740i Shifter

I have a 2000 740i and I'm digging into a steptronic issue. Since I bought the car (recently) I have only been able to use Drive on the shifter. When I kick the shifter to the left, nothing happens... No red M light and nothing on the dash (just D). When I look under the wood shift plate, I see one end of the shift display plate has two wires coming out of it and are not connected to anything. Is this the problem.? Is there a fuse involved or is the little black switch I see at the base of the shifter a possible problem? Any suggestions are greatly appreciated.

Havn't had to repair mine yet. Is there a switch the lever hits in 'M' mode? Is it damaged? Is it connected? Could a PO crossed up some wires? You may need to download a wiring diagram. A careful look round may solve your problem. If you join those wires does the 'M' light come on?

There is a little switch at the base of the shifter that closes when the shift to manual is made ( it looks ok. However I went to BMW yesterday to try to replace and he couldn't find it on the parts screen. The two wires that come out of the back of the shift display go into a female connector...but no male for it to connect to. I've seen this connector connected to the male on used shifters on the Internet. Where can I find a wiring diagram? Thanks!

I went out to check the shifter and to fish for the missing wires under the console and I found them tucked away. I connected them up and, presto, the manual indicators came alive on shifter and dashboard. Thanks for pointing out the obvious. Now we'll see if someone disconnected them for a reason.

The obvious can only be seen from here, not from there! Hope it all goes well for you. Maybe the PO wanted to drop the performance as it was driven by son or wife. Maybe he was just bad at putting things back together!!

I think you are right. Cleaning out the car I found evidence of a granny driver. Controls could have been confusing to her. Thanks for sparking my neurons.