Making a BMW SMG III Gearbox Ultra Reliable
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- Опубліковано 27 січ 2022
- Let’s have a chat about the steps that can be taken to mitigate experiencing issues with your BMW E60 M5 SMG III Gearbox, during the future of your ownership.
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Thanks for watching! - Авто та транспорт
Your videos are awesome and so helpful! Have you considered adding some basic part/labor pricing in the videos? I know that stuff is dependent on a lot of variable factors, but even some general estimates would be great imo. Either way though, these videos are so useful and I will be referencing them a lot in the future, and I really appreciate them!
Thanks man, I appreciate you watching!
Pricing is a hard one to quantify too many variables- doing it yourself/paying a specialist/dealer, the level of competency of the person doing the work & tools available, where your buying parts from and what type of parts etc.etc. When I do a DIY video I often talk about the best parts to get for the money etc. 👍
We did most of this, wish I did more. We did not do the starter (we only realize this when the SMG was out), clutch slave cylinder and hydraulic o-rings… maybe next time. I do agree to use the plastic pivot, we bought both plastic and metal then decided to use plastic. We also used liquid electrical tape to protect the harness, we did not remove it as it may cause issues… so put lots of liquid electrical tape on the ends.
It’s hard to call when to draw the line sometimes! Appetite for risk vs certainty vs time & $$$$. Not a bad move liquid electrical taping the harness ends, if you re-sleeve the wires normally have to finish with this step anyhow. Sounds like you got a few troublesome items sorted in the process 👍
@@MTechGuy yes it’s a hard balance. Mechanic I bring the car too sadly closedown, so it might be a challenge to fix the big items. COVID has definitely made things worse. I did a fiber bypass on the navigation unit, that seems to be one issue making the audio cut off. Maybe our 3 year old battery might be causing issues. Working with the battery shop, so I will remove it and bring it to him to do bench testing for a week. Care to make a video about the battery and how to manually open the trunk when there is no more battery?
Bad news to hear a good mechanic had to close down. Was the battery coded when it was installed, that can cause early failure. I’ve been using BMW batteries in recent years, they seem to last about 7 years! The alternator regulators failing on these cars is super common and can cause weird battery issues
@@MTechGuy yes was coded, weaker than expected charge. Just 12.2v after running the car, then drop to 12v when left for a few days. I guess with Covid we only use the car once a week, not getting enough long runs. Only 1k kms for the last year.
Greet content. Would you be able to make a video on SMG Pump fluid change? There seems to be very little information out there on how to do this service. Ie bleeding procedure etc
Yes, I plan to make one in the future
E60 m5 and e46 m3 are my favourite cars ever ! Hence it pains me to say I'll be getting a b7 rs4 :( .....I just don't have the stones for this lol. Love your videos !!
I’d go for an M5 over a b7 rs4 any-day!!
@@MTechGuy Believe me in my heart I want to... just can't get over the laundry list when viewed against b7 rs4's. Also in my part of the world (Southern Africa) e60 prices are going up quickly, with some asking for silly money. RS4s are a lot more affordable (for now) and available. Anyways who knows what I'll do when the time comes.........
Tysm
No worries brother
👍 mlreng has repair kit for the harness
Wasn’t aware of that, thanks for the tip! 👍
Great content
How about the SMG Hydraulic Fluid?
I believe BMW say this is “lifetime” fluid, but it’s good practice to change out. The gearbox doesn’t need to be out for this job. Would be good to see a video on this.
Cheers
Yes wouldn’t mind doing a video on it some time
Silly question perhaps, but how do you diagnose a failing clutch on a SMG? I have to confess that as much as I've gotten my head around the need to preventitatively service the rod bearings, the SMG is what is worrying me the most. I'm repeating myself, but I went through the service records of an M6 currently for sale, and I was shocked to see that the whole box was serviced at only 60000kms. The main items were a hydraulic unit replacement (crazy money: north of $5000) and clutch replacement. I've also read some horror stories about HU needing to be replaced as soon as 20/30000 kms. I know what's your opinion on this since you already replied to my question about maintenance schedule for the clutch, but man there seem to be some bad SMG's out there and I dread this "ticking time bomb" feeling.
