Really long comments.... (archive)

First, as I understand, the transmission was removed by the dealer and reconditioned at a place of their selection under warranty. The transmission is apparently not repaired satisfactorily, but they accepted it, and now want you to accept the faulty goods. You don't have to. It is not your position to select who reconditions the transmission, nor to warrant their work. Tell the dealer that it is their responsibility to ensure the repair is made satisfactorily. Ask the dealer to contact the regional factory service represenative and tell him that you would like to bring your car in so he could drive it the next time he is in the area. Let him be the judge as to whether the transmission is shifting properly. That will usually get the dealer to make the transmission shop replace the faulty one. And if it doesn't, then sue the bastards.
That said, the acceleration problem and downshifting back to first actually sounds like an accelerator problem. If you had your foot on the gas pedal and did not let it idle below, say, 1,500 rpms, it would give the same response. So part or all of the problem may be in your throttles. Something is clearly wrong. Does the dealer have the larger diagnostic computer, or the laptop? It is simply not acceptable that they cannot properly diagnose your problem. If it is the transmission, they should replace it. If it is the EML, then the warranty should replace that too. Right? They should be glad to replace throttle bodies and EML's and whatever. It sounds like they don't know what they are doing, so I think I would start with asking the dealer to call to the regional BMW guy and tell him the story. He lives to make you happy. They dare not call him.
I detest shoddy work and incompetent mechanics.
I wish there were something more I could do. Maybe someone has the mechanical answer. Best of luck.
Lin Gilbert
1990 750iL

This may be a bit long but please give me your input.
My car has been at a BMW dealership for over a month getting some warranty work done to it.
Before taking it in the car would do a hard shift from 1 to 2 gear. It was very unlike BMW and so we took it in to have it fixed. The car only had 133,000 KM on it and was well maintained before I bought it.
It had a GE Capital warranty (extended) and its a 93 750iL.
My main problem is how the car drives after having the transmission 'reconditioned'
The hard shift problem is still there (its even more apparent now), but now we also get a hard shift from 2 to 1 (slowing down). On top of that the car seems to leap when you put your foot on the pedal instead of taking off smoothly. The dealer said they would try to help us but nothing more might be done to the car.
I am very disheartened, the car drives fine on the freeway but its horrible on city streets. You can hear and feel it holding on to the last gear before shifting (feels like you will snap your neck)
It doesn�t make any sense to me. I don�t know what to do, the dealer said it wasn�t reconditioned at the dealership (it was outsourced) and that this type of shifting is 'normal' for this car (I don�t believe it).
What alternatives do I have?
I can�t afford the $4000 plus labor they want for a new transmission and I can�t keep on driving it with this terrible shifting, it�s very unlike BMW and feels as if the car will break down on me.

Follow Ups:

get a new transmision from here, they are cheap francisco 23:04 10/13/2000 (1)
- Re: get a new transmision from here, they are chea sam 17:30 10/14/2000 (0)

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