[IK6SPEED]

This might come in very handy when you least expect it. Memorize it.

We should all know the “by the book method” to manually get the F3x into neutral for towing by getting under the car.

There is a trick with the F3x series. Possibly others.

I needed to get the car in Neutral several weeks ago after it died on highway (fuel line connector separated).

Even if the car engine will not start up and run, press the start and while engine attempts to start, slam the shifter forward to get it out of park. Might take a few attempts and honestly I thought a Service Manager was screwing with me on the phone while attempting, but it actually worked.

In fact I needed to do it again on the Dealers lot and it worked again.

Make sure when you slam forward you are also pressing the release button on the side of the shifter.

Also make sure your foot is pressing on the Brake pedal while attempting....just like normal.

Looked at the video of how to get under car and do it manually, but tow driver said 1) No tow truck driver carries all those tools and 2) He certainly wasn’t going to attempt it even with correct tools on a busy highway shoulder.

Obviously, this trick will not work if you battery is dead....but will if your car is jumpered for power. However, if this is the case, if tow truck is behind you to jumper, by the time it disconnects, pulls around front, connects up and is ready to start winching, the will power down (as battery was dead anyway) and transmission will default back to park.

If this helps someone, great. It’s a good trick to know.

[jmg]

I wonder if this works with the DCT for the F80 as well. BMW really should have made a much simpler solution for this.

[jh_f30]

Originally Posted by jmg

I wonder if this works with the DCT for the F80 as well. BMW really should have made a much simpler solution for this.

Agreed. I think in a previous gen 5-series, you could do it from under the shifter boot. That would be way better than trying to figure out how to get under your car when you're stranded on the side of the road, with a jack that BMW no longer includes.

I wonder if it's at all possible to code the TCM somehow. It would be pretty sweet if someone could figure out a way for the trans to go into N by pulling both paddles simultaneously.

[Polo08816]

Originally Posted by IK6SPEED

This might come in very handy when you least expect it. Memorize it.

We should all know the “by the book method” to manually get the F3x into neutral for towing by getting under the car.

There is a trick with the F3x series. Possibly others.

I needed to get the car in Neutral several weeks ago after it died on highway (fuel line connector separated).

Even if the car engine will not start up and run, press the start and while engine attempts to start slam the shifter forward to get it out of park. Might take a few attempts and honestly I thought a Service Manager was screwing with me on the phone while attempting, but it actually worked.

In fact I needed to do it again on the Dealers lot and it worked again.

Make sure when you slam forward you are also pressing the release button on the shifter.

Looked at the video of how to get under car and do it manually, but tow driver said 1) No tow truck driver carries all those tools and 2) He certainly wasn’t going to attempt it even with correct tools on a highway shoulder.

Obviously will not work if you battery is dead.

If it helps someone, great.

But a good trick to know.

This should be a sticky.

[upsidedownfunnel]

Is this because the transmission can't be shifted without the engine running? I wonder why BMW doesn't allow you to shift to N if it has battery but no engine.

[DarkStarBimmer]

pulling both paddles at the same time and holding puts other cars in N, I wish ours did this

[Polo08816]

Originally Posted by upsidedownfunnel

Is this because the transmission can't be shifted without the engine running? I wonder why BMW doesn't allow you to shift to N if it has battery but no engine.

This is correct, but I'm not sure if this is a BMW implementation problem or a ZF implementation problem. It would be interesting to see if other cars that use a ZF transmission have the same problem (Audi, FCA products, etc.).

[rjd_F30]

Hopefully we never have to use this information, but good to know. Thanks for sharing.

[supermarket]

Originally Posted by IK6SPEED

This might come in very handy when you least expect it. Memorize it.

We should all know the “by the book method” to manually get the F3x into neutral for towing by getting under the car.

There is a trick with the F3x series. Possibly others.

This is a good trick! But it is documented in the owner’s manual (since 2014, I think). I’m attaching the page from my 2018, which might help with the finesse (it suggests “hold” instead of “slam”—probably smart, since the selector has no idea if you’re slamming or nudging gingerly, there’s no reason to be too rough with a bunch of plastic parts.)

[IK6SPEED]

Originally Posted by supermarket

This is a good trick! But it is documented in the owner’s manual (since 2014, I think). I’m attaching the page from my 2018, which might help with the finesse (it suggests “hold” instead of “slam”—probably smart, since the selector has no idea if you’re slamming or nudging gingerly, there’s no reason to be too rough with a bunch of plastic parts.)

Well, my F30s are 2013 so I guess I missed out.

Furthermore, you’ll notice this is not mentioned if you do a search of Bimmerpost....or Google for that matter.

Yet the under the car method comes up virtually every Quarter with no mention of this alternative method.

Again, if it helps others in the future (as clearly regular posters had never heard of it either) then it’s worth posting here.

[supermarket]

Yes, it’s definitely worth mentioning here! The easier this is to find, the better. I’m sure people are likely to miss gems like this even if they have thumbed through their manuals.

But I did think that the procedure was fairly easily discoverable. When I Google f30 transmission lock (or other similar searches, like “bmw” instead of “f30”, or “unlock” instead of “lock”), this procedure is within the top two hits, right on this site (from here).

What knocked yours out?

[IK6SPEED]

Originally Posted by supermarket

Yes, it’s definitely worth mentioning here! The easier this is to find, the better. I’m sure people are likely to miss gems like this even if they have thumbed through their manuals.

But I did think that the procedure was fairly easily discoverable. When I Google f30 transmission lock (or other similar searches, like “bmw” instead of “f30”, or “unlock” instead of “lock”), this procedure is within the top two hits, right on this site (from here).

What knocked yours out?

I guess when you are Googling on the side of the road waiting for a tow truck, search skills might not be as good as they are otherwise.

However, as I pointed out, other threads on this subject (of which there are many) since 2015 do not have this info and even long time members have never repeated this (even appreciating it in this thread).

So the preponderance of evidence is that virtually no one (including myself) was ever aware of this. Being in the coding section probably didn’t help it’s visibily in 2015 (and the low number of thread views).

[anotheran]

Yeah, this is a good psa for everyone. Not a lot of ppl read the manual and it’s easy to miss.

[Fredo]

Thanks, man. I printed a copy of the PDF instructions and will put in the glove box just in case.