My E90M3 Experience

[Mjbluth]

Hello all,

The E90 M3 is a car that I've wanted for a while now and I've finally been fortunate enough to make it a reality. I am now the owner of a 2009 E90 DCT M3

The unfortunate news is shortly after getting the car, the check engine light went on and transmission went into limp mode. At that time, only the even gears were functioning and the odd gears+ reverse stopped functioning. After turning off the car and letting it sit, the codes had cleared and seemed okay. But it happened once more shortly after. Both times the engine light turned on during normal driving, cruising about 40 the first time in auto, car went to upshift and light came on. Second time it happened in manuel mode when downshifting at stoplight from 3rd to 2nd. At this point I had only had the car for two days and had driven less than 50 miles.

I had a PPI done at the local BMW dealership prior to purchasing due to the previous owner always taking the vehicle there for service. The PPI stated a small valve cover leak on passengers side, need for new spark plugs and diff fluid change but nothing about transmission issues or fault codes.

I took it back to the same BMW dealership to get the codes read. The recommendation after reading the codes was to A) replace the double clutch discs (~$6k) Or B) replace the entire transmission (~$18k+) The code was 005029 dkg clutch 1-—Next thing I did was take it to an independent bmw shop for another opinion. They had the car just over a day and confidently stated the duel clutch discs are in need of replacement.

At this point I started to call around for more price quotes to change out the clutch discs. A couple shops stated there is no way to guarantee the clutch discs are bad and changing them doesn't guarantee to solve the issue. Their recommendation was to swap in a used DCT instead.

My goal is to fix the car and drive it properly. It's a second vehicle that will be used for more than just weekends and the occasional track day. My dilemma is how to do so.

Do I swap in a used DCT, install new OEM clutch discs or consider aftermarket clutch discs by Dodson or another company? Appreciate all thoughts, comments and looking forward to learning along the way!

I am in AZ, looking for a quality shop to complete this repair and would appreciate any recommendations! Travel is not an issue. The car is just short of 80k miles.


Obligatory pics:

[wfdeacon88]

Terrible luck! Sorry to hear that. Others can probably provide great information... but those estimates look crazy. I see used DCTs on Ebay (with low miles) for $2-3K.. but I might be missing something on the cost side.

https://www.ebay.com/i/152615989594?chn=ps

https://www.ebay.com/p/2008-2013-BMW...6413671&chn=ps


Your E90 is the identical color, spec and year as mine.. so now I am paranoid about my DCT..

[msan]

I agree, if you have to replace buy one used . Try deansbimmer first to se if he has one. You could also maybe take the dct cover offf the bottom of the car and check to see if has a bad leak. Maybe you are just low on dct fluid due to a leak. They are known to leak.

[Timujin]

You have the best color.

Sorry to hear about your car. The DCT has a pretty good rep for being solid, but not knowing what it has been through sucks.

Good luck finding a used one. It seems one shows up here regularly.

[u2usual]

Wow looks exactly like the one I just bought.

What is the mileage on the car (maybe I missed it in the post)

[Fredo]

80k miles on the car.

[spiderspider]

I vote used DCT.

[amrazM]

Internal problem inside the dct unit, replace the whole thing used only if you can get someone who is capable of re writing the vin in the mechatronics.

[MikeyDawg]

Is it plausible (well...likely) the previous owner didn't know about this issue considering you've only driven the car for < 50 miles?

I'd venture a guess of no.

Sorry to hear about your troubles... Just bought an 2009 E90 in space gray myself but with MT so no advice from my end. Best of luck.

[Ab28]

Originally Posted by MikeyDawg

Is it plausible (well...likely) the previous owner didn't know about this issue considering you've only driven the car for < 50 miles?

I'd venture a guess of no.

Sorry to hear about your troubles... Just bought an 2009 E90 in space gray myself but with MT so no advice from my end. Best of luck.

Agreed.

While possible, its not very probable this is a new issue for the car.

