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      11-26-2011, 11:35 PM   #1
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Shift Paddles question

How do they work? I pulled the left and right ones randomly while driving around town/freeway - nothing happened. I could not find any set up in the iDrive. Any ideas?
Thanks!
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      11-26-2011, 11:50 PM   #2
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You need to move the shifter over to the left to engage "sport" mode prior to using the paddle shifters...
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      11-27-2011, 12:10 AM   #3
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Quote:
Originally Posted by MetaX View Post
You need to move the shifter over to the left to engage "sport" mode prior to using the paddle shifters...
I just went and tried that. I could use the shifter to change the gear from between M1 <-> M8 but paddle shifters did not thing to me. Should I bring the car to the BMW service?
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      11-27-2011, 12:18 AM   #4
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Quote:
Originally Posted by bmw4cal View Post
I just went and tried that. I could use the shifter to change the gear from between M1 <-> M8 but paddle shifters did not thing to me. Should I bring the car to the BMW service?
Hitting either of the steering wheel paddles should immediately invoke manual mode and execute a shift (even if the shift lever is NOT in the left, manual position). If you then do nothing, the car will go back to normal "Drive" mode after a few seconds.

If the shift lever is in the left, manual position, the paddles should work all the time and the car should stay in "Manual" mode.

Sounds like the paddles are not working at all and it's time for a trip back to your dealer.

Last edited by Lotus7; 11-27-2011 at 06:58 AM..
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      11-27-2011, 06:56 AM   #5
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The paddles will not allow you to over or under rev the engine. If you are cruising and in 8th gear, the right paddle won't do anything. When you shift using the paddles you see the gear displayed in the instrument panel.
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      11-30-2011, 04:09 PM   #6
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Car has been in dealer since Monday. They haven't figured out what's wrong. Paddes were replaced but still not working. They are waiting for a call from a BMW engineer from New Jersey...

Since the manual shifting works, it must be either paddle or wire issue, right? What do you experts think?
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      11-30-2011, 04:33 PM   #7
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Quote:
Originally Posted by bmw4cal View Post
Car has been in dealer since Monday. They haven't figured out what's wrong. Paddes were replaced but still not working. They are waiting for a call from a BMW engineer from New Jersey...

Since the manual shifting works, it must be either paddle or wire issue, right? What do you experts think?
Since they replaced the paddle(switches) and it still doesn't work it's more likely a steering column issue or possible a interface issue. The communication between the various controllers and inputs (engine controller and transmission controller) is via digital data buses. The paddles are interfaced to bus electronics so that's another possibility. The BMW engineers will suggest some tests and then (hopefully) get back with a solution.

Hope they gave you a nice loaner to drive.
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      11-30-2011, 07:19 PM   #8
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Quote:
Originally Posted by MetaX View Post
You need to move the shifter over to the left to engage "sport" mode prior to using the paddle shifters...

Not true. Will still shift when in the non-sport setting, but quickly reverts to "D" if you're not shifting to keep it where it thinks it should be.
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      11-30-2011, 08:21 PM   #9
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Lotus7 View Post
Since they replaced the paddle(switches) and it still doesn't work it's more likely a steering column issue or possible a interface issue.
euphemism for not plugged in.
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      11-30-2011, 11:26 PM   #10
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All of the above is pure speculation, including my own comments. It may be a simple cable connector that's not fully seated, a defective steering column connection, a defective bus interface at either end, or even a software issue in the transmission controller. It may be something entirely different.

If the BMW techs at your dealership, using BMW's advanced diagnostic hardware and software haven't been able to easily find the problem with access to the car and their diagnostic equipment, there's not a very high probability that the collective speculation of a bunch of guys who have never seen your car will do any better.

Good Luck and do keep us "speculators" informed.

