DCT Shift Lever Fault...

[a.wang]

On my way home from Manhattan going up the West Side Highway, cruising in 7th gear, S5, and all of a sudden the gear selector goes dark. Dash and iDrive lit up with the shift lever icon, saying "Possible Selector Lever Fault, You can continue your journey, proceed with caution... etc."

First thought: not another god damn problem. Car just got back to me after a nightmare of engine issues 3 weeks ago.

Tried using the paddles, no response. The screen where it usually has the selected gear number is blank. Car is still in drive surprisingly, so I limp the rest of the way home. I pull in and try reverse, nothing. Neutral, nothing. Shut the car off, probably goes straight into park but after restarting minutes later, I now cant get it into ANY gear. 10 minutes go by and curious me decides to give it another restart, and I get an Service Engine Light and an engine icon on the dash (?!?!?), check the fault page and it says Increased Emissions (?!?!!?) This cant possibly be linked to the shift lever fault....

I have not a single clue as to why this is happening. My car was just in for engine warranty work (injector failure, leading to toasted plugs, contaminated oil with fuel, leading to a toasted VANOS solenoid, oil got into cylinders, leading to a bunch of oil being dumped into cats and exhaust).

Has anyone gotten this lever fault? It flat out wont work, like the entire mechanism is just off. Its obviously going to the dealer once again, but I couldnt find anything with the search.

Here are some pics I just took:









You can probably barely tell, but the LED's in the shift knob are off.

[Jremmy]

Same thing happened to me a few months ago...

Was downshifting using the DCT shift lever on the freeway at night from 6->5 and got that alarm. Car still shifted on it's own, but paddles and lever weren't working. Limped home and parked her overnight. Next morning, error was gone and DCT was back to normal. I had it checked out at the dealer and they had to replace a faulty module. Was a pretty quick fix. Good luck!!!

[a.wang]

Originally Posted by Jremmy

Same thing happened to me a few months ago...

Was downshifting using the DCT shift lever on the freeway at night from 6->5 and got that alarm. Car still shifted on it's own, but paddles and lever weren't working. Limped home and parked her overnight. Next morning, error was gone and DCT was back to normal. I had it checked out at the dealer and they had to replace a faulty module. Was a pretty quick fix. Good luck!!!

Did you remember getting an SES and Increased Emissions warning too?

[Jremmy]

Originally Posted by awong

Did you remember getting an SES and Increased Emissions warning too?

There was definitely no Increased Emissions warning, but I'm running a tune so I'm not sure if that comes into play or not. Good luck!

[Spyris]

any updates?

[a.wang]

Originally Posted by Spyris

any updates?

Originally Posted by Lute

DCT Shift Lever Fault
Attachment 934168


MT Shift Lever Fault
Attachment 934169

Lmaooooo. Reason #120923049809823 why I should have just gotten a manual.


Apologies for the lack of update... The car started the next day and got into gear surprisingly enough, but I still had that increased emissions fault which still made no sense. Dropped it off at the dealer the same day (BMW of Tenafly) and of course it took them like 4 days to diagnose the problem and barely let me know what was going on.

I ended up having to call the guy to get updates myself on the car while waiting. He claims that the emissions fault was caused by the DCT Module malfunction, and that it just spewed out a couple codes. They had to order a new module (not including the stick) and recode the car to install it. Didnt know it needed an ECU flash for just a module installation, but he said it needs to be paired or coded with the rest of the car to work. I guess...

Ended up losing all my codes that I had on the car, just simple ones for windows, mirrors, lights and whatnot. Havent found the time to find someone to redo them for me, and its killing me. You never really realize how much better life is after the car has been coded until you lose ALL of them.

Car seems to be fine now, no issues as of yet but knowing my car, something will come up within a few weeks. Thank god I'm still under warranty.



TL;DR - Went into dealer, got new DCT Module installed, car works fine now.

[KevinTorresm3]

Hey Guys,

Having similar symptoms, First the lever fault then while driving the Dct aggressiveness would go do as I down shifted. I stopped at a light then every light came on, so I pull over turn it off turn it back on and it wouldn't let me go into any gear and the windshield wipers would not turn off. I try to turn it back on and it would just Crank and wouldn't start. tried it a couple more times and it stopped cranking. Checked the battery and alternator they were good. Towed it to my boys shop after connected to the reader and it would not recognize the Dme. So im thinking it Dme related or something. Any ones else run into this issue?

Please let me know, Thanks

-Kev

[JoshNeal68]

Hate to revive an old thread, but want to spread information that I’ve learned and hopefully others can learn from it.

I initially got this error, followed by a multitude of errors that usually show with a dying battery. Replaced the battery, and every error went away with the exception of the DCT shift level. I noticed I had no lights in my shift knob, but I thought that it was just a software glitch with the new battery change. After realizing that clearing the codes did nothing, I decided to tear apart the actual DCT module to see what was going on in there.

Without cracking the module open, I saw the bottom of the module (in between the module and its rubber “holder”) was water. Open up the module and there’s water all over, resembling condensation. I took some napkins and a Q tip to dry the water and clean the small amounts of corrosion on the board inside of the module, which worked to get the car moving again until a replacement comes in the mail in a few days.

[Redd]

Interesting info. I do notice that my center console around the shift lever does get wet with condensation when I drive with windows open and ac on. I believe the aircon flows thru the center console to the rear air vents. I guess we need to watch out for condensation in the DCT lever unit now.

[amg6975]

The AC drain tube is just forward of the GWS so that could be plugged. The whole heater assembly just sits on a rubber grommet that is a pseudo check valve so if it got plugged it would definitely leak out towards the GWS.

Not easy to get to, easiest is probably from underneath, it's dead center of the tunnel above the trans.

[Bmwdoubles_]

Originally Posted by amg6975

The AC drain tube is just forward of the GWS so that could be plugged. The whole heater assembly just sits on a rubber grommet that is a pseudo check valve so if it got plugged it would definitely leak out towards the GWS.

Not easy to get to, easiest is probably from underneath, it's dead center of the tunnel above the trans.

This is a the likely answer. So even if it seemly fixed itself the next day the problem will return because moisture is getting on the connection of the shifter.

Lift the center cover off, remove the foam around the shifter and look at the bottom plug to the shifter lever. There is likely rust on the connection. This is due to the ac drain dumping water on the center console for various reasons. Could have clogged drain or worse, like mine the whole drain disconnected. The moisture execelrates if you run the ac and the windows rolled down. The humidity builds a ton of fluid around the condenser and then dumps water on the carpet if the drain isn’t working.

Feel for moisture on the driver or passenger side. The temp resolve is don’t drive with ac on and windows open and keep the air dry and recycled. Even then moisture can build. I only found this out after two expense dealer fixes and the dealer finally told me the secret in a private text. I guess they were avoiding a recall and knew all along.