Odd question..
 

If one were to put the gear selector in neutral on a 07’ X5 and turned off the ignition would the transmission remain in neutral?

I’m thinking no but thought I would inquire..

Standing still? Or moving?

Standing still my 2012 shifts to P.

Moving I would bet $$$$ it stays in neutral

As long as the engine is running and the driver door remains closed or the driver's seat belt is fastened, it will remain in neutral. I think the brake pedal state is also included in this logic.

If moving above a few miles an hour, you can shift between neutral and drive or reverse without stepping on the brake.

I seem to recall a method to leave the transmission in neutral with the engine off but can't remember where or why it was done.

Just thinking for towing. The X I’m thinking on buying won’t run and the special tool to lock it in neutral is missing..... of course.

I googled for a pre LCI e70 X5 owners manual to see what it said about how to select/use the neutral gear selection (found a 2009 manual and took a screen shot).

It appears that as long as you leave the remote fob in the ignition lock...it will remain in NEUTRAL for 30 minutes...then it will go into PARK:

That’s just what I was after. Thank you for the information!

irrespective of locking in neutral, you should not tow it with any wheels on the ground

Just needed it in neutral to push it to a better place to allow the tow truck better access

Would be dangerous towing with the wheels touching the ground! Good for the first 30 mins though haha.

Yup.

Brave man though....

GL!

I can confirm that is true for our '08. The owners manual recommends turning the engine off when going through an automatic car wash, but obviously you need to stay in neutral. The one time we went through (I now only hand wash), it worked as designed.

Note: my fob is not programmed for comfort access, which is what we used. We haven't tried with my wife's key, which has CA, if that needs to be physically in the ignition slot or just within range of the vehicle.

It worked great thanks for all the info!

:thumbup: Thanks for the update.


The gist I get from the owners manual is regardless of if you have CA or not...if you DO have the ignition lock in your BMW (along with the start/stop button)...to prevent the vehicle from going into park when you press the start/stop button to turn the engine off...it will go into PARK. To put the vehicle in Neutral and have it remain there when turning the engine off...the remote fob needs to be in the ignition lock.

See the highlighted info below from the Comfort Access portion of the owners manual. But I would definitely "test" it out to make sure that's how it works when you have the ignition lock, start/stop button, regular remote fob, and CA remote fob: