Auto Tranny Dead? Options?

[SpidersWeb 0]

Hey everyone,

A few weeks ago my 535i (*cough* after owning it for 2-3 weeks**) left me calling for a tow truck on the Haywards Hill near Wellington. Money has been tight so I haven't had the oppurtunity to work on it, or send it to a mechanic, so was hoping for some opinnions on its likely condition, and what options I might have. Might pay to read backwards if you dont want to hear the story.

First off this is what happened:

Car wouldn't start, fine, jumper leads yey

Drive to Porirua

Car wouldn't start, fine , jumper leads yey

Then it starts overheating*, which I kind of expected, because it was leaking a small amount of coolant out of the heater lines

Drive to next location, and I have to disappear for 30 minutes, we can't turn the car off and its overheating*, so the Mrs drives it around the block for 30 minutes which keeps the temp at normal.

I approach vehicle, she proclaims 'This thing is about to die and I'm not driving it', so I get in

First off you put it in to D, and it'll roll back (if on a hill) before a few revs get in then it grips and goes forward

Then the changes started getting more brutal, and slower. Also had to be careful on accel as it'd quickly change between 1st 2nd and back to 1st all the time.

So I figure it needs a service and dont do it any favours by flooring it on to the motorway anywho about 10 minutes later I'm cruising around the 50k bends heading in to the hills, nice easy drive, in economy mode gliding away.

Then I go to lightly accelerate out of a bend and 'oh hello' the revs go up and the car does nothing, as if I'd pushed the non-existant-clutch in, so lower the throttle until it grabs and try to keep going.

10 minutes later it gives up and can't move forward any more. Wont go backwards either.

So on the back of a truck it went.

Now its home, I checked the fluids. Coolant was low as expected, and the ATF is apparently gone, when I pulled the stick up I got a pile of gunk rather than fluid so I'm guessing things got a tad hot in there, I put in about 700mL of Dexron III that I had spare, and now reverse works, still no reading on the dipstick however. Now it just freely revs in D 3 2 or 1 and comes up TRANS PROGRAM (as you'd expect).

So, questions, if I fill it up with ATF again what are my chances of going forward again? What if I change the filter and fill with ATF? If it turns out to be dead, can I use the transmission from a more common 520i, since they're both 4HP22, or does the 210hp M30 engine need stronger bits inside?

Also is there any possible manual conversion processes that cost less than what I paid for the whole car (3K)? hmm perhaps a 540 wreck *ponders*

* Overheating, not actually overheating, but rather a rise above the 1/2 mark but not exceeding 3/4 on the temp gauge.

** I take blame for it breaking, should have serviced the auto when I first felt the problems instead of being a 'she'll be right' cheapass prick.

[bravo 35]

ATF dipstick needs to be checked with the car running.

Maybe it just ran out of fluid (leak?) and so not functioning properly. You should probably drain al the fluid, inspect the belts (535 autos have belt(s) anyone?) and then replace the filter and fluid and go from there.

After that the options are a secondhand auto box or a manual conversion. I'd be pricing up a manual converison if it were me - If you do the labour yourself you should be able to do it for less than 2 grand.

A stitch in time...

[SpidersWeb 0]

Cheers for the reply. She's up on an axle stand at the moment, no obvious leaks but I did find a droplet of ATF on one of the lines. I'll get under it properly this weekend and give it a proper inspection, new filter and fluid, hopefully the rain gives me a break. It has me worried, as its able to select Reverse fine, and it reverses perfectly, but drive just wont even grab at all.

There is a 520i auto tranny on trademe for $400, and a 535 auto with a starting bid of $750 Not keen on spending that much on a 2nd hand auto box. 400 I can handle, any higher in price and 5spd will definately be in the works instead. It'll be in the garage as the 'project car' though and I already have one of those :( just dont have the money to just run out and buy a BMW manual gearbox etc probably take a few months even.

Does anyone know what the options are for me regarding the gearbox? Which autos and manuals will fit in the E34, which ones will require modified bellhousings and what will likely just bolt straight on to the M30? As far as parts go, I know what I need, but I just dont know what bits actually fit my car

I'm guessing a 535 manual transmission for the E34 will be almost impossible to find. I read somewhere only 5% were manual?

[SpidersWeb 0]

Just for giggles, here is the text from the original advert:

needs some tlc but very strong mtr and running gear lowererd with big bore a true 150 mph i bought it back from uk abt 8 yrs ago can email pics

I signed an AIWI agreement, so not moaning, just thought it was worth a laugh to quote that.

[BM WORLD 1283]

i will have a good auto soon , from a 1990 535ia done 130k serviced .

will be removing it to replace with manual kits etc .

call ah 021433600

[SpidersWeb 0]

i will have a good auto soon , from a 1990 535ia done 130k serviced .

will be removing it to replace with manual kits etc .

call ah 021433600

Sounds perfect.

If filling it with ATF doesn't help this weekend, I'll give you a call.

Cheers,

Jono