Dear All,


I have a new E61 530D with the Sports Auto Transmission, there are only 750 miles on the clock so far, but I have noticed an annoying issue:

Sometimes, the transmission lever will not move directly from D to R - for example when making a three point turn or during a parking maneuver it will stick in D - even though I press the button on the side of the stick. If I hit the P button and then move the lever to D then R, it's fine, but it will just refuse to go from D to R......... sometimes it will only let me move it from D to R if the car is at a dead stop........and sometimes, it's fine!

has anybody seen this kind of "stickiness" with the lever before - ad if so is it something that is likely to go away as I get a few more miles on it?

I presume this is an issue with the lever itself as opposed to the transmission - isn't the level only coupled electronically to the tranny as opposed to directly mechanically ?

Other than that, the SAT is a fantastic transmission.

 

Clearly if the car thinks it's in motion, it's not going to allow you to shift directly from D to R. If you're at a standstill and it still doesn't shift, it might be that you're not depressing the brake pedal (again, I don't think it will let you shift into a drive gear (forward or reverse) without your foot on the brake.)

That said, I do think there are times when it doesn't shift if you do it too quickly...

 

I hear you on the in motion thing.....but my 2004 e60 auto had a degree of "leeway" built into it - i.e. you could still maybe be rolling at a bit less than walking pace and go from drive to reverse - i.e with your foot on the brake to stop, but the car not 100% at rest yet. It's a bit of a pain if the wheels have to be absolutely motionless.

I'll have to check my behaviour with the brake pedal - but as far as I know, every time I try to shift into reverse, my foot is firmly on the brake. It's the kind of scenario where you approach a single lane, humpback bridge and there's a car coming the other way so you want to reverse back a bit to let him through.......that's when the damn thing sometimes refuses to go into reverse unless i go to P first.

I'm going to give it another 100 miles or so to see if it loosens up....if not, it's going to the dealer.