I took my car to the stealer today (there's another post on this topic :mad ), after I noticed the SMG was very sloppy. There seemed to be way too much play in the gears. After checking the car they said it was a loose transaxle and loose rear axle fitting. Sorry don't have the specifics, I didn't get to talk to the tech yet.

Has anyone had this problem? What about those of you who drag, track, or autoX? Is this a symptom of hard driving, or of a possible defect? It seemed to happen rather gradually, not all of a sudden. The SMG just felt gradually more loose until I knew something had to be wrong? Is this a known issue, any ideas on what causes it or how it can be prevented?

Right now the car is under warranty, but when that is gone I imagine this is an expensive repair (hell, an oil change is an expensive repair on an M3 :rolleyes ).

Turns out a differential mounting went bad and the axel was flopping around. All fixed under warranty and the service department said this was not normal and many 100K + engines have no sign of failing

My SMG is now Tizzight :D .

I have been hearing almost a popping type sound when I am in reverse, right as i start moving i reverse it kinda goes *pop*, and when i go from reverse to 1st and start to accelerate it kinda *pops* again. Does this sound familiar?

It is hard to tell over the web. I'll describe my experience and you can judge how similar it is...

It didn't happen all at once but over the course of a few months the SMG just began to feel more sloppy. It felt like there was more and more play in the gears (it was actually the diff moving more and more). It was very noticeable in low gears. Go to a parking lot in 2nd. Accelerate and then let off the gas quickly. Repeat this a few times. The accel and decel should be perfectly in sync with the gas pedal. If there is a lag time with a jerk when it catches, and lots of tranny noise then get it checked!

HTH,

if you partial accel did you get a second of stutter