Z4m Tranny issues!

[SnapCoupe]

Last night I was accelerating from a stop in first with about 75% throttle, I didn't launch and kinda just rolled into it. I shifted into second at about 6k and I was greeted by a loud whining sound so I clutched in and tried to grab second again and the car wouldn't do it, so i grabbed third and drove to where i could pull over. Upon reaching a stop the car would not go into first, second or reverse. The shifter would not go into that whole side of the shift pattern. I managed to limp the car home by starting in third which fortunately I was only a mile a way from.

I Let the car sit over night and started it this morning. It goes into first, second and reverse, and rolls fine in the gears. First and second don't have the "notch" or "click" that they used to anymore though, and when shifting from first to second it feels like one long frictioned shift instead of a normal shift (if that makes sense). The rest of the gears feel perfect.

The car is drivable but I am going to avoid driving it this weekend until I can bring it into work on tuesday (I work at a BMW dealership). I just wanted to see if anyone has had symptoms like this before so I can brainstorm as to what it could be. I have never messed with tranny stuff before, so I don't have much of a clue as to what it could be. Would a bent shift linkage cause this?

Thanks in advanced guys!

[jaconley]

Yes, I had those symptoms in March, except it was while I was driving on the Circuit of the Americas. What failed was the throw out bearing. The clutch plate had to be replace too in my case.

After the throw out bearing failed on the track, I was not able to shift into any gear and had to be towed off the track. After letting the car sit for a few hours, I was able to engage the gears, albeit with a bad groaning noise when letting off the clutch in first. I was able to drive it home from Austin to Houston. On the highways. Two grand later, all was fixed.

[bdardashti]

I'm thinking of getting an 07 Z4M.. do you mind if I ask how many miles you had when this issue occurred?

[krusty]

One too many?

[inTgr8r]

Originally Posted by bdardashti

I'm thinking of getting an 07 Z4M.. do you mind if I ask how many miles you had when this issue occurred?

Hopefully the OP will come back soon with a proper answer......
I wouldn't concern yourself too much, this is an extremely rare occurrence.
I don't recall any previous posts on this topic.

[SnapCoupe]

Originally Posted by bdardashti

I'm thinking of getting an 07 Z4M.. do you mind if I ask how many miles you had when this issue occurred?

I bought the car with 78k and it has 80500 now.

[SnapCoupe]

Originally Posted by jaconley

Yes, I had those symptoms in March, except it was while I was driving on the Circuit of the Americas. What failed was the throw out bearing. The clutch plate had to be replace too in my case.

After the throw out bearing failed on the track, I was not able to shift into any gear and had to be towed off the track. After letting the car sit for a few hours, I was able to engage the gears, albeit with a bad groaning noise when letting off the clutch in first. I was able to drive it home from Austin to Houston. On the highways. Two grand later, all was fixed.

After you had this fixed did your shifting seem smoother than before? Before this incident my shifter seemed a bit more rough compared to other z4ms that I have driven. I am curious if this could be a warning sign of something like this to come.

[jdoublehcubed]

The prior owner was probably riding the clutch and caused it to wear out prematurely.

Other than yourself and jaconely, there can't be more than a handful of people on here who have had to replace clutches.

[SnapCoupe]

Originally Posted by jdoublehcubed

The prior owner was probably riding the clutch and caused it to wear out prematurely.

Other than yourself and jaconely, there can't be more than a handful of people on here who have had to replace clutches.

The clutch feels perfectly fine and on par to other Z4ms I have driven. The shifter is what feels a bit off/rough.

[jaconley]

My car had 48000 miles when the throw out bearing failed. I my opinion, the ZM4 has never buttery smooth to shift in low gears. A very notchy feel. Still today, after replacing the bearing and clutch friction plate, I sometimes grind second gear trying to do a quick up shift.

[jaconley]

Btw, shifting effort in low gears did increase before the failure. But that was over a several month period. The car is also my daily driver, and I really didn't think much about the increased effort. In hindsight, I wish I had.

[SnapCoupe]

Update! I brought my car in and threw it on the lift to have a BMW master tech take a look at it. He drove it and agreed that it took a good bit of effort to throw it into gears. After a visual inspection he said there was no issues that he could see, so he went to check the tranny fluid. Bingo. After he popped the cap, a jet black, thinner than rubbing alcohol fluid poured out, so he changed it for me. After a day of driving everything is the way it should be, buttery smooth and very minimal effort to put into gear. Yippee! Something that I thought was going to cost an arm and a leg only cost me about 100$. Check your tranny fluid guys! its not lifetime like BMW says!

[elerner61]

Tranny and diff fluid, every 30K miles for a non-tracked/Autocrossed car. Too cheap and relatively easy to do to leave it in any longer.