FixEuro

22 inch rims voided my BMW transmission warranty!

Joe Free — Fri, 28 Nov 2014 15:02:21 +0000

If you’re thinking about buying a car with big wheels or rims, you might want to think twice! I recently had a customer bring his BMW with aftermarket 22 inch rims into the shop with a transmission warning light (looks like a gear with an exclamation point in the middle).

One might think, “No problem! My car is still under factory warranty!” or, “I’m glad I bought that aftermarket, extended warranty for my used car!” Not so fast…

I’ve been repairing and servicing European Asian & domestic car transmissions and engines with aftermarket warranty contracts for nearly 30 years, and for the first time ever, I had a normally-covered claim turned down flat for oversized tires!

BUYERS BEWARE: Those 22 inch wheels and low profile tires may look great on your BMW, but your warranty company sees it as a contract breach. Check your warranty carefully! Most warranties include a “modified vehicle” clause.

In this case, our customer’s warranty claim was denied, even though the aftermarket wheels and tires were on the vehicle when he purchased it. The dealership that sold him the vehicle also sold him the oversized wheels and the warranty contract. Needless to say, they denied all responsibility for the damage to the transmission.

We have rebuilt transmissions for 4 wheel drive monster trucks, with 30 inch wheels and larger. Many custom & modified parts are used specifically for that purpose, which allow the transmission to deal with the added torque and horsepower output. This is not the case with your standard factory parts. In most cases, your factory transmission is engineered to work with the original wheels and tires, and nothing more.

Regardless of whether your transmission can handle the large wheels and tires or not, I can say for sure that an oversized tire is going to reduce your actual odometer reading. Honestly, the is likely the big problem that the warranty companies are having with the instalation oversized tires.

Additional Information:

Obviously, this post is about a BMW, but it applies to Jaguar, Mercedes-Benz, Land Rover, Audi, etc. The BMW instrument panel has a warning light as described above. Other vehicles might have a message something like:

transmission failure
gear box fault
check engine
service engine
gear ratio error
transmission over temp

Whatever the case, be sure to pay attention to your instrument panel and get your vehicle checked out as soon as possible if you see a light or message like this. Sometimes these warnings appear at the first sign of trouble, before any major damage occurs.

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2005 Audi A4 1.8L Turbo CVT Transmission

Joe Free — Mon, 07 Jul 2014 20:39:55 +0000

This vehicle came into our shop with differential failure, ring and pinion melted down. The story behind it is, this vehicle had initially developed a leak at the differential axle seal that had gone unnoticed by the owner until it started making noise from the low fluid condition. The owner of the car took it to an nearby repair facility to replace the seal and to refill the differential with the proper lubricant. Unfortunately, the facility that took on the repair may have been somewhat under-qualified. When the customer got his car back it was no longer leaking but the noise seemed to be getting increasingly worse. It wasn’t very long before the car wouldn’t pull at all.

At that point, we got the call to tow it in and do the rebuild. Of course, when we opened the differential portion of the transmission we found a pile of scrap metal (no teeth at all left on the pinion). When we opened the trunk to store the undercovers we found a differential shim in the trunk. We believe this may have been left out of the differential when the axle repairing shop finished their job. This suspicion was confirmed when we tried to stack the replacement ring and pinion back together with the existing shims from the defective unit.

Ultimately, we transplanted the transfer gears, planets and clutch carrier from the original transmission code HCP into the donor A6 core code HHZ. The donor unit had a good case and perfect ring and pinion gears as well as the correct shim set up. Of course along the way, we installed a master overhaul set, new chain and the new factory recommended update for this CVT transmission which includes 7 clutches instead of the original 6.

One thing every reader should take away from this repair blog is to take your car to a repair facility specifically qualified for your vehicle every 20,000 to 30,000 miles and have it properly checked for leaks. Don’t let a little oil leak turn into a major repair for you. Of course if you are in the Dallas Fort Worth Texas area, just call the service desk for an appointment to service your Audi CVT (Continuously Variable Transmission).

