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BMW 3-Series (E90 E92) Forum > E90 / E92 / E93 3-series Technical Forums > DIY Guides > DIY: Shifter Assembly Problem Fix



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      04-18-2015, 01:37 AM   #67
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Whoever designed the wiring on this was an complete idiot... Copper wires will never be able to withstand that kind of sharp turn, while the shifter tugs at these short wires every time you use DS/M mode. Actually surprised mine lasted for 6 years until the white wire finally snapped this evening, since I always drive in the manual mode...

I would recommend removing(cut off) the side cover (the one that is held on by three tiny torx screws at the right side of the shifter) on the shifter assembly, the pullout the wiring that is tucked in at the side. Tape the wires together so that they will not interfere with the movement of the shift stick. This will remove the tension on the wires and the sharp corners that cause the wire to snap in the first place.

Also, make sure the you didn't shift the plate where the top two torx bolts are. Apparently that thing can rotate if you are tightening the right bolt before putting in the left bolt (acting like a lever), making it impossible to put in the other bolt. You can see from the picture below how that plate is only attached to the rest of the assembly by one bolt/rivet.
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Last edited by Cloud9blue; 04-18-2015 at 01:46 AM..
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      04-20-2015, 09:50 AM   #68
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Good DIY. Just make sure you fully reassemble the unit before you try to go to DS mode because it doesn't work if you dont. I thought my fix didnt work using small Positaps to connect the wires so I soldered it but I bet I didnt need to because I didnt reassemble when testing using the Positaps. On that note, Positap was super easy and would probably work as an alternative to soldering.
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      04-26-2015, 07:55 AM   #69
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Quote:
Remove the Center Trim (you can find this on the DIY section)....
?????

Quote:
Originally Posted by fabsydney View Post

1-Removing the aluminum trim was the hardest part (5 minutes job), be careful when removing it, it is just clipped in.
I am a clip-breaker specialist! This is the step that I want to clarify... sounds very basic, isn't it.

So I pull up the shifter plastic handle and then I start to pull the whole aluminium trim from the back .... and nothing will break?
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      05-22-2015, 09:01 PM   #70
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Symptoms: would start out in M1, then shift itself over into Drive. The manual mode would not "stick".

Thanks OP. Between your DIY and THIS video, I got it sorted. White wire severed, and purple one frayed.
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      06-11-2015, 10:04 PM   #71
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Did you guys lose paddle shift function when your "DS" mode went out? I ask because I have the same problem, but checked with no broken wires. I made a thread in the general section with more details if anyone can chime in. Thanks!

Thread for reference: http://www.e90post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1137964

Last edited by Ilove2dubb; 06-11-2015 at 10:13 PM..
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      03-06-2016, 09:36 PM   #72
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Great DIY. The lights on my gear selector went out and the DS indicator does not show when I am in sport mode. It turns out that almost all of my wires were broken. These wires only control the indicators. My car has 125K. I would definitely remove the cable from the carrier so there is less stress on the cable. There is a video earlier in this thread that shows you how to do that. I left mine off the carrier when I reassembled the unit. The wires are 24 or 26 awg, so make sure you have the proper size shrink tubing before you start. The wires are pretty sticky after you remove the cable wrap. I used some goo gone that I got from Home Depot to remove the sticky residue before I started. A butane soldering iron will help make things easier. I used the Weller P3C.
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      05-05-2016, 08:36 AM   #73
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I have this exact issue as well. My car will go in to ds but will only upshift not downshift and it does go into first gear it starts in second and it doesn't go into first gear in drive either.
Great thread
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      05-16-2016, 11:06 AM   #74
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how to access T-9 screws

I opened the console and noted the broken wires. Then I loosened the T-30 screws. However the gearshift assembly did not move enough to access the T-9 screws on the side of the assembly, so I could not free the wire bundle to work on it. How do you move the assembly enough to get to the T-9 screws?

In other words I am stuck at steps 4 and 5.
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      06-05-2016, 08:00 PM   #75
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Quote:
Originally Posted by jerryf75 View Post
I opened the console and noted the broken wires. Then I loosened the T-30 screws. However the gearshift assembly did not move enough to access the T-9 screws on the side of the assembly, so I could not free the wire bundle to work on it. How do you move the assembly enough to get to the T-9 screws?

In other words I am stuck at steps 4 and 5.
Just keep levering it until it pops to the side. The rubber boot is keeping it in there.

Just want to say thanks for the DIY to the OP. Just did this fix this morning. Took less than an hour and I went slow. Nice to have DS back.
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      06-05-2016, 11:15 PM   #76
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levering

Could you be a little more descriptive? What do you mean by levering? Just wiggling it with your hand? Does the rubber boot come off and is it hard to put back on?

Thanks for your help.

Jerry
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      06-06-2016, 10:21 AM   #77
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Quote:
Originally Posted by jerryf75 View Post
Could you be a little more descriptive? What do you mean by levering? Just wiggling it with your hand? Does the rubber boot come off and is it hard to put back on?

Thanks for your help.

Jerry
Yup just sort of wiggle it. The boot never came off, just had to break the seal that was keeping it tight in there. Try wiggling it and then pushing the stick towards the left with moderate strength, just enough to give you access to the three screws.
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      06-06-2016, 10:36 PM   #78
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Quote:
Originally Posted by hoopvillian View Post
Yup just sort of wiggle it. The boot never came off, just had to break the seal that was keeping it tight in there. Try wiggling it and then pushing the stick towards the left with moderate strength, just enough to give you access to the three screws.
I will give it another try. Did you have to repair the seal after you 'broke' it? Also I think I will look for a flexible screw driver, or some other way, to get the #10 torx in the lowest of the 3 side screws.

