This is my personal struggle with my DCT box…
All was well until I decided to change the fluid and at the same time use a trendy alloy pan to look cool and carry a bit more capacity..
After my local low tech garage had fitted it, there was some very light oil seepage from the pan..maybe a drop or two of fluid if that per night.
I tried two or three times to subsequently get a garage to see to the leak without anybody taking me up on it..I wonder why..
I then got a ‘BMW service centre’ to change the o ring and refill it..after much drama with torque settings and having to get a fresh o ring airlifted in from the states.
However I noticed when driving along the odd puff of a burnt oil smell occasionally..when I got home the next day I could see a good patch of fluid on the ground.
I thought with 7 litres of fluid no big deal..
A couple of weeks later when trying to fo a full power 3rd gear test run for a new ECU tune it firstly prematurely shifted into 4th..on another run I then got ‘the bong’ with car going into limp mode.
Switching off and repeating the attempted run resulted in same situation.
My Protool code reader said..
5A44 clutch 1 incorrect pressure
5A41 Pressure sensor, clutch 1, total failure.
I pooed myself
Slowly drive home, rechecked the box..no errors.
Booked an appointment with same said garage..they then cancelled my appointment saying they were busy and they’d get back to me the next morning.
I went through the ‘if you need to get it done sometimes you just have to do it yourself.’
It looked like after cleaning everything thoroughly around the gearbox that the leak (when stationary ..no engine running ) iwas just from my after market alloy oil pan seal..
Side seal seems dry..couldn’t see the top seals / wire seal but was hoping it was just the bottom seal
Here’s are some photos plus the amount dripped out in 15 hours onto my wooden platform I usedfor crawling under the car..
I’ve bought a pressure filler and decided to fit my back up Polish alloy pan to see if the leaks stop..
Fair amount of damage to under tray plastics so got some alloy and pop rivets to repair some of the cracks ..
I dropped the ‘seems leggit’ alloy pan…
The sealing o ring had popped out from its groove so it wasn’t possible to see if it was seated properly..
However the fitter had used some grease to try and retain it prior to fitting..
When I inspected the o ring it came apart indicating that maybe it had been pinched..
More worrying was damage to the mating face in the same area..was he poking the o ring back in ?
You can see compared to the new Polish version that the Polish version has a thicker more positively located o ring..
3 litres of fluid came out…I think it should be at least 5 litres ..
Frustratingly the Polish pan uses the OE pan drain plug which was thrown away when the US pan was fitted..
My £16 new plastic drain plug arrived so I could start the reassembly can begin..
After loading 4.5 litres up then I had to use Bimmergeeks Protool as my ISTA for reasons I’ve yet to work out wouldn’t talk to the DCT as well as a couple of other ECUs..
Followed the same procedure with a couple of commanded shifts into 1st and 2nd for good measure..another 2 litres went in…
So 3.5 litres came out and 6.5 litres of Fuchs finest went in..
The dribbling out of fluid on the two fills felt like I was swimming in a sea of fluid.
I’ll take the car out for a 100 mile run on Sunday and see what gives.
All was well until I decided to change the fluid and at the same time use a trendy alloy pan to look cool and carry a bit more capacity..
After my local low tech garage had fitted it, there was some very light oil seepage from the pan..maybe a drop or two of fluid if that per night.
I tried two or three times to subsequently get a garage to see to the leak without anybody taking me up on it..I wonder why..
I then got a ‘BMW service centre’ to change the o ring and refill it..after much drama with torque settings and having to get a fresh o ring airlifted in from the states.
However I noticed when driving along the odd puff of a burnt oil smell occasionally..when I got home the next day I could see a good patch of fluid on the ground.
I thought with 7 litres of fluid no big deal..
A couple of weeks later when trying to fo a full power 3rd gear test run for a new ECU tune it firstly prematurely shifted into 4th..on another run I then got ‘the bong’ with car going into limp mode.
Switching off and repeating the attempted run resulted in same situation.
My Protool code reader said..
5A44 clutch 1 incorrect pressure
5A41 Pressure sensor, clutch 1, total failure.
I pooed myself
Slowly drive home, rechecked the box..no errors.
Booked an appointment with same said garage..they then cancelled my appointment saying they were busy and they’d get back to me the next morning.
I went through the ‘if you need to get it done sometimes you just have to do it yourself.’
It looked like after cleaning everything thoroughly around the gearbox that the leak (when stationary ..no engine running ) iwas just from my after market alloy oil pan seal..
Side seal seems dry..couldn’t see the top seals / wire seal but was hoping it was just the bottom seal
Here’s are some photos plus the amount dripped out in 15 hours onto my wooden platform I usedfor crawling under the car..
I’ve bought a pressure filler and decided to fit my back up Polish alloy pan to see if the leaks stop..
Fair amount of damage to under tray plastics so got some alloy and pop rivets to repair some of the cracks ..
I dropped the ‘seems leggit’ alloy pan…
The sealing o ring had popped out from its groove so it wasn’t possible to see if it was seated properly..
However the fitter had used some grease to try and retain it prior to fitting..
When I inspected the o ring it came apart indicating that maybe it had been pinched..
More worrying was damage to the mating face in the same area..was he poking the o ring back in ?
You can see compared to the new Polish version that the Polish version has a thicker more positively located o ring..
3 litres of fluid came out…I think it should be at least 5 litres ..
Frustratingly the Polish pan uses the OE pan drain plug which was thrown away when the US pan was fitted..
My £16 new plastic drain plug arrived so I could start the reassembly can begin..
After loading 4.5 litres up then I had to use Bimmergeeks Protool as my ISTA for reasons I’ve yet to work out wouldn’t talk to the DCT as well as a couple of other ECUs..
Followed the same procedure with a couple of commanded shifts into 1st and 2nd for good measure..another 2 litres went in…
So 3.5 litres came out and 6.5 litres of Fuchs finest went in..
The dribbling out of fluid on the two fills felt like I was swimming in a sea of fluid.
I’ll take the car out for a 100 mile run on Sunday and see what gives.
