I was wondering if anyone's heard of jerky transmissions being a common issue on the E90s and if BMW has an official statement on this. Mine is mainly pretty rough mainly on the 3-2-1 downshift and upon initial application of the throttle. The dealer tells me they can update some software for a few hundred but they don't make any promises I'll see an improvement. I'm not sure I'd want to spend that much money on something that may or may not even do anything, so I've been trying to get as much information on the issue as possible. Funnily I emailed Mike Miller about this and he said the solution was to get a manual gearbox....
What is the production date of your vehicle and have you have the software updated recently in the vehicle? I like the manual gear box idea haha.
Production Date: 11/2007 /w GA6L-45R I don't believe the software has been updated for years, I'll be stopping by the dealer or another local BMW-only indy to check out what there is I guess. I just wanted to know if this was a common pesky issue and if the software update is the main fix for it.
Jerky A/T behavior is unfortunately pretty common with modern Bimmers these days. My 2007 E83 with the GM6 was so bad, I sold it after two years. In spite of spending money on a Burger Tuning product which would "smooth out" the throttle behavior, the auto-learning behavior of the BMW software would come back and mess it up over the span of a month or so. My 2007 335i sedan with the Steptronic is smoother, but by no means as seamless shifting, say, as my venerable 4-speed A/T on my 1997 528i. I recently purchased a Cobb AccessPort to bump up the HP. Setting one of the Stage 1 software options, there was an immediate improvement in transmission shifting smoothness. To the point that it didn't feel like the same car. I love it. I'm unsure whether it's the Cobb software, or whether or not it was just resetting the A/T learning calibration. You can do the reset without extra software by going into your car while it's off; without stepping on the brake pedal, press the power on button so that the accessories turn on but the motor doesn't (you can turn on the radio and climate control though); then press the gas pedal to the floor for 30 seconds. The result is that your transmission software will have reset and the car will shift smoothly for weeks until the learning software does its thing. You can then repeat the procedure periodically.
I have had my 07 for 8 years and I only feel what you describe in sports mode. Its not jerky you just feel it downshifting....just thought I would add the comment.
