Transmission Help!! "Ratio Upshift 4->5"

Hi all,

I am brand new to this forum, I don't know where else to turn...I bought my first BMW last October (2011). It's a 2005 530i. The car is perfect except this transmission problem..I have searched all over the internet, asked 3 of my mechanics to no avail. Here is the problem:

The car runs smooth, except when I try to floor it! When I push the 'pedal to the metal' the car seems like it does not change gears from 4th to 5th gear, and it trips out and does a "transmission malfunction" on me. I then have to pull over, turn off the car and turn it back to for the malfunction to go away. Other than this the car has no problem what so ever, the only solution I have to this is to drive it moderately, and not to floor it or give it extra power. One would never know this problem existed if driving "normal". But I didnt get a BMW to drive it speed limit!

When I had a scan done on it this the fault code:

P17E9
"Ratio Upshift 4->5"
"rationality check during gear shift in process"

Does anyone know what can be done to fix this problem? I don't want to sell the car, its really clean I've even done some mods. I truly hope it does not need another transmission

Thanks in advance for the help...and try to not go too hard on the rookie

Dealer can't reprogram the transmission/DME? Seems like a software issue to me.

I've reset the transmission a few times now, I also re-set (not sure what it's called) where the car/transmission re-learn all the gears. So i've done all the re-sets I could. I have no idea what is wrong, i've almost given up at this point after searching high and low for this.

How did you go about doing the resets?

Have you looked under the car for transmission fluid leaks? Not just on the ground but wet around the transmission?

We did an 'adaptation' reset and cleared the error

Originally Posted by AKPositive

We did an 'adaptation' reset and cleared the error

So..... What about leaks?

Interesting enough my 08 535 is experiencing the exact same thing (or 99% similar) like yours, with a tad more drama. The car accelerates fine until I try to floor it. As soon as I step on the pedal it starts to "hiccup" and won't down shift; at the same time the engine light comes on and the car starts to judder mildly. As soon as I let off the gas and go easy on the pedal, the engine light eventually turns off and the juddering disappears. I did the proverbial transmission adaptation reset routine; it didn't help.

I am going back to the dealership to have the car looked at next week; may have some updates to share afterward. I am keeping my fingers crossed that it's not something major.

Ben: I think you are having a different issue and nothing to do with a transmission problem.

You are experiencing a misfire which causes the "hiccup" and "judder" you describe. It is normal for it to go away after you stop and restart the car when it is caused by a high load on the engine such as an aggressive acceleration.

There are several easy remediation steps one can do on there own once you get the error code that caused the engine light to come on. Typically it is plug(s), coil pack(s), injector(s), intake carbon buildup or VANOS solenoid(s) need cleaned or replaced.

I am just north of you and the heat we are experiencing may also be an issue - not a good time to floor it in a turbo car

Jim

Thank you very much, Jim, for such great insight!! I am feeling better now that you give me these pointers. The car will still go back to the dealership this week and I can't wait; tiptoeing on the gas pedal is really annoying!

Update from the visit to dealership: they found two bad ignition coils, which cause engine misfire (Jim is right on!), and leaky mechatronic sleeve. Recommended replacing the sleeve, oil pan, gasket, filter and fluid; the whole 9 yards basically.

I gave the go-ahead for the work and asked to inspect the replaced parts. All told, $1,100 out of door.

What's worse, I am having to drive a 328 loaner until tomorrow.

Originally Posted by Bremen Ben

I gave the go-ahead for the work and asked to inspect the replaced parts. All told, $1,100 out of door.

My indy only charged me $623 for BG transmission flush and replace with new extended life fluid, replace plastic pan/filter and gasket, and mecha sleeve. So I figured I saved about 45% over what a dealer charges. I try to shoot for 50% to keep telling myself what a good shopper I am.

Originally Posted by racooper3

My indy only charged me $623 for BG transmission flush and replace with new extended life fluid, replace plastic pan/filter and gasket, and mecha sleeve. So I figured I saved about 45% over what a dealer charges. I try to shoot for 50% to keep telling myself what a good shopper I am.

Man that's a huge saving, and my hat off to you for being a good shopper!

Technically my dealership has also diagnosed and will replace the ignition coils; of course whether that is a $500 job in an equivalently capable indy shop is unknown to me.