Also in the Replace the DCT camp. They are known to be very reliable and it's probably better to swap an entire unit than to start rebuilding the current one.

[deansbimmer]

Without hesitation- replace the transmission with a good used one. They're so cheap to find used there's no real point in attempting repair. I doubt its the clutches anyway- I've never seen these clutches wear out out unless the car was thoroughly abused.

Also, very doubtful that the previous owner didn't know about this issue...

I have two used DCT transmissions if you're interested.

[Icecreamfoo]

Mjbluth , just came across this thread and sorry to hear your ordeal. It's highly likely this prob was already present with the previous seller/owner and they did not disclose it; the timing is too coincidental and you should consider looking into that

As for repair, def recommend picking up a replacement DCT unit; u can still find a used unit with decently low mileage with relative ease. I went that route when my original DCT crapped out due to low/leaked fluid. Had a spare unit in storage and plugged that right in, happy as a clam to this day. It's probably the more cost effective way compared to troubleshooting clutch or anything else that might have gone wrong w/ your original unit.

2 advices though if you go the DCT replacement route:

#1 you will want to have the mechatronic coded to your car after the swap. I dont know the exact inner workings, and my car did drive w/o any errors for days after the swap, but the new transmission behaved much better/livelier after the mechatronic re-code.

#2 is replace all of the seals on the replacement tranny before it goes into your car. They will wear out and leak fluid, all of them do. The factory seals are just poorly mated or designed. Bottom seal, side seal, and the top seal

[Mjbluth]

I appreciate the feedback received so far and starting to lean in the direction of replacing the entire dct with a used unit. Started the process of calling different shops to get a better idea on time/ cost etc. There's a shop in Phoenix that is able to source a 60k mile dct, $6k installed and includes a 5 year parts and labor warranty. DeansBimmer also has a couple good transmissions which is also an option.

I've been in touch with the previous owner. He has contacted the local BMW dealer who's always serviced the vehicle, performed my PPI and diagnosed the cars issue after purchasing. I'm Hoping to have some help with the solution considering the PO probably knew about the issue prior to but not sure he has any obligation. Bottom line, the car will get fixed and driven as it should be. Looking forward to updating this along the way

[deansbimmer]

Originally Posted by Mjbluth

I appreciate the feedback received so far and starting to lean in the direction of replacing the entire dct with a used unit. Started the process of calling different shops to get a better idea on time/ cost etc. There's a shop in Phoenix that is able to source a 60k mile dct, $6k installed and includes a 5 year parts and labor warranty. DeansBimmer also has a couple good transmissions which is also an option.

The actual labor spent to remove/replace/code a DCT would usually be around 8 hours for a typical shop that knows these cars. At $6k it sounds like they've seriously inflated the costs to cover their risk in that 5 year warranty.

[MikeyDawg]

Originally Posted by Mjbluth

I appreciate the feedback received so far and starting to lean in the direction of replacing the entire dct with a used unit. Started the process of calling different shops to get a better idea on time/ cost etc. There's a shop in Phoenix that is able to source a 60k mile dct, $6k installed and includes a 5 year parts and labor warranty. DeansBimmer also has a couple good transmissions which is also an option.

I've been in touch with the previous owner. He has contacted the local BMW dealer who's always serviced the vehicle, performed my PPI and diagnosed the cars issue after purchasing. I'm Hoping to have some help with the solution considering the PO probably knew about the issue prior to but not sure he has any obligation. Bottom line, the car will get fixed and driven as it should be. Looking forward to updating this along the way

You seem far too calm about this situation, I'd be livid.

Have you not contacted the BMW dealership service dept yourself to inquire about the PPI and previous service history on this vehicle?

If the previous owner knew about the issue.... how likely is it that the PPI didn't reveal anything OR that the dealership wasn't also already aware?

Perhaps it will you get you nowhere, but I would at least want to be the person asking the questions finding out what the dealership did or didn't know. I would want to them answer point blank if they had ANY record of this issue in their system. And if they did, why wasn't it included in the PPI.

Best of luck man.