Hi guys,

Bought my girlfriend an 05 120i yesterday for £5,400 with 79k on the clock and full service history. Two problems have come up that I would really like some opinions on. I took it back to the dealer today and have their feedback.

Thud from reaser when changing gear - Apparently there is about an inch and a half play in the diff therefore they have offered to replace it with a second hand one.

Crunch on occcasion when engaging second but mainly third gear - They have said that if you drive hard it will crunch but driving normally it wont and there they are not prepared to spend 2k on a new box. My Mrs can make it crunch on occasion and she does not drive hard.

I have asked for the diff to be changed and will take the car to BMW later for their opinion on the gearbox. Ideally we want to keep it as its got a high spec and is nice to drive. What are your thoughts? The garage says its normal for a car of this age and mileage?

Cheers,

Ben

Sorry if this should have gone in the 1 series area???

This definitely is a topic for the 1-series section of the forums.

As for your question about the ‘box: I’ve recently visited BMW independent workshop and asked them about the gear oil change, as I’m having it crunch occasionally when going into 2nd from 1st. After a CDV job was done, one of the guys took it for a drive and came back saying it’s all fine and it doesn’t need a gear oil changed, the slight crunch is quite normal on these boxes and doesn’t point to any problems, only as long as it’s a very brief, short thud and doesn’t sound like changing gear without a clutch fully depressed.

From what you mentioned, it’s mainly happening in 3rd gear, which is unusual, as I don’t have anything happening when shifting to 3rd, not even when in high-end of the rev counter. You may wanna have a second opinion and possibly replace the gear oil as a precaution, to see if it smoothes out things for you.

As for the garage’s opinion, I’m not sure you should have heard things like “typical for its age”, as mine is barely one year younger than yours, though it looks and drives like new. It all depends on how you treat it. If you care for it and do the maintenance on it when and as required, it should be driving pretty much the same as when brand new.

not bought from Big motoring world i hope! :unsure:

Bought from a trader in Worcester. He coughed up just over 425 toward the diff but its going to cost be 200 on top of that. Other than that the car seems to be behaving itself. third isnt too much of a problem now the oil has been changed. have to change the ignition coils over the weekend though.

I'm with Matthew on this, very weird Garage response...

One would expect 1st/reverse gear to misalign before others !

Have the diff done and see if this changes... If not it could be a linkage issue or even clutch, but again, 1st would be the tell-tale not third !!

BTW I moved this to 1 Series for you ;)