[Jay1970]

My 335d X is now about 9 months old and there seems to be a bit of a story developing.....

I bought the car about 5 months old and the main dealer supplying the car (in Sunderland) had just carried out a warranty job by replacing the gearbox pan due to a minor weep. Fair enough, didn't seem anything to worry about.

Car went in for ACS spring fitting two weeks ago and my local Bournemouth dealer noticed the gearbox pan weeping again. Being a repeat issue they had to get Munich involved! BMW approved the identical repair just to rule out the first repair wasn't a bodge.

As advised, I then popped in to the dealer again today to get the car on the ramp to check the repair....lo and behold it's weeping again! So the dealer has to get BMW involved again and it could well be a replacement gearbox. Apparently total cost of work will be £8-10k!!!

Just as well for warranty.....only this morning I posted I was considering a DMS remap....bloody hell, had I done that I would be in serious trouble

Just wondering if anyone has come across this sort of fault before as seems major. The dealer thinks the gearbox casing is out of tolerance, which seems odd to me as surely manufacture would be to very tight tolerances. Oh well, watch this space.

[NISFAN]

Doesn't sound good.

It does sound like a manufacturing defect on the actual casing though, as the ZF8 has a plastic pan, so it would distort to take up a fair amount of sealing face run out. More likely to be a high spot, or hole.

[MarkG_M5Comp]

Interestingly mine us a leak - supposedly fixed - but it still looks bad to me (or they didn't clean it all up). Dealer hasn't mentioned it again though.

[Moleeuk]

What's the miles on the car?

[Jay1970]

Originally Posted by Moleeuk

What's the miles on the car?

Only 9k, but the first repair was spotted and repaired under 5k so looks like an inherent defect rather than latent.

Will update as it pans out....is going in next week, just waiting to hear what bmw actually want to do.

[Jay1970]

Originally Posted by NISFAN

It does sound like a manufacturing defect on the actual casing though, as the ZF8 has a plastic pan, so it would distort to take up a fair amount of sealing face run out. More likely to be a high spot, or hole.

i agree Nisfan....doubt i'll ever find out the exact truth though!

[CMOS II]

Jay, on a side note (and apologies if this has been asked before), the ACS spring fit. I take it that keeps the full warranty intact?

[Tengocity]

If your car had a fault like this which was clearly manufacturing defect I think BMW would have a tough time not fixing it under warranty even if you had a remap.
Consumer rights laws say that something you buy should Fit for purpose and last a reasonable length of time irrespective of warranty. The standard expected of a nearly new car which cost many thousands of pounds is pretty high.

[Daftasabrush]

Originally Posted by Jay1970

Only 9k, but the first repair was spotted and repaired under 5k so looks like an inherent defect rather than latent.

Will update as it pans out....is going in next week, just waiting to hear what bmw actually want to do.

Pans out, good one

[Watsey]

Originally Posted by Tengocity

If your car had a fault like this which was clearly manufacturing defect I think BMW would have a tough time not fixing it under warranty even if you had a remap.
Consumer rights laws say that something you buy should Fit for purpose and last a reasonable length of time irrespective of warranty. The standard expected of a nearly new car which cost many thousands of pounds is pretty high.

This.

BMW would have to prove that a remap had somehow damaged/compromised the seal between the gearbox casing and the pan, which of course it won't have done.

[Jay1970]

Originally Posted by CMOS II

Jay, on a side note (and apologies if this has been asked before), the ACS spring fit. I take it that keeps the full warranty intact?

Yes CMOS they were supplied/fitted by BMW main dealer

[Jay1970]

Terry/Watsey....you're right, BMW won't be contesting this one. However, I'd like to get it sorted and settled in for a bit before remapping....it would only ever complicate discussions, even if it were clearly a manufacturing defect.

[Tengocity]

Originally Posted by Jay1970

Terry/Watsey....you're right, BMW won't be contesting this one. However, I'd like to get it sorted and settled in for a bit before remapping....it would only ever complicate discussions, even if it were clearly a manufacturing defect.

Yes, sorry not suggesting that chucking in a remap now would be a very sensible thing! More that should something like this arise post-remap then one shouldn't assume that a remap removes all sense of liability for product faults.

[Watsey]

Originally Posted by Jay1970

Terry/Watsey....you're right, BMW won't be contesting this one. However, I'd like to get it sorted and settled in for a bit before remapping....it would only ever complicate discussions, even if it were clearly a manufacturing defect.

Understandable, but if BMW suggested that a remap had affected the gearbox/pan seal the discussion would be about the lunched internals...

[Jay1970]

Just to update on this thread as there was a conclusion to it, and not cheap either!!! Might be worth being aware jus in case there is a gearbox issue on recent models....

As above, the sump leaked yet again and was taken in for 'extended tests/investigation'. This panned out to be about 3 weeks in total, within which BMW Germany requested the repair be made yet again but this time with a new sump, modified gasket (what ?) and some 'special sealant' i.e. try to put a sticking plaster on it:roll eyes: Luckily this failed the very next day too, so BMW then shipped out a brand new gearbox. This was fitted and now all ok....1000 miles covered and obviously no leak being a new gearbox.

The technician at Ridgeway concluded that only 2 things could be defective here...the casing itself was out of tolerance or a hairline fracture in the casing itself which was not visible. Both being manufacturers defects and therefore does beg the question was this a complete one-off or a possible dodgy batch of gearboxes? Old gearbox was returned and so i guess we'll never know.

Total cost almost £9k Have to say Ridgeway Bournemouth were brilliant throughout the whole thing, very helpful

[430GH]

What car were you given by BMW while they pissed about putting filler in between the sump and gearbox casing?

[Jay1970]

Originally Posted by 430GH

What car were you given by BMW while they pissed about putting filler in between the sump and gearbox casing?

To be fair, wasn't so bad...had a 525D M Sport touring with virtually every conceivable extra on it for 2 weeks, then switched to a 320d M sport saloon for the last week. I liked both but 335d in different league.

[Lorcan]

I'd like to suggest another possibility - a porous casting. Glad it got resolved anyway.

[HighlandPete]

Originally Posted by Lorcan

I'd like to suggest another possibility - a porous casting. Glad it got resolved anyway.

Agree, very unusual but a possibility, particularly as repairs didn't work.

Personally can't see a gearbox casing being simply 'out of tolerance', that new pan and seals didn't work, without some visual indication something is wrong.

[magic77]

another gearbox going south not a good sign lets hope its a one off.

[RobUK]

Gearbox in my 328i was replaced at 6,000 miles (excessive noise). Car turned out to be something of a lemon but was never sure if the gearbox swap wasn't the root cause of many of the issues

Hope yours has a long & healthy life.