blackfalcon

Hey Guys,
I have a BMW 545I SMG with about 88,000miles on it. Last time I was in the dealership they told me I needed to bring the car in for a software update for the SMG. Several days after this, my wife was driving the car and it got stuck in gear when she turned it off, and she was subsequently unable to start it.

She called me and I showed up, and the only way I could get the car going again was to disconnect/reconnect the battery, and everything seemed to be solved.

This motivatated me to go schedule the software update to take place about 2 weeks after that on incident. I picked up the car on a Thursday night. The next morning I drove the car about 250 miles with approximately 4 starts. The following day after a short trip and leaving the car parked for several hours it gave me "Transmission Failsafe mode" warning. After making another short trip and starting the car, the warning went away.

I drove it home 200miles no problem. The next day my wife had the same "Transmission Failsafe mode" warning pop up when she started the car and was about 80 miles from home in the middle of no where. She tried restarting it several times, and could not get the warning to go away or for the car to shift above third gear etc. I instructed her on how to disconnect the battery and the warning went away and she was able to drive the car fine.

The next morning I took the car to Walmart It drove fine to Walmart, but would not leave N until I disconnected the battery again etc.

I called BMW and they said to bring the car in as soon as possible.

I drove the car that night to the movies. It went to the theatre fine, but would not shift out of N after the movie and I had to disconnect the battery to get out of my parking space.

The same thing happened the next morning when I went to take it to the dealership.

It seems obvious to me that this is a software issue based on the fact that I am able to get going again after restarting the cars computer via battery disconnect. The dealership has had the car for two days and they say the don't have an answer for me yet. I'm concerned how much this may end up costing me and worried that they may just starting replacing parts since they haven't been able to get a clear answer from BMW NA on the issue.

Any thoughts?

Thanks,
Adam

bzq

Check Clutch Travveler Sensor, my also stucked on gears last time, after few test it was CTS. Check it. Mine goes faulty when came hot, when it was cold everything works fine.

uheenada

+1
I doubt it's software issue. It's very rare/almost impossible to stuck in a gear due to software issue as smg is out for long time now.

blackfalcon

They called this afternoon and said that they need to replace the transmission. Cost is a little under $8000, but BMW NA is offering to pay half.

ukamath

If your car was working before the software update then I would argue that the update did something to it, unless you are very unlucky and had something mechanical break around the same time of the update. Thats a ridiculous amount of money.

bzq

No, way transsmision is ok, I told ya it is Clutch traveller sensor, tell them to check him on gt1, normally he should have 750inc on live data, when stuck on gears it is under 100inc.!!!! When he came hot , stop working and transmission dont know where is the clutch and cannot change gears! Belive, they havent got idea taht is this sensor, but on live data at gt1 they can easy check it. Ask them what data came from this sensor when gearbox stuck on gear, or doesnt want to put gears in. It is very hard to broke SMG cause it is normall manual gearbox just this same model but with electromechnic clutch controll this is the difference, so when something going wrong with transsmision it is always problem form hydraulic unit, it could be pressure pump, solenoid vales or sensors, but they are so stupid that they dont want or dont know how to diagnose it. Two months ago I also fight with SMG cause it stuck on gears when engines goes hot, first I have changed the clutch with dualmass flyhwhell , I also change oil in transsmision but it wont help. So I install Gt1 on my laptop I start driving with gt1 connected to my car and observe live data from transsmision. So I looked taht data from CTS change so much when transsmision stops working and anfter changing that sensor everything works fine. Check also what pressure is when you changing gears, it should be form 40 to 50 bar. You can also change a relay for pressure pump. And there is no other new software for SMG from 2006. Important thing is that when this sensor is fault, he doesnt make any errors when they check by GT1, cause it is not completly broken.

Correct data form Clutch traveler Sensor is 750incremente when you changing gear it goes down to 300-400 and came back to 750inc when clutch is new, on my old clutch data was around 600-650 and goes down also to 300-400 when changing gears.

Pressure is 40-44 when changing gears it goes up to 50 bar or max 55 bar.

If you need any other data to chceck I can check it for you what they should be.

sry for mistakes but it is very difficult to write me about this in english.

blackfalcon

I called back the service rep and asked him if it could be the clutch travel sensor and he said they checked that and its not the problem. I'm a little miffed that my only problem seems to be is that the car won't go into drive sometimes at startup and they just want to replace the whole damn transmission.

I'm leaving the car with them over the weekend. My thought is take the car back, get a second opinion. Continue to drive the car and see if the issue gets any worse. If it continues and gets worse, I can see how it could be a mechanical problem that continues to get worse, if it remains the same I think there is an argument that it is being caused by the latest software update.

What is GT1?

uskg76

Wednesday I left my car (07 550i SMG 63,000mi just change flywheel last week) at dealer for some recall on SMG transmission they still working on it, I called them today they sad it'll be ready on Monday waiting for some part. Hope they wont messed up my transmission I got this aftermarket warranty it's hard to make them pay for repairs

bzq

Gt1 is an software taht they use in BMW to check the car, there is also other software tahat BMW use on manufacture it call INPA.

Ok so, tell me exactly how does you problem looks, is that like this taht you start the car and try to put D and car try tu put gears , you hear it and it couldnt? Then thle light of transsmision fault came ? Do you hear that car try to put gear?

uheenada

Can you find out the recall number or what the recall is about? Latest one I've got is software upgrade/recall regarding emission stuff like 1 1/2 years ago.