Overview The seventh-generation BMW 3-Series (G20) hit the road in 2019. Under the skin of the 320i sits a drivetrain combo I’ve worked on more times than I can count: the B48 turbo four paired to ZF’s 8HP automatic. Good hardware. Really good hardware actually. The transmission itself? Tough unit. I’ve seen plenty cross 150,000…
Overview The BMW F30 320i (2012–2018) sits in an interesting spot. Entry-level 3 Series. Turbo four-cylinder. Same chassis architecture as the bigger engines but with a lighter drivetrain load. On paper it looks simple. In the shop, things look a little different. I’ve worked on a lot of these cars over the years. Independent BMW…
Overview The BMW E90 3-Series ran from 2005 through 2011. The 320i sits at the bottom of that lineup with a 2.0-liter four-cylinder. Simple engine. Pretty straightforward drivetrain layout too. Rear-wheel drive, longitudinal engine, one driveshaft, rear differential. But the transmissions? Mixed bag. BMW installed three different gearboxes depending on the build spec. The GS6-17BG…
Overview The BMW 318i from the E46 generation (1998–2006) sits in a weird spot in BMW drivetrain history. Small engine. Small tranny. Smaller differential. On paper that sounds like a weak setup. In real service bays it often works the other way around. Less torque means less stress. And less stress usually means fewer catastrophic…
Overview The BMW 135i E82 sold in the U.S. from 2008 through 2013 looks simple underneath. Rear-wheel drive. Straight six up front. Transmission bolted to the back like BMW has done for decades. On paper it’s clean engineering. Reality in the shop? A little messier. I’ve worked on a lot of these cars. Dealer days….
Overview The BMW 128i from the E82 generation (2008–2013) runs a pretty old-school drivetrain layout. Rear-wheel drive. Inline six. Conventional driveshaft. No AWD hardware, no transfer case, no fancy dual-clutch box hiding under the tunnel. Simple by BMW standards. And that simplicity matters. I’ve had a lot of these cars come through the shop over…
Overview The GMC Savana is one of those vehicles that refuses to die. Same basic van. Same frame. Same work-truck bones. Since 1996. I’ve had these things on lifts with 300,000 miles and duct-taped wiring harnesses still hauling plumbing supplies every day. From a drivetrain perspective, the Savana is basically a Silverado in a box….
Overview The fifth-generation GMC Yukon XL showed up for the 2021 model year riding on GM’s T1 truck platform. Bigger truck. New suspension. Independent rear setup instead of the old solid axle. And buried inside all that new hardware sits the same basic drivetrain concept GM uses across its big SUVs and pickups. One transmission…
Overview The earlier version needed cleanup. A few points were too loose, a few were stated harder than the factory record allows, and with drivetrain work that matters. On the 2015–2020 GMC Yukon XL, the transmission story changes depending on engine, trim, and whether the truck is rear-wheel drive or four-wheel drive. Same body. Different…
Overview The 2007–2014 GMC Yukon XL is one of those trucks that can either be a solid long-haul family hauler or a very expensive lesson in GM driveline history. I’ve worked on a lot of these. Enough to know that you do not judge them by the badge, the trim, or how clean the leather…
Overview The 2000–2006 GMC Yukon XL sits on the GMT800 truck platform. Big body. Real frame. Old-school drivetrain layout. No weird engineering experiments here — just a longitudinal automatic tranny bolted to a transfer case and two driveshafts like a proper truck. I’ve worked on a lot of these. Hundreds across Silverado, Tahoe, Suburban, and…
Overview The fifth-generation GMC Yukon landed in 2021 and GM changed a lot underneath the sheet metal. Independent rear suspension. New electronics everywhere. And a 10-speed Hydra-Matic transmission running the whole show. Sounds great on paper. In the real world… it’s a mixed bag. I’ve had quite a few of these Yukons roll through the…
Overview The fourth-generation GMC Yukon (2015–2020) runs on the same truck bones as the Tahoe, Suburban, and Escalade. Big body. Ladder frame. Real truck drivetrain. And when you’re talking about reliability on these things, the transmission and transfer case are where the money usually disappears. I’ve worked on a lot of them. Fleets, tow rigs,…
Overview The third-generation GMC Yukon (2007–2014) sits on GM’s GMT900 truck platform. Big body-on-frame SUV. Real truck hardware underneath. That matters when we start talking about transmissions and drivelines. I’ve worked on these things for years. Same guts as Tahoe, Suburban, Escalade. When one rolls into the shop with 120,000 miles (193,000 km) on it,…
Overview The 2000–2006 GMC Yukon is pretty simple on paper. That helps. No manual. No CVT nonsense. No DCT. Just old-school GM truck stuff: 4L60-E, 4L65-E, and on the heavy-duty Yukon XL 2500, the 4L80-E. Then you layer in the transfer case and front axle hardware, and that’s where this platform starts separating the decent…