[BM91]

Hey everyone, so I tried pulling out at a parking garage 30 min ago and I realized that R isnt working. At first it was like it was in Neutral but then after restarting the car a few times, when pressing the gas pedal the car would act like its idling rough/misfiring. The car would rev from 1-1.5k repeatedly regardless on how I press the gas. After pushing my car out and driving back home there was no problems with DS and MS, but when I got back to my garage the car now creeps forwards/ feels like its in neutral when in Reverse and Drive. Its really bizarre and I'm also freaking out at the same time. Ive been really anal when it comes to taking care of my car. I never exceed 3k RPM unless I know my car is fairly warm and rarely go up to 5k unless I know she's fully warmed up.

thanks.
heres a clip, when its revving between 1-1.5k. Im just pressing the gas, not hopping it like it is in the video.
Sorry if I'm getting overly excited/ clueless and repeating the same thing in the video, I barley slept and I was recording just as the RPM started to fluctuate.

[smithf80]

Oh shit man, thats rough, and you have to fix it after all the money put in on the LCI conversion. I hope it all gets sorted out easy, maybe see if there are any codes to read?

[BM91]

Originally Posted by smithe90

Oh shit man, thats rough, and you have to fix it after all the money put in on the LCI conversion. I hope it all gets sorted out easy, maybe see if there are any codes to read?

thanks, it sucks especially when I just got my car lowered just last week... someone on the forums had a similar issue as me and apparently there was a issue on his selector rod. I hope thats the same case as me.

[smithf80]

Originally Posted by YBMB

thanks, it sucks especially when I just got my car lowered just last week... someone on the forums had a similar issue as me and apparently there was a issue on his selector rod. I hope thats the same case as me.

If theres anyone around you with a coding cable see if they can perform a full transmission reset for you with Tool32.

[BM91]

Originally Posted by smithe90

If theres anyone around you with a coding cable see if they can perform a full transmission reset for you with Tool32.

thanks! I'm going to a BMW indie tomorrow to get this issue sorted. I hope its not gonna lighten my wallet.. I just hope its gonna move since, when I was trying to park in my spot D felt like it was in N creeping.

[smithf80]

Originally Posted by YBMB

thanks! I'm going to a BMW indie tomorrow to get this issue sorted. I hope its not gonna lighten my wallet..

Cool, keep us updated on what happens. Good luck!

[BM91]

Originally Posted by smithe90

Cool, keep us updated on what happens. Good luck!

cheers man, will do

[shadow191]

Check fluid level? If fluid is low, car may not shift into drive or reverse because there isn't sufficient pressure in valve body. On other car, I've had extremely slow shifts into reverse and it felt like it was in neutral. Turned out fluid was low so line pressure in the valve body was very low and it couldn't shift well. Basically it took like 5 seconds to go into reverse because it took that long to build up enough pressure.

Your situation does sound worse, but look at that. Basically TCU sends signals to valve body to shift and then solenoids open/close which moves fluid around which engages shifts. If there isn't enough fluid, things get weird.

[BM91]

Originally Posted by shadow191

Check fluid level? If fluid is low, car may not shift into drive or reverse because there isn't sufficient pressure in valve body. On other car, I've had extremely slow shifts into reverse and it felt like it was in neutral. Turned out fluid was low so line pressure in the valve body was very low and it couldn't shift well. Basically it took like 5 seconds to go into reverse because it took that long to build up enough pressure.

Your situation does sound worse, but look at that. Basically TCU sends signals to valve body to shift and then solenoids open/close which moves fluid around which engages shifts. If there isn't enough fluid, things get weird.

thanks for the help. thats one of the culprits that I think is responsible (I hope). A member with a 09 328 here also had the same symptoms as my car, he apparently replaced his Gear shift rod. Im seriously hoping that its not a huge tranny issue. Its bizarre how this happened since I try to take care of my car as best as possible compared to some of my friends who floor it after cold start start ups, as well as downshifting to slow down. They haven't had a single issue yet.

[shadow191]

I suppose it could be the shift selector rod; but it's somewhat weird that reverse went out first then the rest. Usually if that would fail, the car just won't go into D or R at all immediately. It's just a metal rod that pulls/pushes a plunger of some sort that selects D or R or N.