My dealership is very convenient to me distance wise, unfortunate to me any decent indy shop is easily 5, 6 times the distance from me. With my work schedule these days I simply don't have the time to spare.

I figure I would set a price point for my service cost; once the cumulative service cost reaches that point, I would just trade the car in for a new one instead of keeping putting money into it. I love the car but the service call, under warranty or not, can sometimes get old.

The joy of BMW ownership!

Originally Posted by NoQuarter

So..... What about leaks?

Only leak we found is the Valve Cover that leaks. I'm getting that replaced today, have a super strong feeling that it's not going fix the problem

Again I'm not too savvy with car mechanics..I appreciate the responses guys, again this the only place I can think of that I can get help where I haven't already (I refuse to go to dealership, I have a feeling I'm going to pay a lot of money for them to tell me to replace the tranny)

As mentioned, the valve cover leak didnt fix the transmission (obviously).

No one has any knowledge on what this could be?

again error code is P17e9

Your problem is almost certainly a deteriorating mechatronics (valve assembly). If your car has 60K miles or so this is a known problem (see SIB 24 08 06). Ask your dealer to perform the mechatronics sleeve replacement in the SIB and that may solve the problem. Sometimes the fluid leak is so small it is not obvious. If that doesn't work have him install a Sonnax Zip Kit for the ZF transmission (mechatronics rebuild kit) and that should take care of it.

Originally Posted by MikeTz

Your problem is almost certainly a deteriorating mechatronics (valve assembly). If your car has 60K miles or so this is a known problem (see SIB 24 08 06). Ask your dealer to perform the mechatronics sleeve replacement in the SIB and that may solve the problem. Sometimes the fluid leak is so small it is not obvious. If that doesn't work have him install a Sonnax Zip Kit for the ZF transmission (mechatronics rebuild kit) and that should take care of it.

Nice, thank you Mike. Although I have absolutely no idea what you are talking about, this is the first "real" solution I have heard from my countless hours of researching this problem. My car has 98K miles so you are on point regarding that. I just texted my guy at the BMW dealer, am nervous to see how much its going to cost but at the same time excited for it to work.

Any idea on how much $$$ I'm looking at?

Originally Posted by AKPositive

Nice, thank you Mike. Although I have absolutely no idea what you are talking about, this is the first "real" solution I have heard from my countless hours of researching this problem. My car has 98K miles so you are on point regarding that. I just texted my guy at the BMW dealer, am nervous to see how much its going to cost but at the same time excited for it to work.

Any idea on how much $$$ I'm looking at?

At the top of the e60 forum you find a sticky thread on the Mechatronics replacement from ZF. The guy that posted the fix is a mechanic and said it was 4 hours of labor to install and $1500 for the part. If your car is under warranty, get the dealer to do the work. If not you can probably shop the replacement with another mechanic and do it all for under $2500. BMW dealer is likely around $3 to $4K to replace that mechatronic unit, drain fluids, pan/filter replacement, mecha sleeve, and new fluid. Hopefully you are under CPO or maint warranty.

So $150 later, the dealer performed a mechantronics sleeve replacemen tin the SIB but it did not solve the problem. I'm going to try thte Sonnax Zip Kit install next...hope it works or else i might just have to give up

Any idea on how much i should be expecting to spend on this? Thank you guys for all your help.

Originally Posted by AKPositive

So $150 later, the dealer performed a mechantronics sleeve replacemen tin the SIB but it did not solve the problem. I'm going to try thte Sonnax Zip Kit install next...hope it works or else i might just have to give up

Any idea on how much i should be expecting to spend on this? Thank you guys for all your help.

Does your car has steptronic system, meaning you can manually change the gears? Does changing gears 4->5 works then? If yes, then the problem is not mechanical, it is only electrical. If electrical, then the issue is related to mechatronic which can be replaced for about $2000 from outside (not the $tealers). But changing mechatronic is a difficult. If you are lucky, this could be a solenoid replacement or bad cabling issue as well. For now try the steptronic step to isolate mechanical or electrical issue. I had a very bizzare trans issue which I am still trying to diagnose and I hear and feel your pain (not that you might be interested but my problem is posted here http://www.bimmerfest.com/forums/sho...215&highlight= )

This could be your problem.
http://tis.spaghetticoder.org/s/view.pl?1/04/23/83