steptronic question. If you are in the manual mode does it downshift???
 

On the stereophonic transmission on the e53. I know if you are in the manual mode say M3. You are in the 3rd gear and will not upshift (to M4) until it redlines, right???? Please confirm.

My question is if you are in M4 and you start to slow down does it down shift????

If it does not and if you stop or slow down to a dead stop then you are starting the car or going very slow at 4th gear??? Is this right???

Not sure about the upshift (haven't deliberately run my 3.0d up to redline!) but it certainly downshifts if you get too slow and haven't changed down manually. It can be a pain actually, as if you leave your down shift a little too late, the auto downshifts just before I do, then I end up going down TWO gears, one after the other. THAT gets the revs near redline! :rofl:

Honestly, if you're not familiar with how manual trans works then I wouldn't even mess with it. Could cause some trouble for you if you don't understand gearing & matching the revs with the proper speed.

Yes, it will certainly downshift for you if speed/revs drop too much to keep the car running.

so it downshift but does it down shift to 1???
 

So it downshift but does it down shift to 1 (1st gear) in a dead stop??? So if you are in M3 and go to a dead stop. Are you at M1 starting on first gear in a dead stop or do you start in 2nd or 3rd???

If you are in M3 and go to dead stop, I think you start at 2nd. IIRC
I dont normally drive it in M. I very rarely do now anymore

The transmission will automatically downshift to M3 when coming to a dead stop. The lowest it will ever downshift to is M3, assuming that the factory software has not been altered. It will not shift down to M1. Also it will automatically up-shift to the next available gear at red-line so you do not over-rev and cause damage to the engine.

Thanks for the info. Mine will downshift to M2 by itself, but I believe mine has Dinan software installed on the trans. I forgot about that when I posted above... so my experiences may differ from the "norm" or factory settings.

The gear which will be selected on a stop depends on your engine I think: the V8 will shift into the 3rd gear by default... If you switched to sport mode it will shift to the 2nd gear.
My experience - may be subjective: if you drive it sporty the time directly before a stop or the transmission "thinks" that you may need some more power it will shift to 2nd on a stop...

"Smaller" engine models will shift to the 2nd gear on a stop (at least this was the behavior on the e39).

Mine as I recall will downshift to M1 at a dead stop. I'll confirm tomorrow.

The OP is talking about using the manual mode in his automatic transmission, not about a manual transmission.

If you are in manual mode and stop the car the trans will automatically downshift to 1st gear.

I know that. It's still possible to cause damage if you're not using it right, specifically downshifting at the wrong speed.

When you come to a stop and you're in M mode...doesn't the gear you're in appear in the cluster's display (it should)? :dunno:

Same with if you forget to shift...if you look at the display in the cluster...it should reveal what gear the transmission shifted to in an attempt to save itself from destruction....it should say M1-M6 (depending on which transmission you have...it could say M1-M5). :)

Even though you are in Manual mode, the EGS is still controlling the transmission. The EGS will know if downshifting from a higher gear to a lower gear will cause the engine to over rev itself and will prevent the shift from occurring.

If you do not down shift and you come to a complete stop is will down shift for you and the lowest gear it will go into is 2nd you can down shift and it will go into 1st to take off
as for upshifting if you do not shift yourself it will shift it self when you reach near redline..

Unfortunately that's an issue I've come across myself hence why I made the statement. A couple times the EGS didn't work properly which leads me to believe I really do have a trans or firmware issue. Not that I don't know what I'm doing because I do know how to drive manual. Couple times the revs stayed up wayyy past the point it shouldn't :dunno:

Interesting info. This all agrees with my observations on my 2001 3.0i.

The last paragraph there fits with something I've noticed while doing the ATF changes. In those, before checking the ATF level, you're supposed to run through all the gears. Since I'd like to do the ATF change while just two wheels are jacked up on my sloping driveway, I tried keeping the foot on the brake, shifting into steptronic, and then upshifting through the gears. I found I was able to command gears up to M5, but it would always immediately revert to M2, and from feel, it seemed that no attempted shift was actually happening, EXACTLY as specified above. So I concluded that it never really got past M2, and adjusted my ATF-change procedure accordingly.

I actually asked the list at the time if it were really shifting and was confidently assured it was (I did not believe the answer), and now seeing this specific BMW info, this seems to be correct. And anyone doing their own ATF change may be interested in this.

If you have Dinan transmission software in full manual mode it will not shift until you shift it whether you are upshifting or downshifting.

I did a test on my 2001 3.0i (GM 5-speed AT, completely stock) last night while on a drive:

Driving along in M4, I came to a stop at a stop light without shifting manually. As I did that, it automatically shifted to M3 and M2, and stayed in M2 while I was sitting at the light for a few seconds. Then I drove away in M2. I did not take it to red line, but I can believe it would have stayed there until I hit red line.

So for my '01 stock 5-speed GM AT, it drops automatically to M2 when needed.

I've never experienced upshifting before, but fairly certain it has down shifted before into 2nd coming to a stop. So it will let you stall the truck if you have Dinan software? Interesting.

What I mean by upshifting is going through the gears when accelerating. With Dinan software, in full manual mode, if you are in 5th. gear when you stop it will shortly after change to 3rd. gear. No, the engine won't stall because the torque convertor 'unlocks' just as it does when you stop in full automatic mode. Yes, in manual mode, not full manual mode, the transmission even with Dinan software will downshift at set rpms in each gear and is in 2nd. when you stop.

LOL, I've apparently had too much beer tonight. I tried to follow that, I promise. :D

https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com...6b6a4894b3.jpg

I just did that the other day, in fact. I got to a speed that was too slow for 4, so the trans went to 3. I think, but am not sure, that the car will start in 2 if you have not selected 1, and were in 4 before you stopped. I do not think that the car will up shift, but I also an reluctant to approach redline to see what happens.

The highest gear you can start off in from a dig is 2nd you can start in first but would need to downshift... it will upshift for you if you do not when you reach redline....