DS mode gone

[asiflicious]

Hey everyone, last night I was driving my 2010 135i along the highway and wanted to make a quick pass so I put the 6AT in DS mode and.. nothing happened. No DS indicator on the dash, no throttle/shift mapping difference, and the manual mode on the lever wasn't working. The paddles still work. My DS mode and manual mode are gone. I did a quick search on google and came across some posts from years back where some people said it was just a loose harness, others said they had to replace the entire shift assembly. Any ideas? I'm not really mechanically inclined at all so I don't know where to begin

[ArmatageShanks]

Time for a 6MT swap?

[The Wind Breezes]

Originally Posted by asiflicious

I'm not really mechanically inclined at all so I don't know where to begin

Take the car to a shop and pay money, or try to find someone on forums or craigslist and hope they know what they're doing and don't render your car undriveable.

[08135IFL]

The tiny wires in the shifting mechanism loom in the console are broken. Very common problem. I just fixed mine last month for literally like $1 and 3 hours time tearing the console apart. Find videos on youtube and Google search broken wires, etc... Take it to a shop and they will replace the entire shifter assembly for a grand.

[asiflicious]

So I just removed the gear lever and boot and checked the wires. Nothing looks torn or worn out.

[08135IFL]

Did you remove the console and white shield to the right of the gear lever, undo the black tape and inspect the wiring inside?

[asiflicious]

Originally Posted by 08135IFL

Did you remove the console and white shield to the right of the gear lever, undo the black tape and inspect the wiring inside?

Originally Posted by 08135IFL

Did you remove the console and white shield to the right of the gear lever, undo the black tape and inspect the wiring inside?

Not yet. I do have an aftermarket warranty on the car so I'm contemplating just getting it fixed through them instead of fiddling with the wires and potentially revoking my warranty

[rominun]

I have an extra auto tranny shifter. Worked perfectly before my MT swap let me know if you end up needing it

[asiflicious]

Originally Posted by rominun

I have an extra auto tranny shifter. Worked perfectly before my MT swap let me know if you end up needing it

Originally Posted by rominun

I have an extra auto tranny shifter. Worked perfectly before my MT swap let me know if you end up needing it

Thanks man! I'll definitely let you know if I need it

[rominun]

Originally Posted by asiflicious

Thanks man! I'll definitely let you know if I need it

Sounds good.

[asiflicious]

So I took my car in to BMW for my airbag recall and the shifter issue. I thought my aftermarket warranty would cover the shifter issue. It didn't. BMW said the issue was due to the GWS module? Have any of you had any experience with this module? They wanted 1200 for the repair and I politely rejected.

[jeddo45]

Originally Posted by asiflicious

So I took my car in to BMW for my airbag recall and the shifter issue. I thought my aftermarket warranty would cover the shifter issue. It didn't. BMW said the issue was due to the GWS module? Have any of you had any experience with this module? They wanted 1200 for the repair and I politely rejected.

Doubt it's the GWS module. If it was, I don't think your car will start. Tear apart the console again. Something in the gear shifter is more than likely the issue especially that your paddle shifters still work.

[08135IFL]

Remove the white plastic shield off of the passenger side of the shifter base. Undo the black tape from the bundle of wires twisting around the 90° bends under the shield. I'd bet money some of the wires inside that bundle are broken. It's very common.

Carefully splice the broken wires back together, buy some heat shrink sleeves (put the sleeve on the wire before you splice) slide them over the newly connected wires and shrink them over the connection (I used a quick lighter flame). I actually cut and spliced additional wires that looked imperfect. Leave the wires bundled together but do not rewrap tightly in their original location. I left mine outside the shield. Reassemble the console after you verify it works (must connect all electrical plugs though)

Enjoy your DS mode again for an afternoon of work and literally a buck.

[asiflicious]

Originally Posted by jeddo45

Doubt it's the GWS module. If it was, I don't think your car will start. Tear apart the console again. Something in the gear shifter is more than likely the issue especially that your paddle shifters still work.

Yeah I looked it up after he told me and I should be having way more issues than just a missing DS mode if it was that module

[asiflicious]

Originally Posted by 08135IFL

Remove the white plastic shield off of the passenger side of the shifter base. Undo the black tape from the bundle of wires twisting around the 90° bends under the shield. I'd bet money some of the wires inside that bundle are broken. It's very common.

Carefully splice the broken wires back together, buy some heat shrink sleeves (put the sleeve on the wire before you splice) slide them over the newly connected wires and shrink them over the connection (I used a quick lighter flame). I actually cut and spliced additional wires that looked imperfect. Leave the wires bundled together but do not rewrap tightly in their original location. I left mine outside the shield. Reassemble the console after you verify it works (must connect all electrical plugs though)

Enjoy your DS mode again for an afternoon of work and literally a buck.

I'm going to carve out an afternoon and take another good look, thank you for that walk through

[08135IFL]

Mine went out at ~90k miles. The feeling of fixing it yourself for essentially free compared to paying the dealer $1,000 for a whole new assembly is just glorious for the soul. Good luck!

[asiflicious]

Originally Posted by 08135IFL

Mine went out at ~90k miles. The feeling of fixing it yourself for essentially free compared to paying the dealer $1,000 for a whole new assembly is just glorious for the soul. Good luck!

Mine went out at 30k miles. And yeah there's no better feeling than accomplishing something like that yourself

[asiflicious]

Okay so the weirdest thing just happened. I flashed MHD V8 and when I started my car and put it into drive, the car kept going into 3rd and wouldn't let me move. I then reflashed the car and same deal. Then I tried moving the shifter over to the left and lo and behold, it worked. I have my Sport mode and manual lever shift back. I don't know how or why. After that I drove around expecting to have transmission issues because of the whole starting in third thing but nope, car is shifting perfectly now and the M/S in back. Super bizarre. Any ideas?

[08135IFL]

Could be intermittent contact. Who knows. Give it time.

[Kheadley]

Originally Posted by asiflicious

Hey everyone, last night I was driving my 2010 135i along the highway and wanted to make a quick pass so I put the 6AT in DS mode and.. nothing happened. No DS indicator on the dash, no throttle/shift mapping difference, and the manual mode on the lever wasn't working. The paddles still work. My DS mode and manual mode are gone. I did a quick search on google and came across some posts from years back where some people said it was just a loose harness, others said they had to replace the entire shift assembly. Any ideas? I'm not really mechanically inclined at all so I don't know where to begin

It's most definitely the wires, there is a forum post on this. I guarantee that if you pull on some of the wires one will come loose. Every time you shift into ds mode that wire is pulled and will eventually rip. I had the same problem and ended up reconnecting the wire and it worked perfectly.

[asiflicious]

Originally Posted by Kheadley

It's most definitely the wires, there is a forum post on this. I guarantee that if you pull on some of the wires one will come loose. Every time you shift into ds mode that wire is pulled and will eventually rip.

It strangely started working again a couple weeks ago and it's still working now

[dsocold]

Originally Posted by asiflicious

It strangely started working again a couple weeks ago and it's still working now

everytine you flash a mhd map on the very first start the car starts in 3rd gear until you hit 4th then it goes down to 1st like normal....

dont wanna ruin your exciting moment of it comming back but it will break down again i already repaired mine 2 times its a very common issue and it is definetly whats causing your problem