2008 BMW M3: jerking or lurching

Filed Jul 2, 2012 · Transmission · 34,500 miles · NJ

There's an issue with the car's dct/transmission. The problem occurs when you slow down- like for a turn, but do not come to a complete stop. The dct transmission seems to have trouble figuring out what gear to select because when you step on the gas to accelerate, there is a very significant delay in the onset of power- up to 2-3 seconds. By this time, the driver is usually really digging into the throttle. The transmission finally picks a gear, which results in the car suddenly lurching forward, sometimes invoking the anti-skip control. This has happened several times since I bought the vehicle and can prove to be very dangerous when you're in close proximity to another car and the car thrusts forward.

Filed May 2, 2010 · Transmission · 8,000 miles · SC

The problem occurs when you slow down- like for a turn, but do not come to a complete stop. The dct transmission seems to have trouble figuring out what gear to select because when you step on the gas to accelerate, there is a very significant delay in the onset of power- up to 2-3 seconds. By this time, the driver is usually really digging into the throttle. The transmission finally picks a gear, which results in the car suddenly lurching forward, sometimes invoking the anti-skip control. The danger in this behavior occurs when making a turn into on-coming traffic after slowing down to around 10-15 MPH. After the turn, the car is positioned in the traffic lane, but you have no power to accelerate into the flow of traffic. The oncoming cars are now closing in on your car at a fast rate, and you're basically stuck. This situation is most pronounced in the "auto" mode of the dct transmission, but also occurs to a lesser degree while in the manual mode when you select second gear in preparation for the turn. It is also very repeatable in both modes.

Filed Apr 9, 2010 · Transmission · 1 miles · FL

I am very happy to see your organization taking an interest in this issue. It is a very dangerous problem with this vehicle that bmwna is well aware of, but insists that it is "normal behavior" for my car/transmission. I brought the car into the dealer, and they were able to reproduce it, but they were told by bmw that this was "normal behavior." the problem occurs when you slow down- like for a turn, but do not come to a complete stop. The dct transmission seems to have trouble figuring out what gear to select because when you step on the gas to accelerate, there is a very significant delay in the onset of power- up to 2-3 seconds. By this time, the driver is usually really digging into the throttle. The transmission finally picks a gear, which results in the car suddenly lurching forward, sometimes invoking the anti-skip control. The danger in this behavior occurs when making a turn into on-coming traffic after slowing down to around 10-15 MPH. After the turn, the car is positioned in the traffic lane, but you have no power to accelerate into the flow of traffic. The oncoming cars are now closing in on your car at a fast rate, and you're basically stuck. This situation is most pronounced in the "auto" mode of the dct transmission, but also occurs to a lesser degree while in the manual mode when you select second gear in preparation for the turn. It is also very repeatable in both modes. These problems started occurring after a previous recall on this transmission where the engine would stall under hard braking or not shift under hard braking. The recall fixed that problem, but introduced this problem, which occurs almost every day whereas the previous problem only occurred during a specific situation. Thank you for looking into this dangerous matter.

Filed Feb 23, 2010 · Transmission · CA

2008 e92 m3 with m-dct transmission. Transmission tends to "lag" after medium to hard braking causing unresponsiveness to throttle for 2-3 seconds before either 1)slowly regaining throttle, or 2)sudden forward jerk. Bmw has tried updating the m-dct software, which seemed to fix the problem temporarily before starting to occur again.

Filed Jan 25, 2010 · Transmission · 11,345 miles · FL

Shifting into 2nd gear produces lag and upon accelerating the car jerks and jumps forward, which is scary in traffic and absolutely a big safety issue!

Filed Jan 4, 2010 · Transmission · CA

I am very happy to see your organization taking an interest in this issue. It is a very dangerous problem with this vehicle that bmwna is well aware of, but insists that it is "normal behavior" for my car/transmission. I brought the car into the dealer, and they were able to reproduce it, but they were told by bmw that this was "normal behavior." the problem occurs when you slow down- like for a turn, but do not come to a complete stop. The dct transmission seems to have trouble figuring out what gear to select because when you step on the gas to accelerate, there is a very significant delay in the onset of power- up to 2-3 seconds. By this time, the driver is usually really digging into the throttle. The transmission finally picks a gear, which results in the car suddenly lurching forward, sometimes invoking the anti-skip control. The danger in this behavior occurs when making a turn into on-coming traffic after slowing down to around 10-15 MPH. After the turn, the car is positioned in the traffic lane, but you have no power to accelerate into the flow of traffic. The oncoming cars are now closing in on your car at a fast rate, and you're basically stuck. This situation is most pronounced in the "auto" mode of the dct transmission, but also occurs to a lesser degree while in the manual mode when you select second gear in preparation for the turn. It is also very repeatable in both modes. These problems started occurring after a previous recall on this transmission where the engine would stall under hard braking or not shift under hard braking. The recall fixed that problem, but introduced this problem, which occurs almost every day whereas the previous problem only occurred during a specific situation. Thank you for looking into this dangerous matter.

Filed Jul 21, 2009 · Transmission · 8,100 miles · 00

2008 m3 dct lag problem. At lower speeds the gearbox takes to much time to select a gear (like coming through a slow corner) and then after the lag and it "catches" again there is usually a jerky acceleration. This is not normal for a transmission to drive this way. Happens more in "d" mode but also in regular mode especially in 2nd gear.

Filed Apr 13, 2009 · Transmission · FL

I have a 08 bmw m3 with dct transmission. It received a software update months ago to fix a transmission shifting pattern. It did solve that issue but it created a much worse one. The car now, when decelerating from normal speeds and reaches a speed where it should be engaging into 2nd gear, it does not for about 1-2 seconds. This happens every time. The classic example is when I slow down at an intersection, come out of street and merge into traffic, try to make a u-turn, turn into a business etc. This creates a scenario that if you are at a busy road and lets say doing 45 MPH and you slow down to make a left turn to a slow speed that you car should engage 2 or 3rd gear and it sits there for a second or two and it seems to be "looking" for a gear to choose and it simply does not respond. To try to compensate, the natural reaction is to step on the gas a bit more to make it through the intersection. The car then, when it decides to engage 2nd gear, lurches forwards in a very abrupt manner. This creates a very dangerous scenario since that pause is a great deal of distance traveled by the car behind you and it keeps going. The lag in the transmission creates drastic void in power and there you sit like a fish in a barrel hoping a car or an 18-wheeler does not hit you from behind. I have had 3 very close times making a u-turn in a busy street that my car was extremely close to being rear ended with a child in the back seat! Once it created road rage with the driver of the truck that almost hit me and the other person ended up in the median as to not hit me. Bmw has chosen to be non-communicative with its customers and even stating that this is normal for a dct transmission which is not. This did not exist before the last software update 31.2. It is very concerning that bmw has taking this stance. I 'm an avid auto enthusiast & an er doc and trust me this is very dangerous and someone will be killed in an accident if they do not fix this soon please help!