[FeatherRelic]

My recent issue: My 2014 BMW 328D X-Drive purchased from a local BMW dealer in the GTA has just fallen out of warranty, as of July 2018, has encountered a complete transmission failure, which I will now have to address through a full rebuild or a full replacement. The transmission is stuck in limp-mode (fail-safe): with gears in 3, and on occasion on 5. Driving from a complete stop yields terrible gear slippage. I was advised by my trusted transmission specialist that my transmission needs to be rebuilt (or be replaced with new).

Anyway, what's obvious now is the poor quality monitoring on behalf of BMW and it's agents, and of course ZF's (BMW's Transmission supplier) QC given that my reasonably owned (I have babied this vehicle), BMW-only serviced vehicle, with a mere 90k (just out of warranty) 4.5-year life, now requires a critical repair/replacement of a major component. I even paid for BMW's own multi-point inspection (at my purchasing dealership) prior to my warranty's end, which showed no issues with the car.

I'm so disappointed with this "ultimate driving machine," with major components failing unreasonably too soon, regardless of what measures I take. I feel powerless and am stuck footing the bill on such a critical component, outside what would reasonably be deemed as a reasonable mechanical life cycle. This vehicle was only ever serviced by BMW dealerships in GTA. All records have been maintained. Not sure what more I could've done to anticipate such a mechanical quality failure at only about a length of time and use of approximately 10% out of the end of warranty. I really did not expect this with BMW on this day and age. Can't see me in another one of BMW's products, not after such a catastrophic failure. :*(.

[Enabled]

Standard BMW warranty on that vehicle was 4 year/50,000 miles. But other factors may have changed that, for example, a purchased extension.

*Edit: GTA seems to be Greater Toronto Area, and 90k kilometers?*

Fact of the matter is that this transmission is not known to fail prematurely, and yours is an exemption. In fact, lots of other manufacturers, (including Japanese, such as Honda) have had many more failures.

They may be interested in knowing what failed, and they sometimes help out with costs, on a case by case basis.
The best thing you can do now is talk (nicely) to a service rep that will bring up the case to BMW to see if they can reduce costs of replacement through BMW's goodwill program.
This would have to go through your BMW dealer and not an independent shop.
Each case is different, but BMW has helped out with price in unusual cases.
I would go that route first.

[328iX]

What’s the maintenance history on the car? Regardless even if it’s 90k kilometers that’s still within ZFs maintenance schedule of 80-120k kilometers for a fluid change. Seems like either it was very abused(loaner/lease?) or defective.

[tomfromON]

Originally Posted by FeatherRelic

My recent issue: My 2014 BMW 328D X-Drive purchased from a local BMW dealer in the GTA has just fallen out of warranty, as of July 2018, has encountered a complete transmission failure, which I will now have to address through a full rebuild or a full replacement. The transmission is stuck in limp-mode (fail-safe): with gears in 3, and on occasion on 5. Driving from a complete stop yields terrible gear slippage. I was advised by my trusted transmission specialist that my transmission needs to be rebuilt (or be replaced with new).

Anyway, what's obvious now is the poor quality monitoring on behalf of BMW and it's agents, and of course ZF's (BMW's Transmission supplier) QC given that my reasonably owned (I have babied this vehicle), BMW-only serviced vehicle, with a mere 90k (just out of warranty) 4.5-year life, now requires a critical repair/replacement of a major component. I even paid for BMW's own multi-point inspection (at my purchasing dealership) prior to my warranty's end, which showed no issues with the car.

I'm so disappointed with this "ultimate driving machine," with major components failing unreasonably too soon, regardless of what measures I take. I feel powerless and am stuck footing the bill on such a critical component, outside what would reasonably be deemed as a reasonable mechanical life cycle. This vehicle was only ever serviced by BMW dealerships in GTA. All records have been maintained. Not sure what more I could've done to anticipate such a mechanical quality failure at only about a length of time and use of approximately 10% out of the end of warranty. I really did not expect this with BMW on this day and age. Can't see me in another one of BMW's products, not after such a catastrophic failure. :*(.

This sounds like a second opinion is needed and could quite possibly be related to electrical issues rather than mechanical. BMW doesn't even recommend a transmission service within the "life" of the vehicle. Unless the car was abused I would dig deeper and perhaps even go back to the dealer for a full diagnostic. Either way good luck.

[cfm56d7b]

Is there a root cause diagnosis, i.e. what transmission components failed?

[Hypermile]

Tracking

GTA = Greater Toronto Area thus POs mileage is in KMs.