ZF8 damaged

[inline6bmwfan]

Anyone had a ZF8 gearbox go on them?

If so what sort of issues did you have and what mileage/history?

Mine has 22,000 miles on it, looks like its given up the ghost.

Symptoms:

Rev flare between first 3 gears under certain throttle conditions (usually moderate throttle).

All quickcharge pressures negative suggesting swollen clutch plates. Clutch B and C gone further into negative over past 3 months.

ZF suspect possible glycol contamination, having it looked at in 2 weeks and have a feeling its not going to be good news.

Anyone had a ZF go or have to be repaired at such a low mileage?

Cheers

[Ninja59]

I have heard of some failing.

But if it is glycol then is there another component failure allowing it there.

[Huskyman]

If it’s glycol contamination chances are the transmission cooler is rubber ducked, engine coolant is used as the cooling medium in this unit, so it could have failed.
What car is the ZF8 fitted to?

[inline6bmwfan]

Huskyman said:

If it’s glycol contamination chances are the transmission cooler is rubber ducked, engine coolant is used as the cooling medium in this unit, so it could have failed.
What car is the ZF8 fitted to?

Yeh thats the suspected fault so looks like cooler replacement and probably transmission replacement .

Coincidentally ive been losing coolant for a while too, never thought anything of it as its apparently a 'common issue' of the B58 engine.

Car is a m140i buddy.

[Huskyman]

inline6bmwfan said:

Huskyman said:

If it’s glycol contamination chances are the transmission cooler is rubber ducked, engine coolant is used as the cooling medium in this unit, so it could have failed.
What car is the ZF8 fitted to?

Yeh thats the suspected fault so looks like cooler replacement and probably transmission replacement .

Coincidentally ive been losing coolant for a while too, never thought anything of it as its apparently a 'common issue' of the B58 engine.

Car is a m140i buddy.

Interesting point on the coolant loss, I’ve got a 340i with the same power train so I’ll keep an eye out for this. First I’ve heard of this issue. Mind you a decent replacement box is £650 so from the bay of E. if they did the oil filter housing, oil and transmission cooler gaskets at the same time then that’s another failure point addressed.

[MitchT]

I'm looking at acquiring a 440i (B58 engine) at some point in the next few months, so this is definitely of interest.

[inline6bmwfan]

Huskyman said:

inline6bmwfan said:

Huskyman said:

If it’s glycol contamination chances are the transmission cooler is rubber ducked, engine coolant is used as the cooling medium in this unit, so it could have failed.
What car is the ZF8 fitted to?

Yeh thats the suspected fault so looks like cooler replacement and probably transmission replacement .

Coincidentally ive been losing coolant for a while too, never thought anything of it as its apparently a 'common issue' of the B58 engine.

Car is a m140i buddy.

Interesting point on the coolant loss, I’ve got a 340i with the same power train so I’ll keep an eye out for this. First I’ve heard of this issue. Mind you a decent replacement box is £650 so from the bay of E. if they did the oil filter housing, oil and transmission cooler gaskets at the same time then that’s another failure point addressed.

Problem is i think glycol contamination gets everywhere including torque convertor too so aint a cheap repair.

[Huskyman]

inline6bmwfan said:

Huskyman said:

inline6bmwfan said:

Huskyman said:

If it’s glycol contamination chances are the transmission cooler is rubber ducked, engine coolant is used as the cooling medium in this unit, so it could have failed.
What car is the ZF8 fitted to?

Yeh thats the suspected fault so looks like cooler replacement and probably transmission replacement .

Coincidentally ive been losing coolant for a while too, never thought anything of it as its apparently a 'common issue' of the B58 engine.

Car is a m140i buddy.

Interesting point on the coolant loss, I’ve got a 340i with the same power train so I’ll keep an eye out for this. First I’ve heard of this issue. Mind you a decent replacement box is £650 so from the bay of E. if they did the oil filter housing, oil and transmission cooler gaskets at the same time then that’s another failure point addressed.

Problem is i think glycol contamination gets everywhere including torque convertor too so aint a cheap repair.

The transmission will come with the torque converter, unless stated otherwise. I would swap out the transmission complete and replace the lines. Who is doing the work to the car?

[b14]

MitchT said:

I'm looking at acquiring a 440i (B58 engine) at some point in the next few months, so this is definitely of interest.

Given how many B58s with ZF boxes are on the roads with hundreds of thousands of miles on them, and this is the first any of us have heard of this type of thing happening (from what I can tell) I don't think it's something that needs to be considered a big thing or something to watch out for particularly.

They do in very isolated cases have some.coolant loss issues that are associated with expansion tank caps I believe, rather than leaking through the trans cooler into the box.

[inline6bmwfan]

[redacted]

[Chamon_Lee]

[redacted]

[b14]

Chamon_Lee said:

ZF8 is a rock solid unit. They are across multiple brands over many many years and I hardly ever come across of them going wrong.
Even then the ones that do tend to go wrong are the cars that are remapped past the tolerance of the gearbox.

Sorry to hear about this OP, it is rare as far as I know. Nothing is 100% bullet proof

I’ve got the zf8 in my 340i and in my F Type R so really hoping they don’t suddenly turn out to be explodey in later life

[Deefor62]

I had one that needed replacement on my 330e when the car was 3 months old. Apparently due to a casting fault in the casing that resulted in it losing most of its oil from where a pipe to the cooler went into the gearbox. Due to the thick padding on the cover under the box, the leak wasn’t noticeable as it all soaked into the padding material. Took the best part of 3 months to get a new box and the ÉCU that sits inside the 330e version.
I was told this is an uncommon issue - supposedly.