Step transmission rough gear changes
 

Hi,

I have 318ti compact 2001. It comes with step/tiptronic transmission. Recently it has developed some weird issue that seem to happen only on cold mornings.

Little ( ! ) comes up by the D (! inside the gear) and gear change is very quick and rough. I have bluetooth odb2 scanner with torque on my android, however it shows no errors even though ( ! ) shows. If i leave the car for few hours and drive it back home on the afternoon when its a lot warmer transmission works fine.

I havent had auto/step/tiptronic transmission before, so i dont know where to start on this one. I was thinking maybe replacing tran. oil and filter see if that helps, however the problem occurs only in the morning which makes me think that there is some sort of temp sensor somewhere or something that is not working.

Any ideas would be appreciated!

Cheers!

How many mikes has it done?

Need to start with the ATF fluid, get it replaced.

Check your MAF sensor, if it's poor it will cause the gearbox to malfunction. Don't forget the gearbox needs information from MAF to function effectively.

The aftermarket bluetooth accessory u installed might be conflicting with the gearbox module. Yes there is a TSB on that! U may try to remove it and see if it help.

Last but not the least plug a scanner on the gearbox module and see if there is a fault code.

I'm hoping to get ATF replaced over the weekend; I'm unable to find any information (service manual etc) on my car. I couldn't even find a dipstick to check the level. Before I bough the car they have replaced MAF because it was giving check engine light when i took it for a spin. I'm sure they wouldnt buy new one (stealership), they probably got second hand MAF. But if MAF caused this wouldnt it cause my obd scanner to show fault?
The reason I bough obd scaner was the gear box playing up so I dont think it would cause any issues.

Car has done just over 50k km which I dont think is much.

There r no dipstick on these vehicles, I think it's best you check the fault code on the gearbox control module before u start throwing money on stuffs. Also have u tried removing the Bluetooth kit? They interfere with th g/b module especially if your car still have the unmodified module from BMW. Ignoring maf sensor can cost u your gearbox they don't always throw codes. I learned this myself.

FYI, you can't read gearbox code through the obd port! They have their own port and it requires a dedicated and much complex software to read them. The obd is only for emission related issues. The symptoms u r having sound Like the bands are slipping inside the box. Like I said take it to a place where they are capable of reading the gb module and see what can be done from there

Are you sure? I was reading codes from my gearbox, air bags etc. via obd2 on my VW. I just needed VAG-COM not just any odb2 scanner. Here in NZ they want arm and leg for checking codes. Last time I checked it was just over $100 for a quick scan, plus they use cheapo chinese scanners that sometimes even can't connect, which for mechanic is "no erros found" still $100 to pay. It was the main reason why I bough vag-com for my vw. Is there anything similar for bmw? :banghead:

I never heard of bands (i just did some research on wiki on them), sounds like if they are slipping or are broken etc etc. it would require whole gearbox to be removed and which sounds like $$$$$$$$. Probably more than the car is worth based on current kiwi attitude to European cars of "oh he drives euro... thats an extra 200% to the price".

Yeah am sure had bands slipping on my 330i gradually until I lost drive totally. I had to replace the gb. U can take it back to the dealer and see if they can help with the cost, or u can try the breaker yards for a used gb.

Can you give me crash course on bands and why would they only play up in cold (cold is 10-15 degrees Celsius)

to be honest i am not technically into autos but mine worked when cold but once it warms it just act like its in neutral. it may be that when the oil warms up it become thinner and wont give much resistance than when cold

I see, my gut feeling tells me that it wouldn't be bands. Simply because it sounds mechanical. Therefore my problem would occur everytime I drive. I will however take it into consideration when I do my troubleshooting. :tsk:

Has anyone here replaced ATF in automatic transmission? I wonder how hard it is. I replaced engine oil/filters and it was a lot easier compared to my other cars. I have never done any work on transmissions though. Do I need any special tools before I dig into it?