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Mercedes Benz shifter stuck in park or won’t move

Joe Free — Sat, 04 Jan 2014 15:29:58 +0000

We recently fixed another Mercedes Benz shifter that was stuck in park. Our customers have been saying things like:

“My shifter is stuck in park”
“My transmission won’t go into drive”
“My gear shift is stuck”
“My car will start and run but my transmission won’t go into gear”

IF ONE OF THESE COMMENTS IS HOW YOU FOUND US, PLEASE READ THE ENTIRE BLOG AND FOLLOW ALL OF THE LINKS AT THE BOTTOM. IF YOU FEEL THE NEED TO CALL US AFTER YOU HAVE DONE THIS, PLEASE HAVE YOUR CREDIT CARD READY WE WILL CHARGE YOU A $25 CONSULTATION FEE DUE TO A HIGH VOLUME OF INCOMING CALLS AND LIMITED STAFF.

There are a few troubleshooting steps that can quickly help you narrow down the problem. The shifter won’t move out of park unless you step on the brakes, so the first thing you should check is the brake light switch. Have someone watch the brake lights as you step on the pedal. If the brake lights work, you can move on to the next step in troubleshooting.

The next possibility is a failed brake shift interlock solenoid. This solenoid releases the shifter from park when you step on the brake pedal. You can check the solenoid by stepping on the brake pedal and listening for a click sound as the solenoid activates. If you hear the click each time you apply the brakes, then the solenoid is probably fine.

If your car passed both of these tests, the problem is most-likely a broken, plastic part inside the shifter assembly. These plastic pieces break all the time, resulting in a stuck shifter (see image below).

A lot of mechanics just replace the shifter assembly, which costs about $1,200.00 from the dealership! We prefer to save our customers money by replacing the broken, plastic part with a stronger, aluminum one.

IF YOU ARE NOT IN DALLAS TEXAS, please follow the links below. We are having people all over the world calling about this and we don’t have enough time or staff to answer all of these calls.

IF YOU ARE IN DALLAS/FORT WORTH TEXAS area, please feel free to call us for towing and repair.

To view a video on how the repair is done click HERE

Once the shift lock lever is out, measure for the correct lever.

To buy the shifter repair kit click on the links below:

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Land Rover Transmission Temperature Light

Joe Free — Thu, 07 Nov 2013 16:36:40 +0000

The Land Rover transmission temperature light turns on when the fluid gets hot enough to cause damage to the gearbox. This light might come on due to an actual temperature issue, or it could be a failing temperature sensor. We have found that in many cases, it is due to poor circulation of transmission fluid through the transmission cooler.

The hot fluid gets pumped to the transmission cooler, where it is convection-cooled. In some models, the fluid is water-cooled. Over time, the transmission cooler can accumulate buildup and becomes less efficient at transferring the heat.

If your transmission temperature light is on, you should get it checked out as quickly as possible. It could just need a sensor or cooler replacement! Ignoring the temperature light could potentially cause irreparable damage to the transmission, which will end up costing thousands of dollars for a complete overhaul.

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BMW 325ci Slow Takeoff and Sluggish Acceleration

Joe Free — Tue, 02 Jul 2013 02:14:40 +0000

We had a customer come in with a BMW 325ci, complaining of the following symptoms:

Slow takeoff
Sluggish acceleration
Transmission malfunction indicator light is on (looks like a gear on the dashboard)

We performed our free diagnostics check and found the following codes:

Dealer-specific code 241: “misfire cylinder 4” found in the engine computer. This code was probably triggered due to a fouled spark plug or a bad coil. Less-likely possibilities are a dirty/bad fuel injector, hung valves, or a bad cylinder.

Dealer-specific code 59: “stall monitoring” found in the transmission control unit. This explains why the BMW is in limp mode and the driver is experiencing sluggish takeoff.

We cleared the diagnostic codes and found that the transmission went into limp mode again after three drive cycles. This proved that the code was recurring and needed further investigation.

We checked the transmission and found it to be full of fluid with no evidence of leaks. Next, we removed the transmission pan and the transmission fluid filter. We found that the transmission filter was clogged up with clutch material when we broke it open. We also noticed an excessive amount of metal particles and clutch material in the pan. Additionally, the the factory magnet in the pan was completely loaded with metal.

This car showed all the signs of needing a rebuild. The BMW dealership offered to fix it for $6,500, but we rebuilt it here and saved the customer about $2500! We also exceeded the dealer warranty by at least 6 months or six thousand miles, whichever comes first!

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