 |
 | Home | Contact Us | FAQ | Search & Site Map | Link to Us |
 | Sign In | Join | Other 45 Sites in Network |
Car Forum / BMW Cars / June 2006Low oil, big problem? '94 325
I've googled but don't feel confident about what I found. Any help is appreciated. My friend, who doesn't have near as much money as most BMW owners, was driving today and her '94 325 BMW automatic transmission went out of gear. She moved the shift lever to 3 and still out of gear, so she moved it to 2, and it caught and she drove back to work slowly. Later in the parking lot, she was able to drive it normally for a couple hundred feet, but she didn't try to go farther than that. No obvious evidence of leaking, but I suppose it could still just be leaking, yes??? She's going to take it in, but if the problem is worse than a leak, could it also be less than needing a new or rebuilt trans? Is there something for $100 or 200 that could account for this? If it is just leaking, can I once in a while check the level and add more fluid if necessary?? (She doesn't want to spend a lot because she was already planning to buy a new car.) If I do add trans fluid, what am I supposed to use?? She's convinced normal ATF is not acceptable. Obviously a '94 is out of warranty, but we don't want to ruin the transmission for the next owner if it's not ruined already. I gather there is a bolt on the passenger side of the transmission to add fluid. It's easy to find, right? And takes a standard metric wrench? If it's hard to get under the car, any reason a trustworthy gas station can't add fluid? Thanks a lot, Remove NOPSAM to email me. Please let me know if you have posted also. Sorry about the thread title. I meant transmission fluid, and I don't know it is actually low, but if it's not low, I expect the repair will be very expensive. So I was thinking "low". If the answers don't apply this time, they will for her next car. >I've googled but don't feel confident about what I found. Any help is >appreciated. [quoted text clipped - 32 lines] >Remove NOPSAM to email me. Please let >me know if you have posted also. Remove NOPSAM to email me. Please let me know if you have posted also. >>I've googled but don't feel confident about what I found. Any help is >>appreciated. [quoted text clipped - 35 lines] > Remove NOPSAM to email me. Please let > me know if you have posted also. It's not likely to be low trans fluid. More likely some worn components or sticking valves. Yes, many of these cars use special "lifetime" fluid depending on which model of transmission it actually is. So don't just dump Dexron III in there until you determine what is correct. Bring it to a reputable transmission specialist and if one of the first words out of their mouths is "rebuild" before even doing a teardown go find another that will actually diagnose the problem first. It may be expense, but it also might not be.  Signature-Fred W > It's not likely to be low trans fluid. More likely some worn components > or sticking valves. [quoted text clipped - 8 lines] > > It may be expense, but it also might not be. Could very well be low and/or burned oil. I've known a few auto boxes come back to life after a top-up (followed by numerous flushes and refills) >> Bring it to a reputable transmission specialist and if one of the first >> words out of their mouths is "rebuild" before even doing a teardown go >> find another that will actually diagnose the problem first. In my experience "reputable transmission specialist" is an oxymoron of the first magnitude. >>> Bring it to a reputable transmission specialist and if one of the first >>> words out of their mouths is "rebuild" before even doing a teardown go >>> find another that will actually diagnose the problem first. > >In my experience "reputable transmission specialist" is an oxymoron of >the first magnitude. What he said. SignatureNeed Mercedes parts? http://parts.mbz.org Richard Sexton | Mercedes stuff: http://mbz.org 1970 280SE, 72 280SE | Home pages: http://rs79.vrx.net 633CSi 250SE/C 300SD | http://aquaria.net http://killi.net >> It's not likely to be low trans fluid. More likely some worn components >> or sticking valves. [quoted text clipped - 12 lines] >come back to life after a top-up (followed by numerous flushes and >refills) Thanks. That's good to know, for next time and for me wrt other makes. They say it's bad and will be 1500 to repair or rebuild. This would be ok if she hadn't had the thing rebuilt only 2 1/2 years ago at the same place. They charged 1800 then and say they are charging less now because it only lasted such a short time. Apparently she had it repaired or rebuilt on location last time. They didnt seem to offer her a "factory" rebuilt trans. My impression is that those are better than shop rebuilt, because they do them over and over, have more space, and replace more parts, not just the ones that have failed or are near failure, but everything that ever fails (maybe other than freak things that have only failed once.) Do they have "factory" rebuilt transmissions for BMW? I don't mean the BMW factory but some place that does nothing but rebuilding, no installation. She doesn't want to keep towing it all over the place, and I guess she shopped last time. But it is annoying to pay the same place twice in 3 years. Remove NOPSAM to email me. Please let me know if you have posted also. > Apparently she had it repaired or rebuilt on location last time. They > didnt seem to offer her a "factory" rebuilt trans. My impression is > that those are better than shop rebuilt, because they do them over and > over, have more space, and replace more parts, not just the ones that > have failed or are near failure, but everything that ever fails (maybe > other than freak things that have only failed once.) It's common practice to replace all the wearing parts when overhauling an auto - and those non wearing parts that have a history of failing. Also the torque converter if there are any signs of fluid contamination. The labour cost is so much more than the parts that it doesn't make sense not to. No specialist worth the name will simply repair a fault if it means removing the box. Signature*If we weren't meant to eat animals, why are they made of meat? Dave Plowman dave@davenoise.co.uk London SW To e-mail, change noise into sound. >> Apparently she had it repaired or rebuilt on location last time. They >> didnt seem to offer her a "factory" rebuilt trans. My impression is [quoted text clipped - 9 lines] >to. No specialist worth the name will simply repair a fault if it means >removing the box. Well I doubt they will tell her what specific part they found that didn't work, even though I would love to know. What's the difference between factory rebuilders and in-shop rebuilders? And have you all not heard that factory rebuilders do a better job? Remove NOPSAM to email me. Please let me know if you have posted also. > >It's common practice to replace all the wearing parts when overhauling > >an auto - and those non wearing parts that have a history of failing. > >Also the torque converter if there are any signs of fluid > >contamination. The labour cost is so much more than the parts that it > >doesn't make sense not to. No specialist worth the name will simply > >repair a fault if it means removing the box. > Well I doubt they will tell her what specific part they found that > didn't work, even though I would love to know. No reason why they shouldn't? It is possible to diagnose most auto faults by going through a series of checks even if it doesn't have electronic diagnostics built in. > What's the difference between factory rebuilders and in-shop > rebuilders? And have you all not heard that factory rebuilders do a > better job? If it is the factory that made the transmission - ie ZF in this case - they probably should do a better job since they have access to any modifications, etc. However, there's no intrinsic reason why a specialist can't equal their standards. Signature*I will always cherish the initial misconceptions I had about you Dave Plowman dave@davenoise.co.uk London SW To e-mail, change noise into sound. how the hell does a rebuild only last a couple of years ? does she drive between alaska and mexico all the time ? sounds like a ripoff. go somewhere else. > >> It's not likely to be low trans fluid. More likely some worn components > >> or sticking valves. [quoted text clipped - 36 lines] > Remove NOPSAM to email me. Please let > me know if you have posted also. |
Reply to this Message |
 Sign In
 Join
 My Latest Posts My Monitored Threads My Blog My Photo Gallery My Profile My Homepage Start New Thread Enable EMail Alerts Rate this Thread
|
©2009 Advenet LLC Privacy Policy - Terms of Use
This website includes both content owned or controlled by Advenet as well as content owned or controlled by third parties.