Hi everyone,

I just recently took my dad's 850i for a drive, it's been sitting without being driven almost at all for the last 7 years.

I didn't really drive it hard for the first few days as I wanted it to get back into shape. Well I tried to drive it a little harder today and put it into 3rd. (AUTO)

The car went fast from 1st, to 2nd but it didn't want to move from 2nd to 3rd at all. It just maxes out at 2nd and wont move into 3rd.

Then on the highway I had it in D, was going about 60 to 65 MPH, hit the gas, the car wanted to go down to 3rd gear then went right back into 3rd and then wasn't going at all, i had the peddle to the metal and it almost seemed like it stayed between 4th and 3rd.

After that I took it a little slowly to see if anything was messed up and nothing. Everything seems to be fine when I'm not pushing the car to the limit.

What do you think may be the problem? Could to oil in the tranny need to be changed?

Thanks,

Rich

Sounds like sticky valves in the valve body which wouldnt be that suprising if it hadnt been driven much in 7 years. I would be careful with oil changes in this trans depending on the mileage, members have had mixed results...do a search on the subject. What kind of mileage does the car have?

The car only has about 56,000 miles

If the problem ends up being the sticky valves, how hard is that to fix?

The valves in the valve body of a trans sometimes fix themselves after driving awhile. Try driving it mellow for awhile and see if it gets better. There are alot of internal parts and seals that shrink if not used regularly. If you are lucky they will swell and seal themselves. (clutch packs servos etc.) You should pull codes if possible and see what they say. Oil level will also make an auto trans act up...

Thanks for your help, much appreciated.

I was hopping I'd be able to drive it this summer, now that we finally started getting some wormer weather, IL has been brutal the entire winter.

A couple of things I think need to be mentioned, the car was driven really hard when it was driven. I don't know much about this car but I do know he has some special Dina upgrade to the car, I will find out what exactly that is.

I remember he took the car to a drag strip once or twice just for fun so I wonder if that could have caused some wear and tear to the tranny.

Have your tranny fluid fluished. I know BMW dealers will say that it is a Lifetime fill but for a car 10+ years can be considered as a technical lifetime.

It may take 2 or 3 attempts to flust it completely but let your dealer know that you are paying around $600 for just that.

Thanks for your suggested Ahmed. My father's name is also Ahmed :)

I did a search last night on the 8 series forum for transmission and I've noticed there has been a lot of talk about it already. I've seen some of you mention doing a power reset.

To reset the power I'm guessing I just take off both of the battery connections?

And the only down side is that the stock factory radio would not work. If that is the case I don't have to worry about the radio since it's already been replaced by a Kenwood deck.

Thanks for your help.

The resetting will only erase the adaptive memory of the transmission programming. I doubt it will help you with your experience. Your experience seems more mechanical and possible due to sticky valves. I had the same experience in my old 750 and a tranny fluid flush and filter replacement cured it.

Ahmed,

Which oil do you think I should use?

Use only the recommended fluid for the model of transmission being serviced! Stickers on the side of the transmission will indicate which to use. Again, a flush is not running fluid thru and wasting new, it is replacing the old fluid as it is removed. The flush stops when it is obvious that all the old fluid has been displaced, at most an extra quart might be used.

A tiny bit of old fluid left is better then a tiny bit of the wrong fluid!

Here is the Oil Referance table. (http://www.mwrench.com/Whitepapers/ZF/Oilref.pdf)

Hello

very important to use the right oil and OEM filter.

Hey Guys,

I actually got my oil changed Yesterday, everything went smooth. I think I noticed some of you guys saying that you had to refill the oil from the bottom. The guy that did our oil change did it from the top of the car. There is a dip stick for the tranny oil and he just put the oil in through that.

The only problem now is that I have the same problem as before. Nothing has changed. The transmission switches gears just fine while it's not under way too much stress but as soon as you floor the gas peddle it has problems shifting.

We also did a reset (the battery trick)

Weird.

is the engine redlining while trying to shift? if not, maybe the engine is losing power. it could be a plugged fuel filter or injectors.
does it still have old gas in it?

turboawd,

I've already filled it up a couple of times since i started driving it. The car drives fine and shifts fine when i'm not pushing it but when I start pushing it (going close to red line) before shifting it sometimes doesn't want to go into next gear.

Do you think the problem might be with the Dina upgrade? Are the turbo's maybe causing the problem?

it definetly sounds like a trans problem then. the only problem turbos can give you is lack of power and smoke.
i'm not familiar with the type of trans the 8 series use. i assume it's electronically controlled. if the car sat for 7 years, maybe the seals shrunk. i assume you got the car hot a few times while driving it. the warm trans fluid could help free things up. or you could try a product like this:http://www.amazon.com/K-Trans-X-Automatic-Transmission-Steering/dp/B00030BFFG
sorry i'm not too much help. the experience i have in autos, are GM transmissions.

Do you think the problem might be with the Dina upgrade? Are the turbo's maybe causing the problem?You have Turbo's also? Could i see a pic of the car? Thanks in advance!