I'm thinking about test driving the M6 if I come to an agreement about the price, and the SMG is the thing I'll be paying most attention to (the engine sounds right on a cold start and has been well serviced)
The dealer can perform a clutch wear test using the BMW software. What you’ve described hasn’t been my experience with these gearbox’s. Normally either the O-rings, or failed solenoid are replaced on the hydraulic unit, or it may require a wiring repair. Replacing the whole unit hydraulic unit is normally unnecessary. Clutches wear in any manual gearbox.
My word, she's a very high-maintenance mistress to keep happy! Lots and lots of (not so) 'little' jobs while your at it. Viton rubber Os always the right choice. Black cars are the worst to keep clean. Nice view from the volcano!
A lot of these preventative jobs are once in 10 year jobs and often save a lot of headaches and $$$ in the long term. Hard to call when to draw the line sometimes! Agree on it being hard working keeping a black car clean, you can’t beat a clean black car though! (I’m biased) Cheers mrstevebull01
@@MTechGuy You're of course correct. With the gearbox dropped it makes total sense for the rest to be done for peace of mind. A class, specialized car, that needs/deserves the money spent. Too many bought and driven with minimal cash outlay and then complain about BMWs being unreliable. Big boy cars need a big boy spend!
Where do i get the parts? At honest price
price for a functional good smg-3 plz ???.........thx....
Hi M Tech Guy, thanks for your videos
ive recevied a random transmission cog of death resulting in a code 4f81 ratio check implausible. I suspect that it may be the gear selector wiring as you mention in this video. Its only happened once so im unsure if its worth dropping the box just to redo this wiring as the PO has already put a clutch/fw in it.
PS how long should the SMG pump prime for?
That codes means the computer isn’t satisfied it’s seeing the selected gear in operation. Possible causes- shift wiring harness, shift solenoid O-rings, worn clutch fork. Pump should take approx. 7 seconds to prime from cold (give or take) I might make video describing how this fault comes about?
@@MTechGuy Thanks for the response. really appreciate it. i think a video would be great. unforuantely the PO has done the clutch and evidently not addressed one of these issues!
@@alexbryant5 Standard most of the common failure points not getting addressed while the box is out!
this video is a grat view even if i dont plan to own an smg. but is there any information or pictures of the internals of the smg 7 speed im curious about trying it for a project but i cant seem to find any pictures or videos or anything on them does bmw have some kind of a ban on information sharing or do people just get rid of them that fast? and is there anyway for me to get the information i need or should i just move on?
This gearbox is unique to this generation M5 & M6, Getrag didn’t supply it for any other manufacturer/cars, so there’s not heaps of info out there but it can be found. It’s certainly no secret. It’s a regular manual gearbox inside although it has 7 gears, and a kinda back to front shift pattern
@@MTechGuy thanks im searching really hard. my thought is this is a huge car with a stout transmission if ic ould collect all the info i need i could use it in an engine swap and 7 gears i could have multiple cruising gears with really rowdy short ratios but the information is so hard to find and i dont even really know where to search for it
What is the standard range of real-world km's that a clutch should be replaced (accounting for city kms vs motorway)?
Generally up around 160,000 Km’s unless the launch control and S6 gearbox setting has been used frequently, then they can wear out as low as 65,000 Km’s!
wouldnt it be a better alternative to just be a whole new smg 3 instead of just replacing some much things
No, the gearbox itself is very strong and expensive. Just the hydraulic section alone is expensive. More economical to repair/maintain
SHOW ME YOUR FACE !
I love looking at the ass end of that gorgeous car but sprinkle some of you in there too man! People like to get advice “face to face”and might boost your views. I watch them all. Cheers!
Jeez dude just replace everything
I know right 🙃
@@MTechGuy I really don't wanna drive mine anymore you scare me lol. With everything you mentioned what would that cost me in parts and labor ?
Don’t worry, the car will soon let you know if something starts to fail. If you’ve got your gearbox out for a new clutch or whatever, there really isn’t a great deal of extra labour (that being the whole point in this video) The slave cylinder would probably be the next most expensive part after the clutch/flywheel.
@@MTechGuy what code reader do you recommend? Right now I have an increased emissions signal along with oil overfill. I believe they go hand and hand I've started to drain oil but was unsuccessful after two attempts at the oil filter housing. Should I back off the oil drain plug ? Or keep repeating the oil filler housing steps until I get the reading I desire?
Drain it at the filter then redo the level check after a drive, check out a previous video I made on this-
ua-cam.com/video/OqcU48E8lek/v-deo.html