545i - SMG Tranny Fault and Emmisions Fault
09-16-2007, 09:21 AM
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Hi - I just picked up my CPO White 545i last week with 33K. It has the SMG trannsmission. The day after I took delivery, the SMG was locked in Reverse and would not release. After letting the car "sleep" for 30 minutes, the car allowed me to shift to Neutral to start. The next few days, the car would error with "Transmission Fault, only 1 to 3 availalble" but would go away after turning the car on and off. Yesterday the car stated "Emmissions Error, have vehicle serviced by BMW dealer" and the Service Engine Soon light was activated. I dropped the car off at the Dealer I bought it from last night (night drop). Any suggestions on how to address this with the dealler? (I'm worried the car will reset and act normal when it's looked at by the tech).
09-16-2007, 09:28 AM
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Welcome to the forums Blanco545i...
I'm curious as to your location -- do you happen to be from the Pittsburgh area?
As far as the problem you describe, it's hard to say what the problem is and you're correct that it might magically go away when the tech looks at it. Hopefully some sort of fault codes were logged so they can start the diagnosis from there...
I'm curious as to your location -- do you happen to be from the Pittsburgh area?
As far as the problem you describe, it's hard to say what the problem is and you're correct that it might magically go away when the tech looks at it. Hopefully some sort of fault codes were logged so they can start the diagnosis from there...
09-16-2007, 09:31 AM
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Originally Posted by Blanco545i' post='469947' date='Sep 16 2007, 01:21 PM
Hi - I just picked up my CPO White 545i last week with 33K. It has the SMG trannsmission. The day after I took delivery, the SMG was locked in Reverse and would not release. After letting the car "sleep" for 30 minutes, the car allowed me to shift to Neutral to start. The next few days, the car would error with "Transmission Fault, only 1 to 3 availalble" but would go away after turning the car on and off. Yesterday the car stated "Emmissions Error, have vehicle serviced by BMW dealer" and the Service Engine Soon light was activated. I dropped the car off at the Dealer I bought it from last night (night drop). Any suggestions on how to address this with the dealler? (I'm worried the car will reset and act normal when it's looked at by the tech).
09-16-2007, 09:38 AM
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Rudy - Yes, I was told by the dealer that I might find the previous owner on this site when I first bought it. (they said he took delivery of the new 550i White.. might be you?) Is so, did you have any problems similar to this? I called the dealer the first night I was stuck (the day after I bought it), and the manager said the tranny stuck in R once to them them as well.. so, did I buy a good car or I'm I going to be hurting for a long time to come? :-)
09-16-2007, 09:55 AM
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Originally Posted by MiamiPhill' post='469949' date='Sep 16 2007, 01:31 PM
Did you leave them a note?.....I always include a list of all the problems, and the conditions the best reproduces the fault. eg. cold in am, or at speed.....etc.
09-16-2007, 10:05 AM
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Blanco, You are welcome, & sorry you are having so much problems with you new....er....slightly used 545, but hang in there better days are to come. 
09-16-2007, 10:49 AM
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Originally Posted by Blanco545i' post='469950' date='Sep 16 2007, 10:38 AM
Rudy - Yes, I was told by the dealer that I might find the previous owner on this site when I first bought it. (they said he took delivery of the new 550i White.. might be you?) Is so, did you have any problems similar to this? I called the dealer the first night I was stuck (the day after I bought it), and the manager said the tranny stuck in R once to them them as well.. so, did I buy a good car or I'm I going to be hurting for a long time to come? :-)
Haha white 550... it does sound like Rudy! Thats if you are from Pittsburgh. As far as we know Rudy has never had any major issues with his car... we'll wait and hear from him I guess.
09-16-2007, 12:40 PM
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Well that confirms my suspicion -- you are the new owner of my SMG baby! Did I see you heading South on Route 19 near the Galleria Saturday (yesterday) around 7pm? Maybe on your way to drop it off? I only caught the side of the car and rear of the car in my mirrors but based on the color, wheels, and presence of the rear reflectors, I thought it might have been my old car...