Not sure why it's misfiring/running funny. Maybe you'll be lucky and it's just a minor electrical issue. If your tranny actually failed, it shouldn't impact how the car runs, it just won't move.

[BM91]

Originally Posted by shadow191

I suppose it could be the shift selector rod; but it's somewhat weird that reverse went out first then the rest. Usually if that would fail, the car just won't go into D or R at all immediately. It's just a metal rod that pulls/pushes a plunger of some sort that selects D or R or N.

Not sure why it's misfiring/running funny. Maybe you'll be lucky and it's just a minor electrical issue. If your tranny actually failed, it shouldn't impact how the car runs, it just won't move.

Thanks for the help!! I misused the term misfiring, after doing some research I believe the right term is be limpmode. I'm gonna see a inde bmw specialist later today in my area hopefully they would be able to diagnose the issue.

[bmw32atexi]

Originally Posted by YBMB

thanks, it sucks especially when I just got my car lowered just last week... someone on the forums had a similar issue as me and apparently there was a issue on his selector rod. I hope thats the same case as me.

Here's my experience:

http://www.e90post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=861562

That rod in question is a cheap piece of plastic... Thank God for great mechanics. Everyone in the forums seemed to think my transmission was toast.

Good luck.

[shadow191]

The rod is plastic in the car? Wow, that's somewhat surprising. I've dropped a few valve bodies in other cars to upgrade them and all the ones I've seen have been metal arms that slot into the selector which is also metal. I once put a VB back and misaligned the arm, exact same symptoms, no shifting. Freaked out until I dropped the pan again and saw the arm not in the slot.

Originally Posted by bmw32atexi

Here's my experience:

http://www.e90post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=861562

That rod in question is a cheap piece of plastic... Thank God for great mechanics. Everyone in the forums seemed to think my transmission was toast.

Good luck.

[BM91]

Originally Posted by bmw32atexi

Here's my experience:

http://www.e90post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=861562

That rod in question is a cheap piece of plastic... Thank God for great mechanics. Everyone in the forums seemed to think my transmission was toast.

Good luck.

Thanks! Ive been reading ur thread for the sake of it being the same/ similar issue. I just came back from the BMW Indie who currently has my car. The guy pulled out the code "56B8 ratio fault r" he said I'm F'd (literary).
Though that being said I also went to another mechanic who seem to be aware of the code and said they'll do a free diagnostics and they said they've dealt with a similar issue before. There may be hope after getting that first traumatic place.

[bmw32atexi]

Originally Posted by shadow191

The rod is plastic in the car? Wow, that's somewhat surprising. I've dropped a few valve bodies in other cars to upgrade them and all the ones I've seen have been metal arms that slot into the selector which is also metal. I once put a VB back and misaligned the arm, exact same symptoms, no shifting. Freaked out until I dropped the pan again and saw the arm not in the slot.

My mistake, it's the round piece that is plastic, the rod is metal.

From valuable link YBMB provided:

https://wiki.bentleypublishers.com/d...rod,+replacing

I recall my mechanic said putting the car in Drive from slowly rolling backwards puts stress on some transmission parts (for Automatics). So... don't do it, come to a complete stop.

[BM91]

Update: Drive is no longer engage able. I had to tow it today.

[bmw32atexi]

Originally Posted by YBMB

Update: Drive is no longer engage able. I had to tow it today.

That sucks. I feel for you. Definitely let us know what it was. Maybe you could ask them to show you any parts they found broken.

[bmw32atexi]

One last thing.... the mechanic actually produced all the broken pieces and showed how they fit... meaning nothing was left inside the transmission. You don't want any nasty surprises in case the place you will repair at is sloppy.

[BM91]

Update. I got a call from my mechanic he said he found broken fragments (not sure what yet) in the tranny.. He said he'll give me a estimate tomorrow..

[markus037]

that sucks man. this is why I buy cars with manual transmissions.

[BM91]

UPDATE: Cars fixed and back! The mechanic had to rebuild the valve body control unit and changed the transmission fluid. Did cost me a bit, but I'm glad it wasn't over $2000

[e92_enthusiast_1]

Woot woot! Grats!

Originally Posted by YBMB

UPDATE: Cars fixed and back! The mechanic had to rebuild the valve body control unit and changed the transmission fluid. Did cost me a bit, but I'm glad it wasn't over $2000