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Mapo View Drop Down
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    Posted: 04-June-2012 at 05:21
New member - I have an E39 535i in Australia (so it drives on the correct side of the road) and I have been having problems with the transmission hanging in 3rd and also quite rough into Drive from Park or Reverse.

Now I notice I have oil in the radiator (water now oily and milky white), so I am putting it down to a failure of the small cooler inside of the left wheel arch. To my thinking there can be now other way for ATF to get into the radiator.

Are there any procedures available to change this heat exchanger and can someone explain its purpose (there is a transmission cooler in the front of the radiator which uses air to cool) so is this small heat exchanger designed to "heat" the ATF to keep it at a constant temperature?

Any comments would be appreciated.

Regards
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Andrew Rolland View Drop Down
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Hi and welcome to the forum.

My E39 had a seperate transmission oil cooler, and looking here it would appear you too have a separate transmission oil cooler.  You should have a cooler for power steering, one for engine oil, one for engine coolant, one for transmission oil and one for the aircon.
 
Any decent car with an autobox should have a transmission cooler to cool the oil, this prevents damage to the internal oily parts of the gearbox when it is under load, i.e. when you are towing or giving it plenty right foot.
 
Engine coolant radiators on Mercs and Vauxhalls(GM) use a combined unit for engine coolant and tranmsission oil colling.  This method uses engine coolant to cool tranmsission oil, not engine coolant to heat transmission oil.  The transmission will hold lower gears for longer to a) heat the tranmsission up quicker and b) to heat the engine cats up to operating temperature.  It was a common fault on Mercs for the transmission oil cooler to leak into the engine coolant radiator and cause failure of the autobox aas it was now being lubricated by coolant which obviously is not good for any moving components.  More often than not the transmission was a right off and they needed a new radiator as it is a combined unit.  Reading your post I thought this would have happened to your car from the faults you describe with your autobox, but I'm failry sure you have seperate cooling units as I mentioned above thus eliminating this type of failure.
 
I would say you have two problems, your transmission is in need of a service to look at the rough shifts and the second problem I would suggest is a blown cylinder head gasket which is allowing oil and water to mix.  Look under your oil filler cap, if a white substance is present there then this would confirm the cylinder head gasket failure.
 
The E39 is one of many BMWS inflicted with a sealed for life transmission thus there is no way for a diyer to check the fluid level so any problems really need taken to a transmission specialist to be diagnosed.  Saying that the ZF boxes fitted to these cars is fairly bomb proof.  It could just be low fluid level.
 
Have a look under the oil filler cap for a starter and let us know.
 
Andrew
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Originally posted by Andrew Rolland Andrew Rolland wrote:


 
.
 
 
The E39 is one of many BMWS inflicted with a sealed for life transmission thus there is no way for a diyer to check the fluid level so any problems really need taken to a transmission specialist to be diagnosed.  Saying that the ZF boxes fitted to these cars is fairly bomb proof.  It could just be low fluid level.
 

 
Andrew


hi andrew, i have watched Ed China on whealer dealers change the filter and fluid on a sealed - for - life  E39 gearbox, and i have also seen the kits for them, is it wise to try , ( it looked  quite accessable when i was underneath changing the turbo )...or am i better to leave it to the expensive experts...??????

cheers

jimbo

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Originally posted by jimbo/e36 jimbo/e36 wrote:


Originally posted by Andrew Rolland Andrew Rolland wrote:


 

.

 


 

The E39 is one of many BMWS inflicted with a sealed for life transmission thus there is no way for a diyer to check the fluid level so any problems really need taken to a transmission specialist to be diagnosed.  Saying that the ZF boxes fitted to these cars is fairly bomb proof.  It could just be low fluid level.

 



 

Andrew


hi andrew, i have watched Ed China on whealer dealers change the filter and fluid on a sealed - for - life  E39 gearbox, and i have also seen the kits for them, is it wise to try , ( it looked  quite accessable when i was underneath changing the turbo )...or am i better to leave it to the expensive experts...??????

cheers

jimbo


I had the oil changed at 100k on both of my E39 autos. One actually at 80k miles.
From what the auto box guy told me, it's not so much the oil causing problem it's more the filter clogging up (which is part of the bottom cover hence it's so expensive) over time from debris.

Neither of my autoboxes felt any different afterwards and the 80k one's oil looked like new.

But still think it's £200 well spend. Better than £2.5k if it goes bang.

The right autobox specialist will still be able to repair an autobox, many times it's just a solenoid or any other component.
E61 520d, slow and buzzy but my wallet likes the mpg.....
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Points: 6579 		Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Andrew Rolland Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 05-September-2012 at 08:41
Agree with Uwe, the filter is integral with the sump pan.  Blocked filter means parts could be starved of oil which leads to wear which leads to it going bang which leads to a big bill.
 
I'm aware that it is tricky to ensure the correct fluid level has been achieved as the fluid needs to be pumped in under pressure I think.  How did whealer dealers do it?
 
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just the old fashioned way andrew, an extended flexible filler hose... he measured how much came out, and replaced with same amount,  but he made sure he got as much of the old fluid out, 

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http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/150668171474?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1423.l2648

this is the kit for E39....without the expensive fluid ofcourse

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I have just had quote from independent garage to replace leaking E39 gearbox cooler rad - £480 all inclusive (BMW original rad).   Could've been worse.

Sanjay
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just fished a bill out for my o4 525i
auto oil cooler £210.22 // 6x fluid (prob 1lt packs) @ £26.25 a unit // + o rings and plugs + labour +vat
total £710 (2010) prices bmw m/der ouch glad i didnt cop that one ( havent had much dealings with auto boxes  but £26 a lt  ?
 
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Originally posted by supertramp101 supertramp101 wrote:

 ( havent had much dealings with auto boxes  but £26 a lt  ?
Mate, try running an E60 M5, £20 per litre of engine oil and it will use (properly use) 1L every 1000 miles !!
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Auto fluid for 'sealed for life' BMW/ZF transmissions is indeed expensive.  It is special stuff as it is meant to last the lifetime of the transmission.
 
BMW charge per unit for fluid, on account that they only stock bottles in 1 Litre size, brake fluid engine oil, antifreeze......  Any decent independant buys oil in bulk and passes that saving on to the punter.
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