[wazzuengineer]

Our 2012 X3 has less than 4k miles on it when driving home on the freeway from dinner with the family, the transmission slips and the engine revs up to 4500 rpm. Immediately, I get a "Transmission malfunction" alert that that I should drive moderately to the nearest BMW service center. Understanding that this was a bad place to pull over, we tried to make it to the next freeway exit when 3 minutes later the engine roars up to 5000 RPM again. I take my foot off the gas and slow to the shoulder while the engine revs wildly all the way up to 7000 RPM. I'm getting dual alerts of "Chassis destabilization" and "Drivetrain malfunction". Suddenly the car puts itself in park and locks the transmission. At this point, I smell transmission fluid and visibly see it leaking below the engine block.

After calling a cab to get the family home, the next surprise came when the tow truck couldn't even get the car on the flat bed, because the transmission is locked and wouldn't even release into neutral (this model has the all-electronic transmission). BMW roadside service says to use a dolly to lift all 4 wheels onto the flatbed. Because one wasn't available so the tow truck guy decides to grease the wheels with dish soap to slide it on to the bed. Amazingly, this works quite well.

A few days pass and the service center discovers that the transmission line popped off because of a failed seal and everything else checks out. The crazy engine revving was the computer trying to compensate for the low transmission fluid pressure. The service manager also said he's never seen this happen on this model before and thinks it's a 1-off event.

Has anyone else seen this kind of thing before? Considering the car is so new, I can't help but worry about what other problems might be lurking.

[wazzuengineer]

Originally Posted by Radioactive

Remember each problem is normally an independent event. So a problem with one thing does not mean a problem with other things. Get it fixed and your X3 may just run fine for many years.

Thanks. I'll try and remain level headed here and not worry that the good folks in S.C. planted a bunch of Easter eggs for me to discover.

My initial worry was that this was just a symptom of another problem (i.e. and increase fluid pressure from another source for another unknown reason). I'll report back if the problem resurfaces.

Thanks!

[plob]

Just curious, was this a 'regular' tow truck or the folks from BMW assist?
The reason I ask is that the auto box should have an emergency release lever and adjusting screw on it to allow a service engineer to free up a transmission that is locked in Drive. It is located on the box itself and appears to be accessible only from underneath the vehicle (not from inside the cabin).

A BMW engineer should have known about the emergency release.

[sfax]

Originally Posted by wazzuengineer

The service manager also said he's never seen this happen on this model before and thinks it's a 1-off event.

Has anyone else seen this kind of thing before?

I've not seen anything as specific as this problem on this forum before so it could be a one-off. I hope they get it sorted for you quickly.

[wazzuengineer]

Originally Posted by plob

Just curious, was this a 'regular' tow truck or the folks from BMW assist?
The reason I ask is that the auto box should have an emergency release lever and adjusting screw on it to allow a service engineer to free up a transmission that is locked in Drive. It is located on the box itself and appears to be accessible only from underneath the vehicle (not from inside the cabin).

A BMW engineer should have known about the emergency release.

This was the tow truck that BMW assist dispatched. The tow company was not told that the transmission was locked. I called BMW assist again after the tow truck arrived and BMW assist made no mention of the emergency release, which is interesting.

After chatting with the towing company, they said they've been towing 2012 4x4 models (of various manufacturers) all day. Many of the models with electronic transmissions have this locking problem when they fail, and the process of unlocking them is pretty complicated to the point that the towers don't want the liability, which is why they use dolly's or grease the wheels with dish soap to flatbed them.

[Zitdoc]

Originally Posted by sfax

I've not seen anything as specific as this problem on this forum before so it could be a one-off. I hope they get it sorted for you quickly.

Can anyone tell me where the screw is located to reactivate the transmission on a 2013 x3xdrive 2.8
I bought the car and when it was delivered to me from out of state the transmission was deactivated
How do I reset it
Also the parking brake was also deactivated.
How can I reset the parking brake
PLEASE HELP
DUANE

[02420X3]

Originally Posted by Zitdoc

Can anyone tell me where the screw is located to reactivate the transmission on a 2013 x3xdrive 2.8
I bought the car and when it was delivered to me from out of state the transmission was deactivated
How do I reset it
Also the parking brake was also deactivated.
How can I reset the parking brake
PLEASE HELP
DUANE

Huh?

How do you have an X3 with an inop transmission and parking brake???

These are issues that I've never heard of.

You need one of two things, either a visit to a BMW dealer service department, or, strange as it may sound, a battery charge.

