740iL shift lever indent to Reverse not working - solved

[Legoman]

Has anyone had this issue before? Speeds limits where I live are so archaic and so heavily enforced that my normal gearbox driving position is with the gear lever in 4 as opposed to D. Reason being that D in my car offers virtually no noticeable engine braking at all and on the streets where I drive, traffic lights are so frequent that having no engine braking at all is a bit of an inconvenience. The car also has a desire to get to fifth gear very quickly and then hangs onto it for as long as humanly possible using the engine's torque to full effect ignoring completely the rev range. This results in an engine that barely even breaks 1,500rpm of its 6,000-odd rev range. The internal carbon build up after many years of being driven like this is substantial and not very pretty when replacing the EGR valve a while back.

I only allow the gearbox into 5th gear at constant speeds above 90km/h which basically only means the freeway where I live, and even then only when there isn't much other traffic. Hence, when driving like this, there are two indents to get through to put the car into N for parking in my flat garage. 4-indent-D-indent-N. Fortunately, both of these indents do not require a button pull to get through, so it's a simple case of just knocking the lever forward to take the load off the torque converter + gearbox before switching the engine off to park it up sitting on the handbrake.

Recently though I've noticed, the indent against pushing the lever straight through to R has not been working reliably when pushing the lever straight through from 4 all the way through the three indents... 4-D-N-R. This results in putting the gearbox straight from 1st gear in 4, to reverse, which probably isn't very good for the gearbox and will be even worse for the inside of my garage door if my car suddenly starts creeping backwards when I think I've left the car in Neutral.

I notice that if I gently push the lever slowly forwards one indent at a time, that the safety indent against Reverse requiring the button pull, does work, but not if just quickly knocking it forward all the way from 4.

I suspect a hard, sharp corner of a pawl mechanism has been worn away somewhere allowing the notch to be skipped under rapid movement. Does that sound right? Has anyone else encountered this before and knows of a fix they could share? I want to be able to reliably & quickly move the lever from whatever forward gear I'm currently in, to Neutral, but without accidentally engaging Reverse on the way through.

[whiskychaser]

Most of the locking is actually done by the indent at the gearbox end. That is a lot stronger than the one at the lever end. Adjust your shift cable until you are satisfied it is spot on. If that doesn't sort it, take the gear lever knob off and pull out the plastic pull rod which runs down the centre. It is shaped like a soldering iron at the bottom - but with a square tip. As you say, that bit can wear so it doesn't lock properly. You can put a new point on it with a file but if you go silly or it is too far gone you will need a new one. Part number is 25161219755.

[Legoman]

take the gear lever knob off and pull out the plastic pull rod which runs down the centre. It is shaped like a soldering iron at the bottom - but with a square tip. As you say, that bit can wear so it doesn't lock properly. You can put a new point on it with a file but if you go silly or it is too far gone you will need a new one. Part number is 25161219755.

That's great, thanks! I'll have a go at that and see if I can fix it. OK, I've removed the handle now. The pull rod end is metal but protruding through the middle and exiting the end of the metal is a square shaped plastic tip that can be rotated with your finger nails indicating it is a separate piece inserted through the centre of the metal tip. I imagine this is the rubbing piece that contacts against the pawl mechanism to provide the movement indents without having a noisy metal to metal contact interface.

The problem I have is that I don't know what a brand new one is supposed to look like to be able to judge how worn this one is. Can anyone tell me by looking at the following photographs? The depth of that plastic tip protruding beyond the end of the metal sleeve is just over 1mm. Best estimate is ~1.2mm

Another thing I've noticed over time that may indicate excess wear, is that the button does not need to be pulled very far at all anymore to overcome the lockout indents in lever movement. Only a very cursory/casual touch of the button is required to move the lever into the lockout indent protected positions.

IMG_1502.jpgIMG_1505.jpg

[shogun]

ETK with my VIN says 25161219755 L=121MM to July 1992
the plastic tip is much wider than in your pics, see here https://www.ecstuning.com/b-genuine-...d/25161219755/

same p/n is also used on E32 740, 735, 750 and many other BMW

[Legoman]

ETK with my VIN says 25161219755 L=121MM to July 1992
the plastic tip is much wider than in your pics, see here https://www.ecstuning.com/b-genuine-...d/25161219755/

same p/n is also used on E32 740, 735, 750 and many other BMW

In that case, mine is definitely worn out then. Mine measures exactly 120mm tip to tip. ECS are about to get an order it seems.

[Legoman]

Replacing this rod didn't fix the problem. I bought a new one and fitted it yesterday and the lever is still skipping supposedly indent-protected gear positions. For instance, by just leaning on the lever pushing it forward with no button pressing you can move the lever straight from 4, through D+N right into R. Probably not a great thing for the gearbox if you were doing say 100km/h in 4th at the time.

So now I'm looking for other culprits. Is there supposed to be a spring in the shift lever handle above the button? Mine doesn't have one and I don't ever remember one falling out over the years (or indeed how to even dismantle the thing to check). My button press works on what feels like flexing plastic + gravity acting on the weight of the pull rod only. Does that sound right? Is there supposed to be a spring to force the pull rod down against the pawls in the selector slide?

Mine feels like it doesn't have enought force acting on the pawls to reliably grab them each when being moved rapidly, so it skips over them instead allowing gears to be selected without lockout button presses.

[shogun]

There is a piece of rubber foam inside the handle which disintegrates and then the rod is not pushed down, how to repair it DIY without any cost is shown on my website below under >>Fixes >>> Body>>> How to remove/repair the gear selector handle lots of great photos
it is a pdf file you can download or print out.
You can use a spring, a piece of flexible rubber, a rubber eraser, I used a piece of silocone hose double folded, up to your choice how hard the lever should go.

[Legoman]

Fixed! Yep, as suggested it was the rubber block disintegrating that was the problem. Solved with a length of 5mm insulation rubber folded in half and pushed under the button. Lever now moves with a very satisfying thunk-thunk-thunk through the lock-out pawl positions. No more wrong gear selections for me!

[JMCLuimni]

Thanks Shogun. I've tried the link for this fix and when I open it all I get is the attached disclaimer along with tools required. There is no other information ...IMG_0198.jpg

[shogun]

You only read page 1, there are 10 pages with detailed instructions in that link