cheech1

1st time BMW owner of a 2006 525i E60 Automatic Sedan.Buying the car which was needing a transmission replacement, I ended up getting the car very cheap. I found a very low mileage trans from a 2007 525i E60. 5mths younger on the build date then mine. My built 12/06, New car/trans build 05/07, same series/model 525i e60 automatic, everything is the same except colour & build, 5mths differance. Any other car manufacturer this wouldn't be a problem(ford,gmh,toyota) no problem. But for BMWs, this would be a problem l later found out!!! HAHAHA & ALL YOU GUYS ON THIS FORUM ALREADY KNOW WHAT HEADACHES BMW CARS DO TO YOU.!!! I'm just finding out know!! So afrer watching a few videos on utube/speaking to some 'experts' (we all know what that means) i was confident I could change the trans myself & a few hours later, the trans was replaced & working buetifully by me. All trans codes are gone, gearbox is changing with the engine & working just fine together...... Except for 1problem. When it's in 'P' BMWs have a 2ndl lock park system with a sensor attached to it which I had to disconnect to make the gear selections work because they made one change from the younger/new trans from my old one. Now when you put it in PARK & turn the car off, I getta idrive message saying 'make sure you've selected park before leaving the car' it's not even a code error. So I want to ask you guys out there, can I completely erase this message completely from the idrive so that it doesn't pop up anymore??? Just like taking the seatbelt warning sighn off your dashboard for example??? The trans is perfect & working buetifully except for this one message I get when I'm parked with the engine off & leaving the car. I get this message everytime. Can anyone help me or give me some advice out in bmw land?? Thanks in advance

donpb

You might want to reach out to @seanjordan20

seanjordan20

What did you do to actually get it to work. Did you use the old mechatronics.

cheech1

I used nothing from the old original transmission. So Sean you seem to know a little about what I done so I'll explain in more detail what actually happened. I originally never had any problems with the gear selector (shifter in the console). My problem was that the gearbox was slipping in the 4 & 5th gear clutch E and that was the code error on the idrive. Me not knowing much about the inner workings of a transmission to attempt to fix the original transmission I would have to take it to a bmw trans specialist which I did & they came back to me with all sorts of scenarios of what could be the problem inside the transmission. I was quoted From the basic fix to the extreme fix. Even the basic fix (if I was lucky & that's all it was) was $1500-$2000, & the extreme was like $4000-$5000. The car has done 200kms when I bought it ( I bought the car very cheap knowing it had a trans problem & no registration or road worthy certificate) so the trans/engine has clocked up sum kms.fixing the trans, I would still have a 200kms old trans & who knows what problems it would bring me in the future!!!! So I weighed up my options & I ended up doing the job myself. I bought a 2nd hand trans with 60,000kms on it with a proper warranty for $2000. Replaced the trans myself. Fired up the car and found this new problem of the trans stuck in park. The original code errors I had when I bought the car were gone. Except when I select park, I then can't get it out of park. Once I got it out of park, the trans works buetifully, I.e. changes buetiful, no winds,no rattles,gears down nicely and does everything the trans should do except when I put it back into park it's then stuck. So what I done was (& because you asked if I changed the mechanic's over) I connected my old trans to the new trans and that solved the problem. It always released the gear selector out of park and never locked up. Now the original gearbox is out of the car & the new gearbox is in the car, I've only connected my old box to the new gearbox and my park lock problem wasn't there. Then when I connect the new gearbox to the car, my problem comes back. So to 'FiX' this problem (cos I wasn't going to put the original transmission back in the car no way) under the gear selector in the console when you put it in park from R, N, or drive back into park there's a (l don't know what to call it) metal part that drops down and locks the gear shifter into park. Then when you go from park to R, or drive, this metal part/lock whatever you wanna call it then lifts up allowing you to drop down the gears. It's got nothing to do with the new transmission and it's performance (it has but it hasn't if that makes sense) so I figured out that this metal bracket goes up & down only when the shifter is in park. What I mean is that when it's in park and you leave the car, this lock comes down and locks it in park, then when you start the car and want to put it in drive, as you leave park the lock bracket lifts up allowing the shifter to leave park. After it's left park, that lock or metal part stays upright untill you return the shifter back to park which then the lock comes back down. I figured that if I can permanently keep this lock metal bracket always upright & never let it come down. The problem with the park issue is gone. So that's what I done. I fixed it so the lock stays open or upright all the time and my problem is gone. My trans & shifter now have no problems at all. I've had the new gearbox in my car now for 2mths roughly, and the transmission is amazing. The gear shifter works amazing as well. The only problem is when I put it in park and switch the car off and want to leave the car, I getta idrive message saying 'to make sure that the gear selector is in park' which it is in park but this lock thing which I have never seen this system b4 doesn't drop down is causing this message to pop up when I leave the car and when I jump in the car which is annoying. Now back when I changed the gearbox I knew nothing about BMW'S compared what I know now. I've still got heaps to learn but at the time of changing gearboxes, I was offered money for my old gearbox which back then I needed some money so I sold my old gearbox.
Which brings me back to your question about the
mechatronics
did I/or should I have changed over the mechatronics from both gearboxes??? if I should have, then that would have been a problem that I wouldn't have had the confidence of doing myself. I would have to take it to a specialist which would have costed a fair bit of money. As I said, I fixed the problem my way and got the car back on the road and the whole car is just buetiful to drive. Considering how much I paid for the car and how much people are selling/buying the exact car that I have, if I sold it today, I would have made a $8,000- $10,000 profit. But the car is not 4 sale and it's not a massive problem to hear this message when I start/stop the car. I can live with it, but if I can erase this message completely from popping up on my idrive that would be great. I don't want to go back to the gearbox/gear selector if I can avoid it. It's just a stupid message I get that would be good if I can stop it somehow from popping up!!!
do I need to register the new gearbox the same as you register the battery?? Would that fix it?? Thanks for replying to my post Sean, if you can give me some more advice that would be great. Cheers