Whenever I park the car, I set the handbrake firmly, put tranny in neutral then release foot brake. After the car settles against the brake, I select park. Now, most of the time when I re-start the car, the moment the engine starts, the car lurches a bit and clunks as if it were loaded up in drive then went to neutral. It's been doing this as long as I can remember. Thought?

 

So you have a ZF 6 hp 26 and being an 08 which has electronic mechatronic, no boden cable to select gear change. I would check for error codes as it is not a mechanical changing of gears from neutral to park.

 

No codes past or present. The odd part is that I always unload the driveline in neutral before putting it in park. A better description is more of a clunk 'sound' than movement exactly.

 

Mine does a similar thing. I found a bulletinSI B 24 08 08


Apparently it can be fixed with software.

I also had another problem with a violent clunk when the engine / transmission was cold (ie not warmed up) when starting from a stop. That was also software.

 

Yes, this appears to be the thing. I expect I'd need to pay $$$ at the dealer to have it updated:

"Reprogram and recode the complete vehicle with a current Progman version (V31.1 or higher). The target
integration levels are E060-08-09-520 or E070-08-09-520, respectively, for E60, E61 and E70 vehicles"

https://xoutpost.com/attachments/x5-...b-24-08-08.pdf

 

You're welcome

 

Did you get the SW updates to fix?

 

The bulletin mentioned recode the complete vehicle with a current Progman version.

If its a 100% software fix, how did the original files get corrupted requiring a complete recode?

Why would the files randomly malfunction by themselves?

Can a transmission mechanical failure trigger or facilitate a software failure?

 

Great questions. I had a different problem with the transmission making a big clunk when taking off from a stop when the engine was cold. It was also a software fix. I don't think it was broken software, but maybe the original program didn't allow for the natural variabilities of mass-produced hardware.

Oddly, I have had the whole vehicle updated ( or so I'm told) and the startup clunk is still there. Next time I'm in the shop I'll ask them to look at that specific one.

 

^ if you do, please report back. If your SW was all updated and the 'clunk at start' is still there, I can't say I'd bother getting it done for the $$$.