colincoon

Hey guys,


New to the forum but not totally new to BMW's. I have an E46 M3 and my mother has a 2004 E60 530i, which is the car in question today.


About a year ago the car started having transmission faults common with those that have failing solenoids. It was once in a blue moon so she kept driving it, and I did a transmission flush/filter last year.


Recently it started getting worse, so I ordered the solenoids and waited until the semester was over to change them. I picked up the car last night, and as I was getting off my exit home it gave me a transmission fault, which locked it in to gear. This fault is the one we were commonly getting, so I shut down and restarted. However, upon restart I got a different fault that said "gear can be selected without brake applied" or something along those lines. This was a new one to me, and my mother can't remember having seen it before. Did some research last night and it pointed to solenoids, which I was doing today anyway so I didn't worry about it. Transmission is a ZF6HP19.


Did the solenoid job today and on my way to my shop it was fine, no transmission warnings at all. Job went smoothly, and I added about 7.5 liters of fluid (which is normal). On jack stands the car was fine with the rear wheels spinning. When I got it on the ground and drove it a few hundred feet I got the same "gear can be selected without brake applied" warning, a cruise control fault, and a SES light. Shifts were choppy at first, but from my research I saw that that was to be expected, and they smoothed out after driving it about a mile (which was all I dared to do with the faults present). The car also refused to start a few times while I was trouble shooting.


Everything I've read has pointed toward a failed TCM, but I'm wondering if there is something I could have screwed up during the solenoid replacement that would cause this. The only thing that worries me is that this transmission fault occurred before I did the job, and was more prevalent after.


The only thing that I'm sort of iffy about is the brown "gear selection" part on the TCM. I sort of forgot where that went, and found a blurry picture that more or less pointed me in the right direction. The "plunger" looked like it sat on the round standoff on the sliding part of the mechatronic, and the selector arm hooked in to said plunger when the mechatronic was reattached.

The car is also stuck in first gear.


Does anyone have any advice? Did I possibly screw something up or is this a fault that needs to have a hard reset?


I'm ready to possibly pull a mechatronic from the junkyard and thrown the new solenoids in and see if that fixes it.

KyleB

sorry youre still having problems with the car. I can only think of a couple of things:

-when you had the valve body out of the car to replace the solenoids, did you also replace the four rubber sealing sleeves and the 'bridge seal' that seal the valve body to the transmission casing? If you did not, it is highly likely those seals are worn and causing fluid pressure loss. That can cause transmission faults like what you are having.

-check the bowden cable connection at the valve body. You may have it in the wrong position

-if all of those things check out, you may in fact need a new gearbox. when you start seeing transmission faults, you really need to resolve them right away. clutch packs in an automatic transmission do not have much life left once they start slipping. I doubt it's the TCM, but I suppose anything is possible.

good luck.

seanjordan20

Have you double checked to make sure you plugged the cable all the way into the VB. I did mine in a hurry and when I started the car I got the same message. When I looked everything back over I saw that I did not seat the plug into the mech all the way. So I unplugged it and reseated it until it clicked. Started back up and problem was fixed.

colincoon

I replaced the bridge seal, solenoids, and mech sleeve. I think maybe the Bowden cable connection might be in the wrong place, but I can't find any pictures or diagrams that show where it's supposed to be. Should have noted this when I had it apart. Definitely doesn't need a new gearbox, it really wasn't faulting out too much at all up until this.

This problem I'm 100% convinced is from something I did wrong. I'm almost wondering if I overfilled the transmission, as 7.5 liters seems like a lot from what I've read.

I'm positive that I did, but I'll definitely double check it and see what happens. That plug was a b*tch to get back in!

KyleB

good point sean, forgot to mention that!

that Mechatronic connection can be a real pain in the neck to get seated properly.

7.5L is a bit much, I'm not sure if that would cause your problem. If you filled the gearbox correctly using the prescribed method (operating temperature, engine on, etc etc) it's pretty hard to overfill the gearbox.

I'll see if I can find a picture showing the bowden cable connection. That is something that would be very easy to reinstall in the wrong position and could be causing at least one of the faults youre seeing.

colincoon

Okay, got the car up in the air and as level as possible. Warmed it up and while in drive I opened the fill plug. Maybe got 1 quart out of it as a result. This didn't fix my problem, but at least I know it's at the right level. I think my fluid pump hose wasn't letting enough fluid out when I filled it. And yes I followed all the correct procedures to fill.

I went to go check the TCM plug and while the ring around it appeared to be seated and locked the plug itself seemed loose. Of course, the exhaust is scalding hot so while I undid the locking ring with my screw driver I did not replace the plug yet. I'll give it a few minutes to cool down and plug it back in.

The mech sleeve locked in to place, but I'll double check and make sure it is fully seated as well.

seanjordan20

I felt that the sleeve and plug was the hardest part of the project and when I got the error message I did not want to redo it again. But I took the sleeve out and put it back in to make sure it was in correctly and seated the cable. It didnt take as long as the first time since I had my technique down but it was still a pain. I hope one of our suggestions fixes your issue

colincoon

Good news! Found that the mech sleeve was not all the way seated. Have the whole thing apart now. Looks like my selector connection is correct, but if either of you have a picture to post before I button everything back up that would be awesome.

KyleB

I'm still searching, I'll let you know if I find something.

colincoon

Problem solved. It was the mechatronic sleeve not being completely seated.

Thanks for the responses guys! Out of the five or so forums I posted to this was the only one who responded.

Car shifts awesome now.