sailing up the hill and back down again, so I'm a bit suspicious that your mechanic is telling you that it's "normal" for our UDM's to suffer transmission failure at the same place in Genting due to the same problem. If such a thing was "normal" it would be a major design flaw which I doubt BMW would've left unchecked.

My ten cents worth - perhaps you should seek a second opinion from another workshop....

Bro rpmnut,

After the ATM flush and transmission repair, my car has successful climb up and down to genting without any fault massage. the thing that herbert says, ATM temp and Engine temp should be around the same wather it is climbing hill or normal road. but for my car on normal road the temp for both is about the same. when go up genting there will be around 20'c different between ATM temp and Engine Temp. is that anything wrong on it. or i should change new ATM oil cooler ?

 

[rpmnut]

Bro rpmnut,

After the ATM flush and transmission repair, my car has successful climb up and down to genting without any fault massage. the thing that herbert says, ATM temp and Engine temp should be around the same wather it is climbing hill or normal road. but for my car on normal road the temp for both is about the same. when go up genting there will be around 20'c different between ATM temp and Engine Temp. is that anything wrong on it. or i should change new ATM oil cooler ?

Hey bro,

Glad to hear your gearbox isn't jamming up on you anymore.

On the issue of the extra fluid cooler - The transmission on our E39's, like any BMW, has enough protection mechanisms built-in to prevent long-term damage to the gearbox.

If the transmission fluid temp is out of it's normal or safe operating temps, the TCU will almost certainly trigger the transmission failsafe "limp home" programme to protect the transmission from damage.

If this failsafe programme doesn't kick in and you receive no error messages, I really don't see why you'd need to tamper with your car's cooling system.

Don't know about you, but I always prefer not to mess around with BMW engineering unless absolutely necessary.