bramage92

I recently acquired a 535xiT with 120,000 miles on it. It is now acting up and after its initial gear changes upon start up it does not want to go into reverse. Start the car put it in reverse back out put it in drive all works fine, say you stop and leave it running and try to just hop back in and it wont go in. The car thinks it is there for a second (lights change mirrors move) and then it will shift back to park. ive seen lots of close cases with lots of varying diagnosis'. simple fluid/filter change? valve body? shifter? i finally got it to give me a malfunction light so hopefully i can put it on a computer in the morning. just want to know which direction to head.

TIA

seanjordan20

i would do a simple fluid change first

bramage92

Update: changed the fluid and took a look around, it's a more wet environment under there then it should be but mechatronic sleeve appears to be dry. No better after fluid change and now my 2-3 shift is often stiff. But! I do have a code now and more info from the trans: the code is 4f97 which has to do with ratios between clutches B and D.
In and of itself Greek. However with my computer I can see those rates and something is truly goofy. They are:
Filling times
clutch A 3ms
clutch B 8ms
clutch C 16ms
clutch D 0ms
clutch E 62ms

Filling Pressures
clutch A 16ms
clutch B -34ms
clutch C 32667ms
clutch D 42ms
clutch E 68ms

i intend to get underneath it again and confirm my level but I don't know how it would've been off. Unless some drained from channels that I couldn't fill with R 1,2,3.
In the meantime though anyone know what any of that means?

bramage92

Also when I was last in the transmission it looked as though there are two full ports, the one in back that tries to burn you alive against the exhaust and one that is hidden by the front drive shaft. Does it matter which one you use? Or is the one on the drivers side something else entirely?

seanjordan20

The one on the drivers side should be the fill hole at least it was on mine 50 530i

seanjordan20

I do not know what you want to spend or how mechanically incline you are but I would change the mech gasket (bridge seal) that sits between the VB and trans also I would change the 4 sealing leaves while it is out. There is a good chance the bridge seal is bad on your trans preventing the pressure to build. It will take you about 3 hours to do and about $30 but it is worth the try. As long as your trans is not slipping it is not bad you just have to find out where the pressure is slipping. If you only want to do this once then I would send my VB out to get rebuilt for around $700 along with changing the 4 sleeve gaskets and bridge seal. Getting it rebuilt will make sure that your solenoids are good and you are not loosing pressure in the VB itself. It is up to you but there is definitely hope for you. you just have to be willing to spend the time and $30 or $700. A lot of were in your shoes including me and I fixed mine over 3 years ago. Till this day no issues plus I got a lifetime warranty on my VB when I got it rebuilt.

bramage92

Finally got time and parts at the same time, Bridge seal was quite cracked and the 4 sleeves were pretty shrunken down. Happy to have my car back and big thanks for all the guidance Sean

seanjordan20

Good to hear it worked out for you.