Inside of the ZF GA8HP showing the planetary gears that those paddles ultimately control.
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      12-01-2011, 07:12 AM   #11
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Lotus7 View Post
All of the above is pure speculation, including my own comments. It may be a simple cable connector that's not fully seated, a defective steering column connection, a defective bus interface at either end, or even a software issue in the transmission controller. It may be something entirely different.

If the BMW techs at your dealership, using BMW's advanced diagnostic hardware and software haven't been able to easily find the problem with access to the car and their diagnostic equipment, there's not a very high probability that the collective speculation of a bunch of guys who have never seen your car will do any better.

Good Luck and do keep us "speculators" informed.

Inside of the ZF GA8HP showing the planetary gears that those paddles ultimately control.
.....so there! That told us Lotus...........bleeding true thought! Well said.
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      12-01-2011, 07:45 AM   #12
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It's a "brave New World" out there car wise. These new vehicles are so different from previous generations, that many of us (and most auto service techs) are familiar with, that diagnosing what would have been a relatively "simple" problem now involves tens of thousands of dollars worth of dedicated computing hardware that only the factory shops have access to, PLUS knowledge of very sophisticated computer and communication systems.

The cars are virtually impossible to modify in any serious way, and, as in this case, (and many more that have been discussed on this Forum) the dealer's Service Dept. employees "don't have a clue" and must communicate with some guy in Bavaria who may be only one of three people in the universe who understand some small aspect of the vehicle design well enough to come up with the solution.

Sorry for the rant, but I miss the "old days" when all you needed was a 12V. test light and a feeler gauge to set the "points" to get any car running.

Those days are gone forever.

Just try and buy a service manual for a X3. Not possible at any price.
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      12-01-2011, 10:39 AM   #13
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"Sorry for the rant, but I miss the "old days" when all you needed was a 12V. test light and a feeler gauge to set the "points" to get any car running.

Those days are gone forever."

I agree but so long as you are not referring to a British built car circa 1970-1980 - those were the dark days....
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      12-03-2011, 10:52 PM   #14
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Lotus7 View Post
It's a "brave New World" out there car wise. These new vehicles are so different from previous generations, that many of us (and most auto service techs) are familiar with, that diagnosing what would have been a relatively "simple" problem now involves tens of thousands of dollars worth of dedicated computing hardware that only the factory shops have access to, PLUS knowledge of very sophisticated computer and communication systems.

The cars are virtually impossible to modify in any serious way, and, as in this case, (and many more that have been discussed on this Forum) the dealer's Service Dept. employees "don't have a clue" and must communicate with some guy in Bavaria who may be only one of three people in the universe who understand some small aspect of the vehicle design well enough to come up with the solution.

Sorry for the rant, but I miss the "old days" when all you needed was a 12V. test light and a feeler gauge to set the "points" to get any car running.

Those days are gone forever.

Just try and buy a service manual for a X3. Not possible at any price.
Lotus, you seem to know a lot about BMW cars. Yes, the dealer's service dept had to wait for a couple of days for a special test equipment for 2012 X3; with that hey were able to identify some defected "module" between the paddles and the transmission controller yesterday. Now I have to wait 'till next Monday for a new part. It seems too much work for that "simple" wiring issue. One of my friends did add the shift paddles to his 2007 328i himself in 30 minutes. Wondering how much difference shift paddle wiring is between 2007 328i and 2012 X3
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      12-03-2011, 11:16 PM   #15
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Quote:
Originally Posted by bmw4cal View Post
Lotus, you seem to know a lot about BMW cars. Yes, the dealer's service dept had to wait for a couple of days for a special test equipment for 2012 X3; with that hey were able to identify some defected "module" between the paddles and the transmission controller yesterday. Now I have to wait 'till next Monday for a new part. It seems too much work for that "simple" wiring issue. One of my friends did add the shift paddles to his 2007 328i himself in 30 minutes. Wondering how much difference shift paddle wiring is between 2007 328i and 2012 X3
The ZF 8-speed in the X3 is a totally electronically controlled transmission and has a completely different interface. It's comparing apples with oranges. I really don't know, but I'd suspect that the ZF 8-speed interface is significantly harder to communicate with, hence the "module" between the paddles and the controller, unless the "module" they're referring to is the transmission controller itself which "sees" the console shift lever switches, but does not recognize the steering wheel paddle switches.

