Tranny Going Out?? - BMW Forum

Brian325i · 10-11-2004, 12:45 AM

Hey, this evening I was driving home and I had to step on the gas a little bit to go up a big hill. Well everything was fine until I was almost flooring it and all of a sudden I lost a considerable amount of power and I could feel the gas pedal slightly shaking. I tryed flooring it again and then I got the same result. After I got over the hill I again tryed flooring it and it was fine, no shaking or loss of power. I got home and let the car sit for a few hours. I took it out again and everything was fine. I told my dad about it and he told me that his old 95' pontiac that he had years ago did that same thing...and it ended up being a tranny problem. Some of you may remember that I was hearing a thud whenever I shifted into first from stop. I think maybe my tranny is going to die on me if I don't do anything. Should I be worried and go have it checked out or should I just see if it starts acting up again? This is really my only ride and I don't really want to spend the $45 to check it out if I don't have to. Thanks in advance.

thekid · 10-11-2004, 10:28 AM

so shifting into first from a stop means you have a manual correct? When you floored it did the rpms keep riseing with out making any more power? did they drop? It sounds right now like your clutch might be bad, but please provide more informatino so we can better diagnos the problem.

amancuso · 10-11-2004, 11:00 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Brian325i@Oct 10 2004, 11:45 PM
....don't really want to spend the $45 to check it out if I don't have to. Thanks in advance.

[snapback]209060[/snapback]

If this is your ONLY car I would seriously reccommend getting it looked at before it leaves you stranded at an unopportune moment.

-Al.

xsperf · 10-11-2004, 12:53 PM

could be ur spark plugs misfiring.. so replace them, and if its not the problem, well u got new spark plugs, tis not like u gunna throw away the car, right?

Brian325i · 10-11-2004, 04:29 PM

Hey I don't think it's my spark plugs because I just changed them out 2 weeks ago and put bosch platinum 4's in.

thekid, I do have a manual and the thud problem isn't a big thing but I was wondering if it might be connected to this new problem. Here is the thread we were discussion the thud problem in.
http://www.bmw-forums.com/forum/inde...topic=22319&hl

When the loss of power started, I was about to go up a hill...so I gave it some gas. The rpms didn't go down but I could feel the loss of power because it would stop accelerating fast. The rpms stayed constant and also I could feel a slight vibration on the gas pedal and shifter. It might be the clutch but I don't think so because the clutch drove fine today.

thekid · 10-11-2004, 07:05 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Brian325i@Oct 11 2004, 03:29 PM
Hey I don't think it's my spark plugs because I just changed them out 2 weeks ago and put bosch platinum 4's in.

thekid, I do have a manual and the thud problem isn't a big thing but I was wondering if it might be connected to this new problem. Here is the thread we were discussion the thud problem in.
http://www.bmw-forums.com/forum/inde...topic=22319&hl

When the loss of power started, I was about to go up a hill...so I gave it some gas. The rpms didn't go down but I could feel the loss of power because it would stop accelerating fast. The rpms stayed constant and also I could feel a slight vibration on the gas pedal and shifter. It might be the clutch but I don't think so because the clutch drove fine today.

[snapback]209469[/snapback]

hmm... I don't think that the previous problem would have much to do with it. Have you gone up this particular hill before with out any problems? What kind of gas did you put in? was it from your usual place to get gas? If it was your clutch the rpms would have continued to go up because the clutch was slipping. Was your radio ect off so if there was a noise from the engine would you have heard it?

xsperf · 10-11-2004, 07:54 PM

thats funny.. when u floored it, did u try shifting down? maybe it has something to do with ur fuel injection, this may sound pretty lame.. but how low on gas were u? maybe u had just a little gas that when u were facing uphill the gas was leaning on the other side of the gas take and the fuel pump couldnt reach it.. lol

Brian325i · 10-11-2004, 09:37 PM

thekid, I have gone up this hill many times before, in fact just today I went up it with no problems. I didn't get any of the symptoms that I was getting yesterday. I guess it might be gone but maybe it was giving me signs? I'm using 91 octane gas from chevron. The engine didn't make any kind of funny noise but I could hear that it wasn't revving correctly.

xsperf, I didn't try shifting down when it happened, I just stayed in 4th gear. I wasn't low on gas at all, I had about 2/3's of a tank full. The symtoms didn't occur while I was going up the hill but right before the hill(I was accelerating to go up the hill). My fuel injection should be ok, I have been putting redline fuel injection cleaner in each tank of gas for the past 2 tank fulls.

I'm glad that this hasn't occured since but I'm still a little worried about it. I'm probably going to change out the tranny and differential fluid just in case. This problem might be happening because I recently changed out my plastic impeller water pump and plastic thermostat housing with metal ones. I also changed out the hoses and belts. I didn't put the fan back on though because I'm doing the fan delete mod. I don't have to worry about overheating though because I'm using a 75C thermo and water wetter...I still need a cooler fan switch. Anyways I don't think that should have affected that but it may have. Thanks for the help guys.

thekid · 10-11-2004, 09:56 PM

Use 40k (I think that's the name, its something K) Fuel injector cleaner. Just get the kind that you can put in the gas tank not the kind you directly run the engine off of (there is a kind you direct inject into your injectors but most auto stores prolly won't have it). Besides that sounds like you're good.... what speed were you going out of curiosity?

Brian325i · 10-11-2004, 10:05 PM

Would that 40K type of fuel injecter cleaner work better than the redline kind or something?? The redline cleaner I'm using goes directly into the gas tank. I think I was probably going 40 or 45mph...somewhere around there but I was trying to accelerate some more.

xsperf · 10-11-2004, 10:09 PM

maybe it was just for the simple fact that ur engine was shaking because u were in too high of a gear, when u tried going over that hill the second time, u were still in 4th gear at the same speed?

Brian325i · 10-11-2004, 10:11 PM

I don't think it was because my gear was too high...at 45 in 4th gear I'm doing about 2,750 rpms. Usually shaking occurs if you are like in 5th gear and under 1,500 rpms. Yeah, I did the same exact thing I did the day before...no problems.