Originally Posted by 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.

Originally Posted by twh

I replaced the sleeve on the wife's X5 when I did a transmission flush. Even on that there is very little room to move your hand around. I really thought for a few minutes I wasn't going to get the new sleeve back in. One key is to lubricate the o-rings of the sleeve before you try to put it back it. Then I had my inspection mirror up there trying to line up the key so I could get it in right and not break anything.

Won't need to do this on my 2006 530xi -- 6 speed manual

Originally Posted by 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.