Hi Everyone..... I need some help! Please :-)

2010 Mini Clubman, 82k miles, automatic, no shifter paddles, NA.

The auto box works fine in drive, and in sport mode.
But - it will not go into manual mode when you pull the shift lever to the left. Plus, the indicators on the shift lever are not illuminated although the dash display correctly shows P/R/N/D. No dash errors shown.
Searching the forums, I found some people had problems with the shift lever bezel with these symptoms, so I hit eBay and did that easy swap. No change.
On a roll, I changed the shift lever as well. No change.
Might as well keep going, changed the transmission computer. No change.
I checked the electrical connections on the top of the transmission (couldn't see any others to check?). They're clean and secure.
I continuity tested all the wires running between the shifter and the shifter bezel, I didn't check the wires running into the car from the shifter (presumably to the transmission computer), because its a bit daunting, but the harness looks in good shape.
I've tried disconnecting the battery more than a few times. And I've checked all the fuses that seem to be relevant, but I wouldn't rule out some crazy fuse issue as the descriptions of what does what are a little vague....
I have a basic OBDII reader, nothing shows on that, I don't have anything capable of reading the transmission computer.
The TPMS is not working, but everything else in the car functions perfectly.
The car is new to me, and I got it like this.....

So I'm really close to out of ideas now.... I need some help!

What else could possibly be wrong?

I could try and continuity test the whole wiring harness, but I can't help thinking I'm barking up the wrong tree here and looking completely in the wrong place.
Its almost like manual mode has been disabled or something....
Maybe I need a code reader that can access the transmission module - any suggestions there?
Could it be some fault in the transmission even though it shifts fine in Drive?

Really hoping someone can point me in the right direction.... Thanks everyone :-)

 

You should have gotten a BMW/MINI compatible code reader earlier. :-)

I ordered a cheap USB adapter cable (FTDI based USB "INPA compatible" D-CAN/K-Line adapter) from China and use it to connect with either:
- INPA or ISTA+ on a laptop
- an OTG capable android phone (with either "Deep OBD" or "bimmer-tool (BTool) Lite" apps)

Both android apps connect to all ECU's and report error codes. Not sure whether Bimmer-tool lite also provides a short plain-language description of the error (Deep OBD certainly does).

Both android apps are free (Deep OBD is open source in addition). Deep OBD can also report sensor values like automatic transmission fluid temperature, coolant temperature, battery voltage including engine operational values like intake temperature, angle sensor values, etc. at real time. However, setting it up was quite a "getting the head around" (its UI wasn't intuitive to me). Now everything is running, I barely find myself using Bimmer-tool lite and I only connect the laptop for basic coding or to access BMW's repair instructions.

 

Thanks Giorgos, that's good info...

I've got a Mac/iPhone setup, which makes it all a bit more complicated, but after some digging around I got my hands on an old Android phone with OTG capability so I'll get the cables and give Deep OBD/BTool a go.
I guess if I need to change anything, I'll have to get the laptop running, but that's a PITA with parallels/VMware/bootcamp and getting a Windows license and then the OBD software I think.....
Or maybe some of the unix based tools will run under MacOS(EasyDIS/Progman?).....

But first, deep OBD should allow me to see what the car isn't happy with and then I'll take it from there.

Thanks again for the info, I'll post again with progress in due course.

 

You're welcome.

Deep OBD and Bimmer BTool lite ought to also work with a compatible bluetooth OBD adapter, though I haven't tried one myself.

Unless you want to use Deep OBD's additional features, Bimmer BTool lite will be much easier and faster to set up and display error codes.

INPA, NCS Expert and ISTA all run fine on a virtual machine (a basic Windows 7 installation with only the required components/updates and no network access in my case). At least with VirtualBox, it does not make a difference what OS the host is running (Windows 10 in my case but that is soon to change). However, unless you want to code or have access to BMW's repair instructions, I don't think the effort to set them up is worth it.

 

Thanks again.
I’ll start with Btool lite and a cable, I want to minimize the side-issues and focus on the car. Once that’s working I’ll head toward Deep OBD and eventually into the computer ifi need to change things.

good to know you’re not having issues with win 7 in a virtual machine. Honestly there’s a huge amount of information on the web on this, too much, and a lot of it is out of date. The trials of a virtual machine setup in 2010 are just not very relevant anymore.

