[Z4tech]

I have not had much chance to enjoy my new E91. When I attemped to start it yesterday I was confronted with a transmission fault error message. The only way to get the car out of park is to lift the leather boot around the gear lever and use a screwdriver to depress a red lever hidden down and in front of the lever. I have to do this each time I move the lever into park and the car won't turn off in neutral. Its a low tech way to get such a hight tech car going. You should see the look on my passengers faces when I jam a screwdriver under the gearstick to move it out of park! I told them it was an anti-theft system which still needs development.

I don't know whether it is safe to drive so I have left it in the garage. Hopefully it will be OK for the 15 km trip back to the dealer. I have made several attempts to start it and the fault hasn't gone away. I have also noted that when I switch off the engine the orange tight next to 'P' continues to glow. I have search the forums but as far as I can see no one has reported the same problem.

[amberzombie]

man that sounds like some funky stuff is going on with your gearbox.

so are you saying that the car starts up fine but if you were to put it down to D it doesn't register until you use the screwdriver?

weird man... yeah best thing is to get it to your dealer asap unless someone here knows what's happening. the fact that you've been able to use the screwdriver to put it into D and drive off means you shouldn't have a problem getting the car to the dealer. however i think the best thing you can do is to call your dealer first and explain the problem to him and he should tell you the best course of action.

hope it all works out well. let us know what the problem was...

[Z4tech]

It starts fine but the gear lever is locked in park and won't move until you push down on the metal catch. Seems to drive well although if you have it in DS mode it tends not to go past 4th gear and fuel economy has been a bit worse than I expected (13 l/100k).

[BBQWER]

Call roadside assistance 24 hours. let them come and fix it.
It's frustating buying a new car and faulty within few days.

I never try DS mode, but i think cost more fuel.
Anyway, my car running at 18liters/100kms. I feel this car = elephant haha

[amberzombie]

yeah DS mode is meant to be a "sports" mode so they tend to stay in lower gears to give you higher revs and therefore more torque.

but the downside of it is that you do end up using more petrol.

i've recently managed to get my fuel consumption down to 11.5l/100km using "manual" mode and getting it to 6th gear as soon as i can... but you know with a bimmer you will always tend to rev it up every now and then

BBQWER has a point... just call roadside assistance if you are worried about driving the car to your dealer

[vase330]

Checkout the FI forum on a thread called "complaints about 335..." etc. You are lucky your I-Drive has not gone HAL on you as well. They seem to occur in pairs. I am just sick of this crap. I try to resist complaining on every thread when I see some of this, but after 4 months or electronic problems and my car still sitting at the dealer and they can't seem to fix it, I can't help it.:sad0147:

[Chris.G]

wow that is so.. so.. so stone age Well i would have used the security excuse as well if i had passengers. On a serious note that really shouldn't happen on a brand new car and its definately the first time i heard of this problem. Dealer therapy is needed

[VGR00]

I'd just get roadside assistance to flatbed it back to the dealer. no car manufacture is immune from faults. I'm sure it will get sorted out quickly and proffesionally and hopefully you will have no further issues.

[astra]

with something serious like this, just call the dealer and explain what has happened... it might be unsafe to drive and your dealer may even have to have it towed (they towed mine because it didn't have functioning airbags, and if they tow for this, then....)

[Z4tech]

Thanks for the help. I will call them tomorrow morning. I am frustrated but these cars are complex so accept there may be an occasional issue. Hopefully it is only a software glitch.

[Z4tech]

I called the dealer today. There is a fault in the gearbox control unit so they are replacing the complete automatic gearbox. It should be ready by next Tuesday. I am relieved BMW has one in stock in Australia. Bugger!

[[SIPUT]]

do you feel any surge when you shift from N to D? cause mine surges forward a bit everytime i shift...i'm wondering is this normal or not

[Z4tech]

I didn't have car long enough to realy get the feel for anything. I only drove it about 100 k's