2011 M3 Transmission problems! New Car!!!

[Finnegan]

Originally Posted by APDspider

Update: the dealer says there is too much pressure on one of our clutches, so we need a whole new transmission. No spare transmissions in the USA and no spares in Germany! On Monday, the dealer will give us an estimate as to how long it will take for us to receive and install one. It could be weeks without our M3. This sucks.

Man, that stinks, but on the bright side you have a diagnosis and a treatment plan. That's huge! I'm surprised and impressed--you must have a competent dealer and service staff looking at the car.

Again, I'm sorry that it's going to take time to fix, but at least you haven't been left with the frustration ("can't reproduce/there is no problem") so many have been left with. I hope they can "find" a transmission soon-- it's Jersey, you never know, one might fall off truck....

[ChrisK]

Originally Posted by Finnegan

Man, that stinks, but on the bright side you have a diagnosis and a treatment plan. That's huge! I'm surprised and impressed--you must have a competent dealer and service staff looking at the car.

Again, I'm sorry that it's going to take time to fix, but at least you haven't been left with the frustration ("can't reproduce/there is no problem") so many have been left with. I hope they can "find" a transmission soon-- it's Jersey, you never know, one might fall off truck....

^Totally agree. No BS, no run around, they will make it right.

[Sandye90m3]

I'm in the same boat as you my friend. I still haven't gotten a response from BMW NA. The dealer keeps telling me that they should get a response by tomorrow or day after. When I got my 1st trans replaced I got a response to change it in 2 days, however for the 2nd replacement it has taken over a week.

Has the dealer said anything about yours yet?

[Dave07997S]

You know this is exactly why I got a 6MT...

I'm even worried about the seat belt extenders...I mean you know thats got to break sometime.

Dave

[JasonCSU]

This is the kind of thing that keeps me leery of DCT's. I'm definitely interested to hear the outcome.

[APDspider]

I'm going to ask you all post your BMW resolutions, cause I'm not sure a transmission swap will fix this. I'd like to see what others are doing.

[ChrisK]

This type of DCT problem seems very rare. Most people only have DCT lag issues, ...and even those seem to have been completely fixed with the 2011 MY. What bothers me are the stories of BMWNA and/or the dealership not addressing a very obvious issue with some owners. My experience with BMW and my dealership have been nothing short of stellar.

[Sniper78]

I just ordered a 2011 E92 M3 with DCT, should i try to change it to manual? I'd really hate the care if i face the same problem & I'd sell it straight away!!

[footie]

Originally Posted by APDspider

Update: the dealer says there is too much pressure on one of our clutches, so we need a whole new transmission. No spare transmissions in the USA and no spares in Germany! On Monday, the dealer will give us an estimate as to how long it will take for us to receive and install one. It could be weeks without our M3. This sucks.

No transmission in either the USA or Germany, sorry I don't buy that. Demand a replacement car, which is something they definitely have in either country.

[dardeca]

At least BMW is stepping up and replacing the transmission. Hopefully it doesn't take too long to get the replacement. Please keep up posted!! Good luck.

[Dave07997S]

Originally Posted by footie

No transmission in either the USA or Germany, sorry I don't buy that. Demand a replacement car, which is something they definitely have in either country.

No way is he getting a replacement car no matter how much he demands. Only way they would replace the car is through the lemon law, which I feel he has a good case for. He just has to follow through on the procedure. However, BMWNA is trying to fix the car now..let's see what transpires.

Dave

[jeffnnj]

Originally Posted by RevFreak14

Never heard of that but if you were able to take a picture of it and show it to them then they should give you a loaner immdiately until they fix the car. Not sure if this is you guys first BMW, but don't just let them get you with the "We can't reproduce the message so there's nothing wrong with the car" crap. And don't let them tell you it must have been you doing something wrong. That is typical dealer nonsense when they simply run into something they haven't seen and can't figure out what's wrong. It's not just BMW, Benz does the same crap. I can speak from experience. Take it all the way to the General Manager if need be and if they don't fix it, get BMW NA on the horn immediately and document the problem with them. Don't take no for an answer especially with a brand new car. But make sure you make a stink and stick up for yourself because if you don't they will drag their feet. The squeaky wheel gets the grease !!!!

While I respect your opinion I disagree completely. Dealerships make money on repairs, even those under warranty. I cannot think of a conceivable reason why any service advisor or technician would make an excuse to try and get out of performing something they're getting paid for.

