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Gearbox Problem

2K views 13 replies 5 participants last post by  mmclaren 
#1 ·
I have a auto 94 318i, and it seems that when i turn a corner then give her a little she revs up then kicks into gear, giving a little kick,
anyone have any ideas??
 
#2 ·
Possible causes:
ATF fluid low
Torn up differential
Bad torque converter locking mechanism, it tends to lock really hard and give you the impression a gear is slipping... I still have the feeling it's a gear on my car but it dosn't ever get any worse.

Have you done the neutral drop "trick" on your car? (rev it in neutral, drop it in D while the RPM's are really high) Bad news for everything in your driveline.
 
#6 ·
Change your AT fluid. Get OEM fluid (I think it's drexron III or however you spell dexron)
You need 2 new gaskets and a new filter while your at it. You CAN do this on some tall jack stands but it will be a pain in the ass. Find a lift.

Crack open your differential and inspect the gears as best you can. Best would to be to completely remove it and take it apart and examine the innermost gears, or the output shaft (to the wheels) gears as those are the ones that "turn" when your back wheels are spinning at different RPM's (IE: turning the car) and thus, would skip around.


Once you find out the problem, (diff or trans, I'm betting heavily it's the diff since you say it only happens when you turn, which is cheep compared to the transmission) then you can decide wither to upgrade, replace, or just live with it until it catastrophically dies and then replace the entire unit.

If you can describe it in more detail and give us conditions of when this happens, maybe some of us can narrow it down further than "your transmission and or your differential is screwed up."
 
#7 ·
ok, its not just cornering, if i come to a stop sign, stop "auto in drive" then accelerate, gives a kick back, revs a little like it was in neutral, this also happens with sharp corners "eg roundabout"

I want to fix this before it gets worse, i am having the engine swapped next week, so is it worth fixing it then?? and wat should i be looking for
 
#9 ·
Originally posted by mmclaren@Dec 14 2004, 03:45 PM
Am i the only one with this problem
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What do you mean by kick? Like a delay before it accelerates or like a knock you can feel when you hit the throttle? Worst case senario you have a cracked rear sub-frame or a damaged differential. I don't want to scare you, hopefully it turns out to be something less serious. There's nothing else you can do but bring it to a shop and have someone take a look at it. Otherwise, our guesses are just as good as yours.

Bry
 
#12 ·
sounds like your low on tranny fluid... since when u turn the fluid gets pushed to the side, and does not go into the tranny... i had this with my old car, with out me knowing i ruined my tranny!! go out and buy tranny fluid!
 
#13 ·
Yeah, it totally sounds like the fluid is really low in your tranny - symptoms are very similar to the ones experienced by the fellow who did this DIY writeup:

http://www.pelicanparts.com/bmw/techarticl..._Fluid_Auto.htm

Do it soon before you toast your tranny. If you're not too good with DIY, just bring it to a good indie. I've done stuff like this using a couple ramps and jack stands (you have to keep the car level when you jack it up in order to fill the transmission correctly).
 
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