Stuck in park

scoobdawg · 03-02-2021, 08:37 AM

Just replaced my combox in my 2012 BMW 535ix and went to pick up my car after coding at my mechanic - Got in car and tried shifting from Park to Drive - My car immediately went back to drive, never going into gear - Let the car warm-up for 5 minutes and the car shifted fine into drive. The mechanic wasn't sure what's going on, called another mechanic who said it sounds like a bad Transmission Valve Body - Never happened before - Car is running perfectly otherwise and the transmission feels fine - Replaced transmission fluid 3 months ago - The car has 170K miles on it - Does valve body seem right? Would Solenoids maybe be cause? Any thoughts? Trying to avoid a major transmission job - Does it make sense to have a tranny shop look at it? Again - The car is not giving me any errors and is running fine.

AlexRF10 · 03-02-2021, 01:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by scoobdawg

Just replaced my combox in my 2012 BMW 535ix and went to pick up my car after coding at my mechanic - Got in car and tried shifting from Park to Drive - My car immediately went back to drive, never going into gear - Let the car warm-up for 5 minutes and the car shifted fine into drive. The mechanic wasn't sure what's going on, called another mechanic who said it sounds like a bad Transmission Valve Body - Never happened before - Car is running perfectly otherwise and the transmission feels fine - Replaced transmission fluid 3 months ago - The car has 170K miles on it - Does valve body seem right? Would Solenoids maybe be cause? Any thoughts? Trying to avoid a major transmission job - Does it make sense to have a tranny shop look at it? Again - The car is not giving me any errors and is running fine.

Did you happen to put it in drive with the door open? It has a safety feature, if the doors open or if it thinks it's open it will put the trans back into park right away.

scoobdawg · 03-02-2021, 03:33 PM

Nope.. Doors were definitely shut..
Valve Body seal??? No clue..

Quote:

Originally Posted by AlexRF10

Did you happen to put it in drive with the door open? It has a safety feature, if the doors open or if it thinks it's open it will put the trans back into park right away.

Wozza77 · 03-02-2021, 04:55 PM

does it give you any notice on the iDrive ?

AlexRF10 · 03-02-2021, 06:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by scoobdawg

Nope.. Doors were definitely shut..
Valve Body seal??? No clue..

Quote:

Originally Posted by AlexRF10

Did you happen to put it in drive with the door open? It has a safety feature, if the doors open or if it thinks it's open it will put the trans back into park right away.

Not sure... I'm no mechanic, I just learn as I go. Never heard of valve body seals doing something like that. Sounds like the computer was putting back in park as a safety precaution. Maybe something with the electronic shifter? Either way it should show you codes if your mechanic scanned it with ISTA afterwards.

scoobdawg · 03-02-2021, 06:17 PM

No codes at all, nothing on the idrive either! so weird

Quote:

Originally Posted by Wozza77

does it give you any notice on the iDrive ?

Sophisticated Redneck · 03-02-2021, 08:14 PM

No codes in ISTA or just normal scanner? Fishy this happened right after work being done on it. Don't let them talk you into a new valve body, do solenoids before doing entire valve body but exhaust all other possibilities first and to need ISTA or a good scanner like the foxwell nt510 to read transmission codes and live data. New solenoids will set you back 500 for complete set

OnlyGerman · 03-02-2021, 08:18 PM

Does not seem like anything transmission related honestly. Maybe a one off thing or shifter

scoobdawg · 03-02-2021, 09:22 PM

Thanks for all the responses - The car seems fine now - I'll drive it and see how it goes - They had not put a scanner on it yet - Just really odd - Sounds like the overall consensus is that its most probably not transmission - Hope thats the case!

walmark · 03-02-2021, 09:34 PM

Another vote for door handle - comfort access. Seems like quite a common problem these days. My car used to switch to neutral at the end of the driveway for no apparent reason. New driver door handle solved it.

ckaul · 03-04-2021, 03:27 PM

Hey man i have a 2012 528i xDrive. Turbo blew and the car sat for a few weeks and same thing as you happened. I literally had to let the thing warm up on a blown turbo for 20 min for it to go into gear. Its been really cold and the car sat outside for 3 weeks so i hope its just because of that but will update you if it happens again. Finishing turbo tomorrow then will see if it will go into gear.

550bye · 03-06-2021, 12:33 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ckaul

Hey man i have a 2012 528i xDrive. Turbo blew and the car sat for a few weeks and same thing as you happened. I literally had to let the thing warm up on a blown turbo for 20 min for it to go into gear. Its been really cold and the car sat outside for 3 weeks so i hope its just because of that but will update you if it happens again. Finishing turbo tomorrow then will see if it will go into gear.

How did it go?

On another note, Upgraded, rebuilt or OEM turbos? Just being nosey!

Inkd_hapa · 03-10-2021, 03:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by scoobdawg

Just replaced my combox in my 2012 BMW 535ix and went to pick up my car after coding at my mechanic - Got in car and tried shifting from Park to Drive - My car immediately went back to drive, never going into gear - Let the car warm-up for 5 minutes and the car shifted fine into drive. The mechanic wasn't sure what's going on, called another mechanic who said it sounds like a bad Transmission Valve Body - Never happened before - Car is running perfectly otherwise and the transmission feels fine - Replaced transmission fluid 3 months ago - The car has 170K miles on it - Does valve body seem right? Would Solenoids maybe be cause? Any thoughts? Trying to avoid a major transmission job - Does it make sense to have a tranny shop look at it? Again - The car is not giving me any errors and is running fine.

