E60 525i SMG gearbox issues

[Alanmcgrath40]

Bit of a long shot, but a friend has a 2005 E60 525i with an SMG gearbox. It's been throwing up a fault on the dash saying only R, N, 1, 2, 3 available drive with caution. If he leaves the car off for a while it clears itself and it could be weeks without it popping up again. He used a basic scanner but it's not giving any code just show "unspecified error".

I don't have any experience with these gearboxes other than the SMG 2 in my E46 and to be honest I didn't even know you could get one in the E60 outside of the M5. Im thinking its possibly the gear position sensor, but I said I'd have a ask here first to see if anyone has any experience with this gearbox? Cheers.

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[Big H]

Don't know if you got sorted, but with BMW's, the Auto & SMG gearboxes can be very susceptible to low voltage batteries and throw all sorts of tantrums/failsafes/codes.

The fact that it's intermittent, the first thing I'd do is test the battery & alternator - if the battery is a few years old (even if showing healthy), I'd still replace it.

[ecooney]

I’m currently diagnosing an issue on the E60 M5 where certain gears are not selectable all the time. I have it where the pump keeps priming when the car heats up and giving similar errors where certain gears are not selectable. First port of call is the pump relays (the easiest fix) and then next onto diagnosing the pump and accumulator. On the SMG on the M5 there are selector solenoids also where the o-rings go bad and cause issues. Could be worth checking the pressures when each gear is selected.


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[Alanmcgrath40]

Cheers for the replies. He changed the battery as it was getting on, but that didn't solve the problem. I plugged it in with my scanner and it showed a fault with the shift travel sensor, part 6 in the diagram.


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