Anyway, I can say with 100% certainty that neither of these problems ever happened to me! I have no idea who or how many people test drove that car after I turned it in but I assure you that the SMG was working flawlessly when I dropped it off back in mid-July.
I'm sorry these things are happening to you Blanco but I suppose the good news is that you're working with the best BMW dealership in the city (by far) and they should be able to fix you up. I do remember seeing some posts on this board a few years ago with regard to some people not being able to get the car out of gear to allow it to be started. Sometimes it's just a faulty switch near the brake pedal that makes the car think you're not pressing the pedal so it won't let you take it out of gear...other times it's a control module or something like that.
A quick search of the forums for this problem resulted in the following:
http://forums.e60.net/index.php?showtopic=6589
http://forums.e60.net/index.php?showtopic=14539
http://forums.e60.net/index.php?showtopic=17998
One quick note: I don't know how much experience you have with the SMG but in case you aren't aware, you do not want to use the gas pedal to hold you on a hill while stationary (like you can in an automatic)...this will result in significant wear/damage/overheating of the clutch. If you've been doing that, it could have contributed to the warning message you received...
As far as the emissions warning, that could be as simple as an improperly secured gas cap or just a software burp. You'll soon learn that the software will throw up erroneous messages from time to time.
Best of luck with everything -- I'm sure you'll be as good as new in no time! Take care of my baby!! 
Did I see you heading South on Route 19 near the Galleria Saturday (yesterday) around 7pm? Maybe on your way to drop it off? I only caught the side of the car and rear of the car in my mirrors but based on the color, wheels, and presence of the rear reflectors, I thought it might have been my old car...Anyway, I can say with 100% certainty that neither of these problems ever happened to me! I have no idea who or how many people test drove that car after I turned it in but I assure you that the SMG was working flawlessly when I dropped it off back in mid-July.
I'm sorry these things are happening to you Blanco but I suppose the good news is that you're working with the best BMW dealership in the city (by far) and they should be able to fix you up. I do remember seeing some posts on this board a few years ago with regard to some people not being able to get the car out of gear to allow it to be started. Sometimes it's just a faulty switch near the brake pedal that makes the car think you're not pressing the pedal so it won't let you take it out of gear...other times it's a control module or something like that.
A quick search of the forums for this problem resulted in the following:
http://forums.e60.net/index.php?showtopic=6589
http://forums.e60.net/index.php?showtopic=14539
http://forums.e60.net/index.php?showtopic=17998
One quick note: I don't know how much experience you have with the SMG but in case you aren't aware, you do not want to use the gas pedal to hold you on a hill while stationary (like you can in an automatic)...this will result in significant wear/damage/overheating of the clutch. If you've been doing that, it could have contributed to the warning message you received...
As far as the emissions warning, that could be as simple as an improperly secured gas cap or just a software burp. You'll soon learn that the software will throw up erroneous messages from time to time.
Best of luck with everything -- I'm sure you'll be as good as new in no time! Take care of my baby!!
09-16-2007, 03:59 PM
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Rudy - Thanks for the reply. Yes that was me heading back to the dealer on 19 south at 7pm; that's ironic. I was stuck 2x on Saturday and lost gears 4 to 6 at that time. I was driving very slowly in a mental funk over my new car. I was sad to see my trade (540i) was already sold at the dealer!
I do love this car as you rarely see a 5 ordered in white. I?ve only had it for a week; can you tell me more about the history? I do have records of service, but what was up with the ?tire noise? issue? (Did you end up replacing the tires?) I see they are summer tires as well.. Did you have winter tires? (I don?t plan to drive this car in the salt.. as that?s what my company car is used for
.
Yes, I agree not to hold the accelerator (as it rides the clutch essentially). Did you order a SMG on the new 550i?