Sounds like valvetronix. Same thing happened to mine. Had the trans valve Tronics rebuilt. Worked perfect

ckaul · 03-10-2021, 10:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 550bye

Quote:

Originally Posted by ckaul

Hey man i have a 2012 528i xDrive. Turbo blew and the car sat for a few weeks and same thing as you happened. I literally had to let the thing warm up on a blown turbo for 20 min for it to go into gear. Its been really cold and the car sat outside for 3 weeks so i hope its just because of that but will update you if it happens again. Finishing turbo tomorrow then will see if it will go into gear.

How did it go?

On another note, Upgraded, rebuilt or OEM turbos? Just being nosey!

Went into gear fine. And i went with a vargas stage 1 turbo!

Trainwreck914 · 03-12-2021, 08:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Inkd_hapa

Quote:

Originally Posted by scoobdawg

Just replaced my combox in my 2012 BMW 535ix and went to pick up my car after coding at my mechanic - Got in car and tried shifting from Park to Drive - My car immediately went back to drive, never going into gear - Let the car warm-up for 5 minutes and the car shifted fine into drive. The mechanic wasn't sure what's going on, called another mechanic who said it sounds like a bad Transmission Valve Body - Never happened before - Car is running perfectly otherwise and the transmission feels fine - Replaced transmission fluid 3 months ago - The car has 170K miles on it - Does valve body seem right? Would Solenoids maybe be cause? Any thoughts? Trying to avoid a major transmission job - Does it make sense to have a tranny shop look at it? Again - The car is not giving me any errors and is running fine.

Sounds like valvetronix. Same thing happened to mine. Had the trans valve Tronics rebuilt. Worked perfect

Where did you have the rebuild done? Cost?

03-02-2021, 08:37 AM	#1
scoobdawg Private 10 Rep 60 Posts Drives: f10 Join Date: Apr 2012 Location: NH iTrader: (0)	Stuck in park - Shift to Drive, Car goes back to park Just replaced my combox in my 2012 BMW 535ix and went to pick up my car after coding at my mechanic - Got in car and tried shifting from Park to Drive - My car immediately went back to drive, never going into gear - Let the car warm-up for 5 minutes and the car shifted fine into drive. The mechanic wasn't sure what's going on, called another mechanic who said it sounds like a bad Transmission Valve Body - Never happened before - Car is running perfectly otherwise and the transmission feels fine - Replaced transmission fluid 3 months ago - The car has 170K miles on it - Does valve body seem right? Would Solenoids maybe be cause? Any thoughts? Trying to avoid a major transmission job - Does it make sense to have a tranny shop look at it? Again - The car is not giving me any errors and is running fine.
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03-02-2021, 04:55 PM	#4
Wozza77 New Member 2 Rep 9 Posts Drives: BMW F10 535d Join Date: Nov 2019 Location: Essex iTrader: (0)	does it give you any notice on the iDrive ?
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03-02-2021, 08:14 PM	#7
Sophisticated Redneck Lieutenant Colonel 1416 Rep 1,564 Posts Drives: 2012 BMW X5 50i Join Date: Jul 2018 Location: CA iTrader: (0)	No codes in ISTA or just normal scanner? Fishy this happened right after work being done on it. Don't let them talk you into a new valve body, do solenoids before doing entire valve body but exhaust all other possibilities first and to need ISTA or a good scanner like the foxwell nt510 to read transmission codes and live data. New solenoids will set you back 500 for complete set
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03-02-2021, 08:18 PM	#8
OnlyGerman Major 364 Rep 1,261 Posts Drives: F15, F13, F10, E60 Join Date: Jul 2019 Location: Sunshine State iTrader: (0)	Does not seem like anything transmission related honestly. Maybe a one off thing or shifter
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03-02-2021, 09:22 PM	#9
scoobdawg Private 10 Rep 60 Posts Drives: f10 Join Date: Apr 2012 Location: NH iTrader: (0)	Thanks for all the responses - The car seems fine now - I'll drive it and see how it goes - They had not put a scanner on it yet - Just really odd - Sounds like the overall consensus is that its most probably not transmission - Hope thats the case!
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03-02-2021, 09:34 PM	#10
walmark Apprentice 86 Rep 491 Posts Drives: 550i F10 '15 Join Date: Feb 2013 Location: SF Bay iTrader: (2)	Another vote for door handle - comfort access. Seems like quite a common problem these days. My car used to switch to neutral at the end of the driveway for no apparent reason. New driver door handle solved it.
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03-04-2021, 03:27 PM	#11
ckaul Private First Class 23 Rep 148 Posts Drives: 2012 BMW 528i xDrive Join Date: Jan 2019 Location: New Jersey iTrader: (3)	Hey man i have a 2012 528i xDrive. Turbo blew and the car sat for a few weeks and same thing as you happened. I literally had to let the thing warm up on a blown turbo for 20 min for it to go into gear. Its been really cold and the car sat outside for 3 weeks so i hope its just because of that but will update you if it happens again. Finishing turbo tomorrow then will see if it will go into gear.
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