Problems with going into Drive Gear

[darstar301]

I have a 2001 X5 4.4 with 39K miles. I have a problem with the car going to drive. Something seems to be in the way of letting the gear shifter go into drive, The problem started when I pulled up to my mail box, put it into park, got back into the car and could not get it into drive. Thanks for any help.

[cheappc]

wow.. and 39,000 miles? they hardly drove it!

[X5driver214]

I had this exact problem, I removed the gear lever cover, I inspected how the whole gear lever things work. If you look closely, you can see that when you change any lever position that a long metal pole moves too. it has no obstruction from P to N, but when going into D, it has to fit inside a black plastic clip. I realized that the metal part was hitting the edge of the clip first, as I added pressure it would slip in properly. All I did was dremel that edge of the clip a little, and this made that metal pole slip in easy again.

[darstar301]

Originally Posted by X5driver214

I had this exact problem, I removed the gear lever cover, I inspected how the whole gear lever things work. If you look closely, you can see that when you change any lever position that a long metal pole moves too. it has no obstruction from P to N, but when going into D, it has to fit inside a black plastic clip. I realized that the metal part was hitting the edge of the clip first, as I added pressure it would slip in properly. All I did was dremel that edge of the clip a little, and this made that metal pole slip in easy again.

Thank you, I think you are right. I noticed if I move it to the left a little it would go into drive. How hard is it to remove the lever cover?

[darstar301]

Originally Posted by cheappc

wow.. and 39,000 miles? they hardly drove it!

Yeah, this drives my family crazy, buying a car and not driving it alot. I love cars alot but don't have a chance to drive it much since drive to my bus stop is 2 miles away. I don't want to drive the car to my work since you have to leave your keys in the car for the parking people to move around.

[darkside4.8]

Originally Posted by darstar301

Thank you, I think you are right. I noticed if I move it to the left a little it would go into drive. How hard is it to remove the lever cover?

just pull up. its only clipped in.

[X5driver214]

The clips are very delicate, I broke 1 of mine just by pulling it out. Be careful. There should be 2 on the front and 3 on each side.

[darstar301]

Does the leather boot and black plastic surround pull up or only the leather boot?

[Naz24]

Originally Posted by darstar301

Does the leather boot and black plastic surround pull up or only the leather boot?

only the leather boot

[darkside4.8]

Nah the whole black plastic piece will come up