[Zitdoc]

It's a longer story. I bought it from an insurance broker The auto transporter told me before he could load it they had to have a BMW tech come by and deactivate the transmission and parking brake so he could haul it
The car was a salvage flood car so Im sure I have other issues but I've cleaned up the circuit boards and recharged the battery. The battery shows 100% charge I'll probably need a new ecu but for now I at least want to get my transmission and brake reset. Thanks

[Want the thrill]

Originally Posted by Zitdoc

It's a longer story. I bought it from an insurance broker The auto transporter told me before he could load it they had to have a BMW tech come by and deactivate the transmission and parking brake so he could haul it
The car was a salvage flood car so Im sure I have other issues but I've cleaned up the circuit boards and recharged the battery. The battery shows 100% charge I'll probably need a new ecu but for now I at least want to get my transmission and brake reset. Thanks

Do you mean they put the X3 in transportation mode? That is what they do when they ship them from the factory. If that is the case, it can be taken out of transportation mode at the dealer.

[Booty]

Glad everyone was ok and I hope it's all sorted soon for you.

[02420X3]

Originally Posted by Zitdoc

It's a longer story. I bought it from an insurance broker The auto transporter told me before he could load it they had to have a BMW tech come by and deactivate the transmission and parking brake so he could haul it
The car was a salvage flood car so Im sure I have other issues but I've cleaned up the circuit boards and recharged the battery. The battery shows 100% charge I'll probably need a new ecu but for now I at least want to get my transmission and brake reset. Thanks

I wonder if what the tech did on the transmission was to force it into Neutral? This is done by tightening a set screw up against a lever on the left side of the transmission. Loosening the set screw would appear to reverse the process.

Look at the Sticky Post by Plymjack at the top of the forum, specifically the Powertrain document. You'll find a helpful picture on Page 11 of that document. Note that you may need to remove a plastic underbody panel to get to the transmission.

[noka]

Originally Posted by 02420X3

I wonder if what the tech did on the transmission was to force it into Neutral? This is done by tightening a set screw up against a lever on the left side of the transmission. Loosening the set screw would appear to reverse the process.

Look at the Sticky Post by Plymjack at the top of the forum, specifically the Powertrain document. You'll find a helpful picture on Page 11 of that document. Note that you may need to remove a plastic underbody panel to get to the transmission.

I believe there's also a mechanical procedure for disengaging the parking brake when power is lost.

[SherryK CT]

Originally Posted by wazzuengineer

Our 2012 X3 has less than 4k miles on it when driving home on the freeway from dinner with the family, the transmission slips and the engine revs up to 4500 rpm. Immediately, I get a "Transmission malfunction" alert that that I should drive moderately to the nearest BMW service center. Understanding that this was a bad place to pull over, we tried to make it to the next freeway exit when 3 minutes later the engine roars up to 5000 RPM again. I take my foot off the gas and slow to the shoulder while the engine revs wildly all the way up to 7000 RPM. I'm getting dual alerts of "Chassis destabilization" and "Drivetrain malfunction". Suddenly the car puts itself in park and locks the transmission. At this point, I smell transmission fluid and visibly see it leaking below the engine block.

After calling a cab to get the family home, the next surprise came when the tow truck couldn't even get the car on the flat bed, because the transmission is locked and wouldn't even release into neutral (this model has the all-electronic transmission). BMW roadside service says to use a dolly to lift all 4 wheels onto the flatbed. Because one wasn't available so the tow truck guy decides to grease the wheels with dish soap to slide it on to the bed. Amazingly, this works quite well.

A few days pass and the service center discovers that the transmission line popped off because of a failed seal and everything else checks out. The crazy engine revving was the computer trying to compensate for the low transmission fluid pressure. The service manager also said he's never seen this happen on this model before and thinks it's a 1-off event.

Has anyone else seen this kind of thing before? Considering the car is so new, I can't help but worry about what other problems might be lurking.

I am new to this forum and read this post!...My 2014 X3 has less than 600 miles on it. I have had it since June 2014 and bought it with 6 miles on it. Pristine.

Yesterday I am driving home and the 'drivetrain malfunction' light comes on and says I should go to service center to fix and to drive slow. Of course in a 4 week old car I thought perhaps the indicator was out of whack. THEN it flashes again in about 5 seconds and the car is in neutral...I cant accelerate. The engine is revving. I seriously hate to think what would have happened if I was on a highway with trucks behind me with no pull off. Like where I had been 15 minutes prior.