Jerry
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      06-08-2016, 12:34 PM   #79
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Quote:
Originally Posted by jerryf75 View Post
I will give it another try. Did you have to repair the seal after you 'broke' it? Also I think I will look for a flexible screw driver, or some other way, to get the #10 torx in the lowest of the 3 side screws.

Jerry
Nope, its just a rubber boot that's tucked in. I used a straight #9 torx to get all three screws, no flex drive needed.
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      06-09-2016, 02:00 PM   #80
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success

OK, thanks, I did it. Got the side cover off, but it was a struggle getting to those side screws. Then the wire bundle was easy to pry out. One wire was broken and several had cracked insulation. I could not get the crimping tool in there to crimp the butt connectors, so I just wound the copper ends and taped them. I did not repair the places on the other wires where the insulation was cracked, just taped those also. The wire bundle is now free to move when shifting to DS.

Everything now works. Sport mode is back.

But it is an ugly fix and I wish there was an easy way to replace the entire wire harness with a new one.
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      09-22-2016, 07:54 PM   #81
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Thank you to the OP and all who contributed to this post. I had an issue of it not going into Sport or Manual mode when I went to drive to work this morning. I was kind of freaking out at first but then searched and found this and a few other threads. My wires looked fine at first glance but once I pulled the tape off I had a split grey wire and cracked/about to break purple, blue and yellow. Soldered the gray back together and fixed the other 3 so they wouldn't rip apart, also tried to make it so there was no chance of rhem getting pinched again or having such a sharp bend.
Well anyways all is good again and I have an AT with sport and manual mode again.

Many thanks!

EDIT: Also to get to the small TORX on the right side of the shifter just lean/pull the shifter as much as you can to the drivers side and you should be barely able to get them out lol.
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      10-09-2016, 09:35 AM   #82
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Having to do this this weekend. I'm shocked this isn't considered a recall yet. It's a guaranteed failure mode for all these gear shifts. If it was the parking brake, you can guarantee they would have recalled it already.
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      10-09-2016, 05:44 PM   #83
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Quote:
Originally Posted by hoopvillian View Post
Just keep levering it until it pops to the side. The rubber boot is keeping it in there.

Just want to say thanks for the DIY to the OP. Just did this fix this morning. Took less than an hour and I went slow. Nice to have DS back.
It's a great DYI. Some notes:

If you have a broken white wire - there will be no DS or M at all.
From other post - only a broken purple wire, no downshift.

I had multiple cracks, white was completely severed. Blue was cracked and was the first I inspected by burning off the insulation. Glad I did, only 2 strands were still intact, it was a movement or two away from breaking. I burned off the rest that were cracked (green, yellow, orange and purple in my case) and silvered the strands to strengthen them and then added electrical tape around each. Wrapped the whole bundle in electrical and allowed it to run free instead of doing the 90 degree torture test under the cover.

Now, you'd think all would be well. Nope, turns out that the black plug under the blue connector on the right side of the shifter, the one that runs to the parking microswitch was loosened just enough to look like it was plugged in. That took another few hours to track down, as I got the nice gear code in the dash and threw AB09, among a whole bunch of others. I took the entire module back apart to check the microswitch as referenced by this posting, and this time noted that I needed to yank the black plug too. It's not locked in, and pulls out really easily, at least in my case. Microswitch looked fine, put it all back together and all worked fine.

DS is back! Just note it may not be 30 or even 60 min if you run into one of those little gotchas.
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      11-15-2016, 09:04 PM   #84
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I'm giving this DIY a shot this upcoming weekend. Trying with an iDrive - will post back with results.

Originally, my downshift went out. Then, my sport mode went out completely. Guarantee it's the wires because everything else works pretty well.
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      11-20-2016, 01:09 AM   #85
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Hi all.

I had my mechanic fix the wiring (not my thing) and my E90 330i now has downshift again so very happy. Thank you.

Unfortunately in the process though it has caused me to get an error code. When I unlock the car doors when getting in with the key fob, and when I pull the key fob out before getting out of the car I get error symbol No. 34 CAS 348 (Engage position P before leaving vehicle) as seen on the website: (like a yellow cog with a yellow exclamation mark in the middle)

https://wiki.bentleypublishers.com/d...90+E91+E92+E93

The error code is not showing when I'm driving.

I wasn't getting it before the mechanic fixed the wires. Seems the unit is now not recognising when the car is in Park. Drives perfect so no issues there.

Has anyone got any idea how I can delete this code?

Thanks
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      11-24-2016, 05:43 PM   #86
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Nickolma View Post
Hi all.

I had my mechanic fix the wiring (not my thing) and my E90 330i now has downshift again so very happy. Thank you.

Unfortunately in the process though it has caused me to get an error code. When I unlock the car doors when getting in with the key fob, and when I pull the key fob out before getting out of the car I get error symbol No. 34 CAS 348 (Engage position P before leaving vehicle) as seen on the website: (like a yellow cog with a yellow exclamation mark in the middle)

https://wiki.bentleypublishers.com/d...90+E91+E92+E93

The error code is not showing when I'm driving.

I wasn't getting it before the mechanic fixed the wires. Seems the unit is now not recognising when the car is in Park. Drives perfect so no issues there.

Has anyone got any idea how I can delete this code?

Thanks
I have same exact problem... any suggestion would help
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      11-24-2016, 07:49 PM   #87
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Bori I have a guy next week going to try and remove the code with a BMW specific OBD2 port product software so will let you know how I go.

Cheers
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      11-25-2016, 08:57 AM   #88
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Nickolma View Post
Bori I have a guy next week going to try and remove the code with a BMW specific OBD2 port product software so will let you know how I go.

Cheers
Please keep me updated, thank you
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