[JCtx]

Originally Posted by jeffnnj

I cannot think of a conceivable reason why any service advisor or technician would make an excuse to try and get out of performing something they're getting paid for.

Only way they get paid is if BMWNA authorizes the repair. I dislike most dealerships, but this is one area I understand where they're coming from. And remember expensive repairs have a separate approval process.
That's why I don't even bother to take a vehicle for service when I can't duplicate an issue, or when I'm not sure something is a real problem (like clutch noises, etc). Forums like this one are great tools to learn about our cars.

I'd have expected these DCT problems on '08 cars, not '11s. It's got to be a bad batch or something. Good luck OP.

[ChrisK]

Ok, before we get the torches and walk the streets looking for BMW blood. How many people on here have had this specific problem? A few?

I am sticking with my DCT order. A 6MT forum member just recently had their car stuck in gear and even the dealer couldn't get it out.

This crap happens.

[Finnegan]

Originally Posted by elp_jc

Only way they get paid is if BMWNA authorizes the repair. I dislike most dealerships, but this is one area I understand where they're coming from. And remember expensive repairs have a separate approval process.
That's why I don't even bother to take a vehicle for service when I can't duplicate an issue, or when I'm not sure something is a real problem (like clutch noises, etc). Forums like this one are great tools to learn about our cars.

I'd have expected these DCT problems on '08 cars, not '11s. It's got to be a bad batch or something. Good luck OP.

My policy as well JC about intermittent issues; right on the money regarding warranty repair approval process. It may indeed be a bad batch since this sounds more mechanical than the well-known software driven issues (that, plus the newest software has "cured" most DCT issues and not, as far as I've read, created new ones).

Originally Posted by ChrisK

Ok, before we get the torches and walk the streets looking for BMW blood. How many people on here have had this specific problem? A few?

I am sticking with my DCT order. A 6MT forum member just recently had their car stuck in gear and even the dealer couldn't get it out.

This crap happens.

Yes, this crap does happen. These are complex machines, and some % will fail. And in this case, the OP's issue is being recognized and addressed in a respectful and timely matter. Where I have, and will continue to have a bone to pick is where other folks (Greeney for example) have not had their issue recognized or addressed in that manner. I don't expect there will be no issues, that's life, but I do expect reasonable customer service (like the OP is getting here). The OP's dealer and BMW are doing in right in this case and providing good customer service.

However, truly excellent customer service would be to find a new car with a DCT and then use that transmission to replace the failed one (if there are indeed none available in the pipeline and if that means the OP might be w/o a car for months). Or, at the very least cover payments and provide a reasonable loaner (not some beater from Enterprise).

[ChrisK]

I think 95% of the problem is the dealership(s). Finding a good dealership seems harder and harder for some.

[Finnegan]

Originally Posted by ChrisK

I think 95% of the problem is the dealership(s). Finding a good dealership seems harder and harder for some.

Agreed. My dealership has been great, but some are really really bad.

[Dave07997S]

Main issue here guys is that techs don't get paid diddly to diagnose. They get paid to repair, the part has to be broken and falling off of the car.

Dave

[ChrisK]

Originally Posted by Dave07997S

Main issue here guys is that techs don't get paid diddly to diagnose. They get paid to repair, the part has to be broken and falling off of the car.

Dave

That just plain sucks.

[e46e92love]

Everyone who says this problem is new has not been around for long, I have seen this problem reported a number of times on here for the early M-DCT cars. I'm too lazy to go find all of the threads, but you are not the first to get this, not even close.

Cheers,
e46e92

[Greeney]

Originally Posted by e46e92love

Everyone who says this problem is new has not been around for long, I have seen this problem reported a number of times on here for the early M-DCT cars. I'm too lazy to go find all of the threads, but you are not the first to get this, not even close.

Cheers,
e46e92

How were they resolved?

[ChrisK]

Originally Posted by e46e92love

Everyone who says this problem is new has not been around for long, I have seen this problem reported a number of times on here for the early M-DCT cars. I'm too lazy to go find all of the threads, but you are not the first to get this, not even close.

Cheers,
e46e92

When I say a few... the group of people having this issue is small in comparison to the DCT lag group. I still think this is a software bug. 99% of the time it goes away with a restart.

I love BMW, but their software bugs can really be annoying.