Most modern vehicles, including the F25 cars, are really a rather complicated computer networks on wheels that just happen to have an internal combustion engine and some tires. The way general computing is moving to the use of on-line "cloud" applications hosted on an unknown server half-way around the world away, it won't be long before the dealers will not have any need for any diagnostic equipment at all. When your car fails all of it's diagnostic data will be read by that remote cloud system and the repair instructions will be coughed back to the car. A technician, possibly a non-human robot device, will either repair your vehicle or stamp it unworthy of repair and separate it into it's component compounds for re-cycling and send you a bill for the replacement current new model, with credit, of course, for the components reclaimed from your old "heap".

As I said a few posts back "It's a Brave New World" and it's rapidly becoming "Braver". That's why I'm never going to sell my Lotus. It has only one microprocessor (controlling the fuel injection and ignition), and has no network connected to anything. A F25 has approximately (30) microprocessors or programmable gate arrays, depending on options. Which one do you think will have the higher probability of running 10 years from today?

Last edited by Lotus7; 12-03-2011 at 11:26 PM..
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      12-05-2011, 09:00 PM   #16
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Well, it was wiring issue as I have suspected. One pin of the connector was collapsed. It's sad to see that it took dealer 7 working days to fix it.
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      12-06-2011, 09:48 AM   #17
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At least you got it fixed.
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      12-06-2011, 11:05 AM   #18
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Quote:
Originally Posted by colson79 View Post
At least you got it fixed.
Of course they have to fix it or give me a new car since it only has less than 200 miles.
My point is that a decent mechanic would be able to trace the wire from paddles to the transmission controller and check out the connectors without waiting for "advanced" tester.
8 days of rental car + several hours of labor for this? Isn't it why BMW cars are expensive?
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      06-27-2014, 06:14 PM   #19
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Paddle shiftting problrms

Quote:
Originally Posted by bmw4cal View Post
How do they work? I pulled the left and right ones randomly while driving around town/freeway - nothing happened. I could not find any set up in the iDrive. Any ideas?
Thanks!
I have a similar problem with my paddle shifters on my BMW 328i.
Even in manual mode the upshift paddle won`t work. The gearbox is stucked in first gear and no matter how many time I pulled the paddle for the next gear, it won`t change to the next gear. Is very weird since it only happens some times. Any suggestions???
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      02-21-2021, 05:21 PM   #20
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Quote:
Originally Posted by joedimarzio View Post
I have a similar problem with my paddle shifters on my BMW 328i.
Even in manual mode the upshift paddle won`t work. The gearbox is stucked in first gear and no matter how many time I pulled the paddle for the next gear, it won`t change to the next gear. Is very weird since it only happens some times. Any suggestions???
Hi. I have a problem with just the BMW paddle shift on my F31 320 touring; it gradually got worse; started with left paddle shifting up instead of down; worse from cold; weird is when car fully warm; switch off (I.e pop to shop / fuel), start car & it’ll be ok when car’s fully warm! So.. I had a good internet scour & found a thread where they talk about the “clock spring” becoming worn; it’s the interface in your steering column that maintains connection to things like your paddles whilst allowing the wheel to fully turn; here’s the thread >> https://www.m3post.com/forums/showth...1#post27254761 <<
BMW call it something like: Instrument cluster switch control module
Youcannic has an article showing the procedure here: https://www.youcanic.com/article/clock-spring
Just ensure you’re confident; disconnect battery, have right tools & part, plan & record exact steps! My car is fully maintained & otherwise runs & performs perfectly
It seems fairly common for these clock spring assemblies to wear out; not just on BMW’s; across manufacturers. Good luck to anyone who reads this
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