I pulled off the road into a parking lot and the car would not go into drive or reverse. BMW assist (who I thought I might not have to contact this early!) was great and sent a flatbed and went to the dealer. While waiting I noticed there was transmission fluid puddling out from under neath and was all sprayed on the drivers side door and the back end (probably from driving on the highway for an hour prior).. Same issues as first poster..can't get it on the truck and then theyy could not get it off at the dealership. transmission is now locked.

So dealer says today that the transmission coolant lines failed, rubbed together to release them or something. That clips or 'holders' were not on the car so it might be oversight in manufacturing. The transmission is fine (yeah? right?). There is an investigative case now with my VIN with BMW to see what happened during production. It will take 5 business days to get the parts from Germany, so I insisted on at least a 3series to drive during the wait. Which I got. They told me they will have more info once the parts come in and they can fully check out the transmission. If 'worse came to worse' they would replace the whole transmission. Of note I smelled no burning tranny fluid and it was still clear.

So help me out there all you motor savvy folks. I am scared to death the tranny is injured and/or this might happen again. I don't know if I can insist on a replacement X3 at this point. Do I trust this vehicle and the tranny? I think I trust the dealer...my second BMW there. But I feel like with cars and being female I get taken advantage of easily sometimes.

After this post, did the original poster ever have problems like this again once fixed? Problems with transmission? What is the outcome?

Thoughts out there from anyone as to if I should be very concerned or 'things like this happen sometimes'

Thanks in advance for any feedback.

***************************************

update after repair:

Ok the BMW head service guy explained to me today when I picked up my X3 that during assembly, there were clips or holders that were left off the transmission line that went from the tranny to the radiator. As a result the connections between the two were fine but the line was rubbing against the driver side wheel well and caused a hole and then rupture.

The tranny is fine since any damage was prevented with the car shutting down due to 'no' or 'low' pressure with the tranny fluid 'sensor' in the car. Line and other parts replaced..tranny fluid drained, flushed and refilled. Test drive = ok.
The service manager took my email and will send me photos. Offered to have me come in in 500 miles and put the car on the lift where we can both look and see if there are any issues or leaks. I told him I would take him up on it.

As far as extended warranty on drivetrain/tranny, he said to go to BMW NA to see if they could do anything; but if in 45K miles after warranty runs out (my warranty will run out with time and not miles), and there is a transmission problem, it will be considered under warranty. Not sure about that. Something about a a courtesy warranty or something (I can't remember the term) ...of course no paperwork on that. But that the 'incident' is in the system and will be picked up with future problems. I plan on calling BMW NA and sending an email to at least get me in that customer service system for future possible events.

So we will see. If it is a line mishap during manufacturing, I bet there are other X3's out there manufactured the same day that might have the same 'clips' missing. hmmmm....

Just thought I would update this in case anyone has this problem. The car did not blow up on the way home..good thing. Will try to remember to update in a while after say 600 miles when I bring it in on the lift.

Take care and I welcome comments here. Man I do love this car though! :-)

Safe travels BMW lovers!!!!

[Roundown]

The ZF8 is a pretty sophisticated, self-preserving transmission. You should be fine.

That said, you could try and ask for an new car-matching extend warranty on the tranny, particularly if they replace it.

[Pitiful Old Man]

Originally Posted by Want the thrill

Do you mean they put the X3 in transportation mode? That is what they do when they ship them from the factory. If that is the case, it can be taken out of transportation mode at the dealer.

No, Transport Mode is set at the factory prior to shipping. When in transport mode, nearly all computer functions and power consuming devices are disabled so as to avoid battery drain prior to customer delivery. The dealer then performs some magic to return the vehicle to "operating" mode.

Not sure what all the trouble is with towing. The soap approach sounds pretty clever but I believe that instructions for releasing the transmission/transfer case are in the owner's manual. It does mean, however, accessing the underside of the vehicle, something that may not always be practical (a crash on a busy highway, for example).

[plymjack]

OT ...but it never ceases to amaze me how much knowledge is out there, I love the ZF8 and agree it is sophisticated but never realised it was so self preserveringly good! ! (Never had an Auto before and would never go back!)

[MikeJoseph]

Hey guys, after I coded my 2013 328i sport plus this msg popped up. I didn't see it again but next day when I going to park for some reason R was flashing so I moved to N and R I tried it 2:3 times after was shifting fine any ideas what's going on?