BMW Blog

My '92 525i with sport track trans, wont shift into third gear. A mechanic says my computer is bad. Trans was rebuilt 5 months ago. My questions are: Is it true that the computer can prevent it from shifting to this gear? How difficult is it to replace the computer? A swap out?

My friend had the same problem diagnosed from the dealer. Not only would it not shift into third, sometimes the car would stubble like it was in between gears. After spending $xxx at the dealer with a new computer, the problem eventually came back. After all that, it turned out to be a bad part connected to the automatic shifter. I don't have the part number on hand, but it's a bridge-like part with metal contacts connected to the shifter. If you remove the panels convering the shifter, you should be able to see it.

The computer could be faulty and it's not cheap to start trouble shooting with the computer.