Hi everyone,

I has been a while, however I have finally made some progress on my problem with the gear box. I managed to get inpa working. Cleared codes last night and drove to work this morning (got same issue with gear lighting up and very rough gear changes). Anyway, got to work and checked my laptop and here is what i got:

CDKLM 2783 - Hot-film air mass meter

Error rate: 1
Logistics: 40

Mileage: 53130 km
Motor speed: 2240.00 min
Intake air temperature (Tan): 19.50 degrees C
DK angle rel. DK-on connections. (wdkba): 40.40% DK
ADC HFM (adhfm): 1.63 V

Signal above threshold or a short circuit to positive test conditions met
Error not occurred so far
Error would not cause a warning lamp lights up

Error Code: 01 27 83 01 01 01 28 14 C1 38 5A 67 53 FF FF FF
FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF

Note: Google translator deciphered it for me ;)

When I was buying my car check light was on. So I got my dealer to fix it. I think he just took MAF from one of this other cars (318 sedan i think it was) and put it in this one. Check light went away though. So I'm not sure if this is referring to the same unit.

My real question is would this cause gear box to behave the way it is?

If u recall from my first post I said u should check your maf sensor. The reason being the steptronic gearbox module read signals from the maf sensor to determine how best to apply gear changes. If the maf is faulty it will be confused and not work properly.
Some ppl fail to c the connection between steptronic and maf sensor but there is a strong connection.
Glad u finally got it sorted. Contracts.

Sent from my Desire HD using Bimmer App

Yup, You are right. I couldn't believe that MAF would cause this because it has been replaced before I purchased the car. Now I know for sure. I did some research and there are some cheapo on ebay (non genuine for) and some genuine. Massive price differences though. $80 (with shipping for n/gen.) and probably around $200+ for genuine. Would you know if its worth investing into genuine one? :tsk:
sorry for being such a pain in the a** :facepalm:

I think it's better in the long run to use the genuine maf sensor. I haven't used the non genuine ones try searching the forum and see if anyone has. You can also check out Hyundai sonata i think their maf is the same as the e46 except the 330i and they go for around $80 or so.

Just an update. I have replaced camshaft position sensor (intake) and maf. No more error codes.
However, despite having no errors car behaves weirdly.
When I try to lets say join the traffic (so quickly accelerate), it seems like it doesn't want to accelerate, its is very sluggish. Almost caused an accident couple of times already trying to join a busy traffic when my car wouldn't accelerate until raves got higher (around 2k rpm). It only happens sometimes.

I though that camshaft position sensor replacement would fix this issue. Is there anything else I should look at?

Hi Friend. I know its been a month since your post, and don't know where you are on it... but I have the feeling your problem may have gotten better by now?
You mentioned you replaced the MAF, when you do that, you're supposed to reset the adaptive values for that in the DME. The DME will adjust itself as far as it can to comensate for the readings from MAF, and if it was bad, I am sure it had adapted quite heavily., So when you put on the new part, it still has adpative values from the old.
It will eventually re adpapt, but may run like hell and could cause other probs.
You mentioned you had INPA, and got the codes from there, you are also able to do this with INPA...
Also, the codes you read were engine codes, you do not mention that you read the EGS (transmission codes).. If you went to failsafe, there are some stored there. (they will still be in there if you didn't clear them)

I did have a question, as I am trying to solve a similiar issue after rebuilding trans... , How did you know to change CPS sensor? What was the reason you changed it? and has the transmission issue gone away? or still more probs?

Please update!... thanks.~!

I am chasing down an issue, after my trans was rebuilt and drove fine for a week, I am now getting gear monitoring (gear ratio) codes,.. the trans was checked out of the car and shown to be fine.

Even the dealership said I need another trans!.. but I confirmed that they did not check anything other than drive it and read the codes I already told them it had..

I know it is a computer or possibly solenoid problem., but chasing it down is very time consuming. thanks!

vanos

I'm having the same issues. When I'm driving on the street and let go of the gas coming to a stop light it would go in limp more and I would get the trans indicator malfunction light.
What people have suggested so far and what I've seen is:
1.replace transmission
2.new tcm
3.update/coding tcm/
4.replace maf

So my question is what is the real problem?ive yet to see an answer to this solution without people dumping money and still not fixing the problem.