Z4M gearbox replacement

A

adjenkins

Member
Feeling rather pleased today. Had left the car into the dealers yesterday as the warranty is up in a few weeks. I'm not yet sure whether to take an additional year so I thought I'd get a few niggles sorted. Main issues were rattles around nav unit and roof + few smaller isssues.

In earlier posts I had noticed some had issues with the 1st gear synchro. When revving hard in 1st I occasionally noticed a crunch going into 2nd. Initially I put it down to myself but it seemed to happen more frequently than I make duff gear changes. (which is still pretty frequent :cry: )
Happened to mention to the technician yesterday, took a 500 yard dash up the road and it crunched first time.
Phone call a few hours later from dealer - "we are going to try for another gearbox from BMW". Left the car overnight, got another call this morning saying "brand new gearbox arrived, to be fitted today + 2 rear springs which they noticed were broken"

Picking up car tomorrow. My dealer experiences have usually been negative, this time I'm feeling quite chuffed. :D
 
Cos they can make a pretty penny from warranty as well!

Nice one for you pal!

Jamie

p.s. perhaps a sign to extend warranty!!!
 
Worth mentioning that the warranty on yor new gearobx will expire when your existing warranty does so worth extending I would think.

I know as I had the entire head replaced on mine back in April and asked how long the work was warrantied for.
 
Glad to hear you got a decent service from them first time, it took me 5 visits to dealers in the UK and France before my gearbox issue was acknowledged and the box replaced. What's the mileage on your car? Mine was at 25000 when it was replaced albeit I had different issues than yourself.

I wouldn't run one of these cars outwith the warranty personally. That's my gearbox replaced and now my airbag warning light on within 6 weeks of extending the warranty, comprehensive and no excess thankfully.
 
Thanks for the comments, particularly the fact that the new gearbox warranty will last about a fortnight.
Mileage on the car is about 42K, it has crunched since I bought it about 10K miles ago.

I think I will consider getting another years warranty now, will enquire when I pick up the car tomorrow.

Cheers
 
Some dealers are not too bad.
I was just about to trade my wifes Volvo V50D when a warning light appeared on the dash - Anti service required.
Did a bit of googling to find out it's likely going to be a new brake module at £1000 plus labour and vat.....and the car was two months out of warranty. Put the car into Volvo on Monday for them to call and say it was the brake module and they've replaced the unit for FREE! Happy days!

I've pulled my next service on my Z4MC forward to be inside when the warranty runs out. Just so like you they can replace stuff without any hassle. Having had a wee scare on the Volvo, I'll definitely be extending the Z4 warranty.

Out of interest, did they fix any dash rattles? It's my biggest hate in my car :x

Cheers
G
 
GarethZ4MC said:
Some dealers are not too bad.
I was just about to trade my wifes Volvo V50D when a warning light appeared on the dash - Anti service required.
Did a bit of googling to find out it's likely going to be a new brake module at £1000 plus labour and vat.....and the car was two months out of warranty. Put the car into Volvo on Monday for them to call and say it was the brake module and they've replaced the unit for FREE! Happy days!

I've pulled my next service on my Z4MC forward to be inside when the warranty runs out. Just so like you they can replace stuff without any hassle. Having had a wee scare on the Volvo, I'll definitely be extending the Z4 warranty.

Out of interest, did they fix any dash rattles? It's my biggest hate in my car :x

Cheers
G
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Good for Volvo. I wonder whether the sales slump is impacting on what dealers will take on.
I have only 1 main dashboard rattle, around the Sat Nav unit. Won't know until tomorrow when I pick the car up. The dash rattle was the only one I couldn't replicate on the drive with the technician.

My main rattle is more of a squeak - from the roof. This was easy to replicate as all I had to do was push on on the roof just behind my head on either side. I've put up with it a year mostly using the volume control to dial it out. It gives you another reason to look forward to those squeak free top down days.. :)
 
noway!!! i had same problem, and can't prove to dealer.

They just replaced clutch oil(?) stuff and it's little bit better now.

it was like "grrrree" it's little bit smooth now "hrrg"

but still i'm worry that it's going to be broken after warranty expired.

Could you let me know some way to prove it to dealer?

Thanks

T
 
Terrence said:
noway!!! i had same problem, and can't prove to dealer.

They just replaced clutch oil(?) stuff and it's little bit better now.

it was like "grrrree" it's little bit smooth now "hrrg"

but still i'm worry that it's going to be broken after warranty expired.

Could you let me know some way to prove it to dealer?

Thanks

T
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I took a technician out in the car, revved it to 8,000rpm and slammed it into 2nd, accompanied by a noticeable crunching sound. Probably 2 minutes tops from leaving dealer to back again. They didn't ask to try themselves. Saying that it was wet and the guy needed help prying his nails out of the dashboard. :driving: It would be worth noting the condition that most often causes your "hrrg" so you are confident you can replicate. I'm happy to pm you dealer details etc that replaced mine or you could try another dealer. Iv'e also read that the transmission which is non M is not up to the job so a new gearbox won't solve the problem. However some M's never do this & I'm happier with a new gearbox in the car.
 
Mine was a bit knotchy 1st to 2nd not really crunching but felt catching I got a new clutch under warranty car is much better now. Original gearbox is ok and high revs are no problem.

One of the members from Glasgow was able to confirm it was the Getrag box from the M3 in his car. Hopefully he can confirm?
 
Mine now occasionally doesn't want to go into 1st, thinking at the next inspection I'll go for a gearbox / clutch too.
 
Car back, new gearbox feels a bit tight but noticeably smoother especially into 2nd.
Strangely, the gear change feels like the change people on the board have commented on when the CDV is done. Much less jerkiness.
Roof squeak gone, dash one still there + possibly now has a friend, :x

As well as the new rear springs under warranty, I got a set of front tyres + alignment neither under warranty obviously.
Car feels much more planted and stable. I'm one of those people that are very (overly) sensitive to wheel balance. At motorway speed I still feel a bit of vibration through the steering wheel. I'm starting to think perhaps my previous cars have had the steering heavily damped and maybe the M steering is designed to let you feel every bump in the road?
 
adjenkins said:
I'm one of those people that are very (overly) sensitive to wheel balance. At motorway speed I still feel a bit of vibration through the steering wheel. I'm starting to think perhaps my previous cars have had the steering heavily damped and maybe the M steering is designed to let you feel every bump in the road?
Click to expand...

I'm like you ... Only 6 weeks of Z4M ownership have taught me the steering is ultra sensitive .... every change of road gets transmitted through. I did initially have vibration which was cured by balancing. On some surfaces I get vibration and think it is still wrong, then I go onto another road/surface and it's totally fine .... it really does seem down to what you are driving on far more than any other car I have had.
 
Do check your wheels carefully, while working on the brakes on a friend's 944 I spotted some chewing gum stuck to the inner surface of the rim. I pulled it off and thought nothing of it. A few days he emails me to say that the 70mph+ vibration has gone - what did I do?

Surprised me too, but then a piece of chewing gum and a stick on weight are probably fairly similar.
 
Hi

It sounds like you just took the car into the dealers just to see if anything was wrong before the warranty run out. Is that the case and did they agree to see it just for a "check up" or was this a routine service? My warranty runs out in January so I'd like to take mine in but don't have any major issues. As anyone tried the "I think I've got a problem with x, y and z, please check her over in full" ?!
 
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