To ease your mind, the 545i is in good hands. This is my 3rd BMW. I bought my first one from Santa Monica BMW a 325i sport. My second was a 540i M Sport here in Pittsburgh (awesome car). And now the 545i. I doubt you'll ever see it around town dirty. (As all my cars are always spotless and tuck away in the garage every night).
Thanks again.
I do love this car as you rarely see a 5 ordered in white. I?ve only had it for a week; can you tell me more about the history? I do have records of service, but what was up with the ?tire noise? issue? (Did you end up replacing the tires?) I see they are summer tires as well.. Did you have winter tires? (I don?t plan to drive this car in the salt.. as that?s what my company car is used for
. Yes, I agree not to hold the accelerator (as it rides the clutch essentially). Did you order a SMG on the new 550i?
To ease your mind, the 545i is in good hands. This is my 3rd BMW. I bought my first one from Santa Monica BMW a 325i sport. My second was a 540i M Sport here in Pittsburgh (awesome car). And now the 545i. I doubt you'll ever see it around town dirty. (As all my cars are always spotless and tuck away in the garage every night).
Thanks again.
09-16-2007, 04:46 PM
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Glad to see that my "baby" has found a good home since you're obviously someone who appreciates BMW and has owned them before. By the way, what dealer in Pittsburgh did you buy your 540i from?
As far as the service history on the 545, you have the records (Rahal is the only dealer who serviced it) but with respect to the tire noise, it's a well-known issue with the Dunlop run-flat tires (that are currently on the car). Back in 2004, a bunch of us on this board were instrumental in getting BMW to acknowledge that there was a problem with irregular tire wear on E60's with these Dunlop run-flat tires. After many of us complained about excessive noise and after some time, BMW issued a service bulletin that provided replacement tires under warranty for customers who had tires exhibiting this irregular wear. The set you have is the fourth set the car has had (1 factory set and 3 free replacement sets.) If you're lucky, your tires will get noisy and you'll be able to get another free set before the original warranty expires (don't know if a CPO warranty counts for the replacement tires.) Click the following .pdf to read the actual service bulletin:
dunlop_runflat_SB.pdf
I did use winter tires/wheels so the summer wheels/tires you have were never driven in salt/snow. (I'm planning on using the winter wheels and tire on my new 550 this winter.)
I'm sure (or at least hope) that you'll spend some time browsing through the various forums here to learn as much as you can about our beloved E60s. This forum is generally accepted as the premier source of information on these cars -- and we're still learning something new every day!
Obviously, as you read through stuff, you'll more than likely see various posts from me that may pertain to the car you now have, etc. so I'm sure you'll be an "expert" in no time!
Best of luck and see you around...
As far as the service history on the 545, you have the records (Rahal is the only dealer who serviced it) but with respect to the tire noise, it's a well-known issue with the Dunlop run-flat tires (that are currently on the car). Back in 2004, a bunch of us on this board were instrumental in getting BMW to acknowledge that there was a problem with irregular tire wear on E60's with these Dunlop run-flat tires. After many of us complained about excessive noise and after some time, BMW issued a service bulletin that provided replacement tires under warranty for customers who had tires exhibiting this irregular wear. The set you have is the fourth set the car has had (1 factory set and 3 free replacement sets.) If you're lucky, your tires will get noisy and you'll be able to get another free set before the original warranty expires (don't know if a CPO warranty counts for the replacement tires.) Click the following .pdf to read the actual service bulletin:
dunlop_runflat_SB.pdf
I did use winter tires/wheels so the summer wheels/tires you have were never driven in salt/snow. (I'm planning on using the winter wheels and tire on my new 550 this winter.)
I'm sure (or at least hope) that you'll spend some time browsing through the various forums here to learn as much as you can about our beloved E60s. This forum is generally accepted as the premier source of information on these cars -- and we're still learning something new every day!
Obviously, as you read through stuff, you'll more than likely see various posts from me that may pertain to the car you now have, etc. so I'm sure you'll be an "expert" in no time!
Best of luck and see you around...