rebuilt ZF 4HP22 transmission report

[Randell]

as a followup to my post from a while back
http://www.bimmer.info/forum/showthread.php?t=6704

it turns out one of the clutch packs was burnt out... which i found out by driving around in the heat with it slipping 3rd and 4th, then flooring it in frustration up to about 5000rpm, and having it lose it completely and dump me into 3rd gear failsafe... never recovered from that one!

so it went straight in for a rebuild, which set me back a few dollars under $AU3000 (gonna take a while to pay that one off!). It took them about 5 working days, the problem list was:
* 3 + 4 cluch pack(s?) burnt out
* DIA springs broken (whatever they are, just reading the list)
* hard seals
* material in sump & jamming valve body

no wonder it was playing up! the guy at the shop said it had just reached the end of it's life but it was still relatively good (ie the whole thing wasn't hosed)..

well i picked it up yesterday, and i honestly cannot believe an auto can shift so smooth... sometimes i can still feel it drop into reverse, and i can still feel the 1-2 shift, but everything else is like silk, i can't tell it's shifted unless i'm watching the tach!

one odd thing though, it feels like the car is much slower than before... maybe it's cause i've had a few rides in a 383ci C4 vette over the last week... also it still whines like mad when it's hot (was 36C yesterday) or when the airconditioning has been on, but i know someone has posted about that so i'm gonna have a quick look now

but that's enough, anyone experiencing any slippage when shifting to 3rd or 4th (in a high mileage ZF4HP22), save those pennies! oh yeah, and for anyone in Perth Australia, Clifford Automatic Transmissions definately get my recommendation...

[liquidtiger720]

at least you got a lot out of the tranny before it died.

mine went south at 130k miles. =,(

[George M]

as Winfred stated some time ago in his excellent rebuild post...very rare for the higher gear clutch packs to fry. You must have had another issue...poor pump pressure, bad solenoid, plugged valve body etc to cause you clutch packs in 3rd and/or 4th to fail.
One tip if you hear some whine...likely your pump...make sure your fluid level is high...best to run it at least to the upper mark on the stick for this trans. Also...repeated trans fluid changes is highly recommended for long life. My car has the original trans and is 149k and shifts as good as any new car as I have driven.
Good Luck,
George