Transmission Position Switch on 3.0

[RRPhil]

The transmission in my teardown thread is from a Range Rover L322 rather than from an BMW E53, and the selector levers for the two vehicles are on opposite sides of the casing. On the Range Rover the lever is on the LH side of the transmission on the opposite side to the inhibitor switch and it therefore has a long selector shaft which extends across the full width of the casing. It only has a single roll pin to connect the selector shaft to the rooster comb and the moving part of the inhibitor switch. The use of a plastic spacer (highlighted in yellow, below) means that the shaft cannot move axially and requires no further retention.





For the E53, where the selector lever is on the LH side of the vehicle, only a short selector shaft is needed, and an additional pin is used to locate the selector shaft axially (exactly as you stated).



I can’t see why the selector lever needs to be removed from the end of the shaft, just so it can be withdrawn far enough for the inhibitor switch to be extracted, either.

Phil

[andrewwynn]

That's exactly what I was hoping to hear. I'm going to first try to clean and treat the exterior plug as mentioned above it's possible corrosion on that connector is causing the misreading in the TCM.

Then before I actually pull the pan off my transmission I think I'll swap the TCM from my wife's nearly identical E53 since it could be faulty wiring or circuitboard in the TCM causing the random reading on my transmission switch.

[andrewwynn]

@ srmmmm: I think I owe you a beer!





How the hell does water get into that connection?! Does it come down the inside of the insulation bundle? There is a tight rubber boot that was filled with water?

When I'm done cleaning I'm going to fill the boot with silicone and maybe cut a drip hole in the insulation sleeve especially if I can confirm the wire bundle is working like a hose to supply water to the connector!

When watching the real-time values on the transmission switch pins I was surprised to see closed switches when they should be open and that wouldn't happen from a corroded contact inside the selector switch.

Rusty water however is slightly conductive so I'm pretty confident my problem was just found. I wish I took video of removing that connector! About half an oz. or more of red colored water peed out!


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[srmmmm]

Originally Posted by andrewwynn

@ srmmmm: I think I owe you a beer!





How the hell does water get into that connection?! Does it come down the inside of the insulation bundle? There is a tight rubber boot that was filled with water?

When I'm done cleaning I'm going to fill the boot with silicone and maybe cut a drip hole in the insulation sleeve especially if I can confirm the wire bundle is working like a hose to supply water to the connector!

When watching the real-time values on the transmission switch pins I was surprised to see closed switches when they should be open and that wouldn't happen from a corroded contact inside the selector switch.

Rusty water however is slightly conductive so I'm pretty confident my problem was just found. I wish I took video of removing that connector! About half an oz. or more of red colored water peed out!


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Glad you found that! I can't tell you how much grief I went through with misdiagnosis of the error messages at the dealer. Going through a car wash with an undercarriage spray finally led them to that connector. Mine looked exactly the same.


I had the same type of problem with my engine harness after hitting 14 inches of water during a Texas spring downpour. Every possible error code the engine could throw was recorded. Turned out there was no grease in any of the harness connectors from the factory. Fortunately, my insurance covered the $1800 bill under storm damage.


2002 X5 3.0 348,200 miles
2014 428i 40,000 miles


2004 325i Sold at 123,600 miles
2001 325i Sold at 66,000 miles


1970 Firebird Under restoration

[andrewwynn]

I was concerned insurance was going to be involved as all the transmission issues came up only after a jump start and I thought I fried the TCM.

I'm wondering now if similarly the harness of wires that run the O2 sensors could be filled with water interfering with the heaters.

I started a new thread about that after seeing somebody else post they are trying to squash the same bug.

I can't renew my plate until that is resolved and I can't drive the car to get the O2 heater monitor to pass. Now it looks like I don't have to take my transmission apart to solve the step one I can do that at my convenience to replace the filter.

I was very shocked to get the transmission failsafe error after about two months on the DL. (was working out of town using a borrowed car, no time to work on mine).

Boy it felt so good to drive my own car after two months and then to immediately get hit by the transmission failsafe!

Now I have a warranty replacement on the O2; if it actually works I may have a licensed roadworthy X5 again very soon!

[andrewwynn]

Hot dog! Cleaned and pro-gold on the transmission connector and my gear shift now matches the dash! No more mystery "??? Gear 14"

Thank you @srmmmm to tell me to look at that connector. For now I left the boot off so water can't fill up the connector. I'm going to figure out the source and will be using dielectric grease to keep water out as well as silicone in the boot itself.

One and done on that repair I like to jump in puddles.

[srmmmm]

Glad to hear it's fixed. Let me tell you, running in trans fail safe mode is not much fun pulling a PWC trailer.


2002 X5 3.0 348,300 miles
2014 428i 40,000 miles


2004 325i sold at 123,600 miles
2001 325i sold at 66,000 miles


1970 Firebird Under restoration - valve lifter delays

[andrewwynn]

Originally Posted by srmmmm

Glad to hear it's fixed. Let me tell you, running in trans fail safe mode is not much fun pulling a PWC trailer.

I drove a total of 10 miles in trans failsafe mode when my alternator but fell off. (8mm nut btw in case anybody ever loses theirs), fortunately I managed to get it to reset without a scanner.

With this recent hiccup I had my scanner with me and was able to reset the TCM before driving so I only had a couple time where I had a bad slam shift for example. After cleaning, the dash instantly tracks the gear selector so I'm pretty confident it's fixed. So damn happy don't have to take apart the transmission.

Driving in only 4th gear makes for a very delicate start off the line. I can't imagine with a trailer!

I've driven maybe 50 miles with the engine in limp home mode when a misfire (probably from dirty plug) shut down one or two cylinders. That's not much more fun.

[andrewwynn]

Drove over an hour today with all possible demands on the transmission. No problems! So so happy. Wish I was in DFW area I could help srmmmm with the blower


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