Transmission Light

soursalsa · 07-13-2019, 01:30 AM

Hello all, I recently fixed an issue with my '09 328i. The DS wire was busted so I had to get underneath the shifter and work out the wiring. After that, a gear with an exclamation mark in the center showed up on the dash. I even encountered an issue where my car would be stuck in park and I would have to pry open the cover and lift the lock by hand. The car didn't get stuck in park today, but it has happened more than once and I still get the light every time. I've tried using a FIXD scanner and a more legit, full-blown scanner in my OBD port and no codes have showed up, but clearly that can't be right. I really could use some help asap!

N52bigblock · 07-13-2019, 03:02 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by soursalsa

Hello all, I recently fixed an issue with my '09 328i. The DS wire was busted so I had to get underneath the shifter and work out the wiring. After that, a gear with an exclamation mark in the center showed up on the dash. I even encountered an issue where my car would be stuck in park and I would have to pry open the cover and lift the lock by hand. The car didn't get stuck in park today, but it has happened more than once and I still get the light every time. I've tried using a FIXD scanner and a more legit, full-blown scanner in my OBD port and no codes have showed up, but clearly that can't be right. I really could use some help asap!

Scan the car with BMW diagnostic software such as ISTA. It will definitely show your fault codes.

Mayorie · 07-13-2019, 03:49 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by neilj35

Scan the car with BMW diagnostic software such as ISTA. It will definitely show your fault codes.

+1

Big_Al_E91_330i · 07-13-2019, 04:55 AM

I presume this is an automatic. Not sure how similar the 328 is to mine but I have a 330i 2006 auto E91. I had a problem because I'm continually putting the car in sport mode to pull off from traffic lights/roundabouts and using the up/down shift as a semi-auto and over time there's a design flaw in that the wires attached to the shift lever move with the lever and have their insulation rubbed off or shear and break. My symptoms from memory (and this was about 8 years ago now) were variable along the lines of not going into sport mode, not changing up/down correctly, gear with exclamation on dashboard, erratic lights next to gear lever and saying it was in a different gear to what it actually was. First time I just lifted the centre console and re-soldered the wires together (all colour coded so difficult to get wrong) and remembered to slide some heat-shrink sleeve over before soldering. Dead fiddly as there is so little space to get in and solder. Had to solder wires straight so I could slide the heat shrink over the joint and heat it with soldering iron to re-insulate it. Then it failed again about 8-10 months later - probably as the wires were now even shorter and suffered even more fatigue. Long story short - opened it up and re-soldered again but this time inserted an extra 2 inches of wire in each one that had sheared. I think it was about 6/7 wires that needed sorting out. No problems since in the last 8 years or so. I did take a whole bunch of pictures intending to upload a DIY but never got around to it. Hopefully above may help...

soursalsa · 07-13-2019, 01:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by neilj35

Scan the car with BMW diagnostic software such as ISTA. It will definitely show your fault codes.

How can I be sure? Ever since I took my car to PepBoys for a routine inspection, I’ve had a low tire light, a brake light (they said my tires were bad and needed to be replaced, but my brakes were okay for now, so this coincidental considering that as soon as it was brought to my attention I was getting lights), and now this transmission light. No codes for either of the 3 after using 2 scanners. Needless to say I’m pretty miffed and not sure if PepBoys did a shoddy job considering I never had those lights before going in.

e90yyc · 07-13-2019, 01:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by soursalsa

How can I be sure? Ever since I took my car to PepBoys for a routine inspection, I’ve had a low tire light, a brake light (they said my tires were bad and needed to be replaced, but my brakes were okay for now, so this coincidental considering that as soon as it was brought to my attention I was getting lights), and now this transmission light. No codes for either of the 3 after using 2 scanners. Needless to say I’m pretty miffed and not sure if PepBoys did a shoddy job considering I never had those lights before going in.

You can be sure because the presence of the transmission light indicates there is a fault, for which there will always be an associated code(s).

I don’t think they could have messed anything up that would be causing the symptoms and lights you describe.

A BMW scanner or cable and software will address all the modules, which regular scanners won’t do.

There are codes. You just need to get to them.

07-13-2019, 01:30 AM	#1
soursalsa Kid Diddler 2 Rep 3 Posts Drives: 2009 BMW 328i E90 Join Date: Mar 2019 Location: 1704 Pinetree Dr, Pittsburgh, PA 15241, USA iTrader: (0)	Transmission Light - Need Help! Hello all, I recently fixed an issue with my '09 328i. The DS wire was busted so I had to get underneath the shifter and work out the wiring. After that, a gear with an exclamation mark in the center showed up on the dash. I even encountered an issue where my car would be stuck in park and I would have to pry open the cover and lift the lock by hand. The car didn't get stuck in park today, but it has happened more than once and I still get the light every time. I've tried using a FIXD scanner and a more legit, full-blown scanner in my OBD port and no codes have showed up, but clearly that can't be right. I really could use some help asap! Last edited by soursalsa; 07-13-2019 at 01:35 AM..
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07-13-2019, 04:55 AM	#4
Big_Al_E91_330i Big_Al 2 Rep 2 Posts Drives: E91 330i 2006 Join Date: Jul 2019 Location: Midlands, UK iTrader: (0)	I presume this is an automatic. Not sure how similar the 328 is to mine but I have a 330i 2006 auto E91. I had a problem because I'm continually putting the car in sport mode to pull off from traffic lights/roundabouts and using the up/down shift as a semi-auto and over time there's a design flaw in that the wires attached to the shift lever move with the lever and have their insulation rubbed off or shear and break. My symptoms from memory (and this was about 8 years ago now) were variable along the lines of not going into sport mode, not changing up/down correctly, gear with exclamation on dashboard, erratic lights next to gear lever and saying it was in a different gear to what it actually was. First time I just lifted the centre console and re-soldered the wires together (all colour coded so difficult to get wrong) and remembered to slide some heat-shrink sleeve over before soldering. Dead fiddly as there is so little space to get in and solder. Had to solder wires straight so I could slide the heat shrink over the joint and heat it with soldering iron to re-insulate it. Then it failed again about 8-10 months later - probably as the wires were now even shorter and suffered even more fatigue. Long story short - opened it up and re-soldered again but this time inserted an extra 2 inches of wire in each one that had sheared. I think it was about 6/7 wires that needed sorting out. No problems since in the last 8 years or so. I did take a whole bunch of pictures intending to upload a DIY but never got around to it. Hopefully above may help...
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