Auto Trans Slipping when cold

[Htraitor]

I have a 96 ti with an M44 engine. It seems that when I pull out of the garage in the morning the transmission has a hard time finding second. Once the temp is up to normal this goes away. Any ideas what would cause that? Is this a normal BMW issue or a precursor to disaster?

[angel318ti]

i never had any problems with my auto transmission. I hear the same for a lot of people. Mine used to do it same as you explained. I used the manual shift method until the car warm warm. I guess you can do the same if it bothers you that much but I think its normal.

[Monolith]

Depends on what you mean by "hard time finding second." BMW holds the shifts when cold to decrease cold start emissions. Shifts will occur in the 4-5k rpm range or higher when cold (depending on acceleration). After about 3 minutes it reverts back to normal shifting.

[CirrusSR22]

I've had two automatic 318tis and they both did this. I'm pretty sure it's normal, and for the reason Monolith mentioned.

[signature sound]

so glad to hear. mine does this too. i always thought something was wrong because the trans fluid does not "require" changing (so to speak). last i read, there was some debate about that. does anyone know the verdict? should the oil be changed in the auto trans?

[hotmilk400]

i wanna bring this topic back to life.

I wrecked the last transmission because of this.

I have a manual, and when it is cold (like below 50F), it is hard to shift into 2nd.

when it is warm, no problems at all. in my last transmission, i thought the sync gear was going bad (due to a warn out shift bushings) , so i went ahead, replaced the Shifter with a shirt shift, replaced the clutch and the tranny.

everything was fine, but now it is getting cold out, and i find it hard for the tranny to shift into 2nd gear (sometimes 3rd)

It seems like it blocks you from going into the gear, but it feels like you are in. then you let go of the clutch and you are really in neutral.

if you force it into 2nd (even if your tranny blocks it or whatever) you start to strip the gears (even with your foot on the clutch) . i have gotten into a habit that when it feels like it is not all the way in gear, i just pull it out, release and press the clutch in again, and then try to stick it in again. it normally goes in fine.

could something be going bad? i had the fluid replaced (2 times, one time on the last tranny to see if i could fix it without replacing everything, and now the tranny should have all new fluids since it was replaced)

my mechanic did all the work, and he is good, but something i should be looking at?

thanks alot - mike

[spidertri]

What fluid are you running? I had Royal Purple in mine and getting into 2nd was a pain, exactly as you describe.

Last year I switched to Amsoil and it made the shift much smoother. Now that it is getting colder out the shifts into 2nd are slightly rough when cold but no where near as bad as it was with the RP.

When I drained the RP it had the consistency of water and smelled burnt. I had run it for about 15,000 miles. Haven't changed the amsoil yet but from what I have read on bimmerforums it should be good for a while.

[hotmilk400]

thanks, i had a feeling it might be related to the fluids used. figured it was just low quality, but was not really sure. i will ask my mechanic what they normally used (since it was over a year ago, and i doubt i have the paperwork)

so you are thinking amsoil is better?

is there a recommend weight (if they are rated that way) that any one knows about? i want to make sure i get the best/right stuff in this time. i do not want to replace the trans again, cost pretty much last time.

[spidertri]

Yeah def better than RP, I'll never use that stuff again. I haven't tried Redline so I can't compare to that.

I just got two quarts of the Amsoil MTF and I have a '98.

Check out this thread and PM 2kredz3, he used to give a discount to bimmerforums members, not sure if he still does. Apparently the old thread got too long so they had to start a new one.

http://forums.bimmerforums.com/forum....php?t=1742533