I think there’s a chance some shop disabled the auto mode in the car during diagnostics and forgot to (or deliberately didn’t) turn it back on.
I was told there were transmission issues with the car that come and go, and it’d been to a shop to try and fix.... they reported the transmission fluid was low, changed it and sent it back out the door, not behaving much better.....

It turned out to be engine issues.

The plugs were totally fried (almost nothing left of them) and the rocker gasket was really pooling a lot of oil into the plug wells. because the engine was running so poorly the computers were shifting gears all over the place trying to keep the car optimally moving. So it was mis-diagnosed as a transmission problem.
I fixed the engine issues and the transmission behaves fine now.... but no manual mode!

 

Ok - bimmer tool lite is running..... :-))
I had a whole ton of errors, but they were all old (bad battery). I reset them, and they all cleared except CAS A0B1, which is ‘selector position implausible’.

I also have A3C3, which is TPMS communication, but I know that’s related to a minor bump with the previous owner.

I doubt the A0B1 and A3C3 are related... (?)

As I’ve already changed the shifter, albeit for a used shifter, and checked the wiring between the shifter and the shift bezel, I think I need to look at the wiring between the shifter and the CAS, or possibly the CAS itself. I do have a 3rd used shifter I can electrically connect, just for fun.

Unfortunately it doesn’t look like manual shift is disabled - it seems like there is a genuine issue. I’m working on deep OBD, to see if there’s more info, but it looks like the CAS just isn’t getting good info from the shifter.

Any easy ideas out there?
The CAS looks like a real PITA to get to....!!

 

I'd try the 3rd shifter you have lying around before ripping up more of the car.

 

Hey Giorgos- agreed on that one! The 3rd shifter I have is a mess, someone butchered the cable off it, but electrically it should be as good as anything else. It’s worth a shot.

Then I’ll double check the wiring as far as I can before the loom disappears up the dash.
Then, deep OBD might tell me what position reading it’s getting - I think ‘implausible’ means out to lunch, but I might be able to get a real time position reading and home in on a broken wire by wiggling stuff... maybe!!

CAS only after I’ve tried everything else I can possibly do! I’ll have to build up to dismantling the whole dash...

thanks for the ongoing help/support :-)

 

Hopefully the 3rd shifter will work fine, limiting the error source to that entity. And yes, the CAS would be "last resort".

 

Well.... that was quite the detour!
Problem solved - but first thank you Giorgos for the support and assistance with the diagnostic tools.

Bottom line.... Fuse 19 was blown. The picture in the fuse box shows TPMS and a windshield wiper with ‘A’ next to it. Automatic wipers? Nothing about transmission or shifter, but with the aid of a schematic I finally obtained, I got to the right place.

How dumb is that? But I learnt a lot along the way!

To leave a trail marker for others.... As best I can tell, this is how it all works (please comment if I made an error):
The transmission module reads the selector lever position on the transmission itself (P/N/D/R). It uses that info to display P,N,D,R on the dash.
The transmission module is buried up above the drivers pedals, but you can get to it with only minor back pain.... its plug-and-play.
The transmission module controls the interlock on the shift lever that prevents you shifting into Reverse whilst driving, via a single wire.

The CAS is responsible for the PARK interlock. It has a single wire to the shift lever, which is bi-directional. It both reads the PARK micro switch on the shift lever and drives that line to release the park interlock. That’s where the A0B1 error comes from... because the transmission says it’s in Park, but the shift lever says it’s not in park (reported as ‘driving position’ if you read the CAS with deep OBD). But if the shift park interlock works then the wire must be good.

So now the shift lever itself. It does not communicate AT ALL to anything about what position it’s in during normal P/N/D/R mode. It uses Hall Effect sensors to light the lights on the bezel, but it’s basically a local ‘switch and light’ thing. There’s no intelligence there.
3 wires go from the shift lever to the transmission module (in addition to the drive interlock wire mentioned above). One says if it’s in manual mode or not, then the other 2 are for M+ and M-.
So the transmission module gets that info from the shift lever, also using Hall effect sensors and the selector lever on the transmission is out of the picture at that point (in Drive, obviously, due to the mechanical gate on the shift lever it has to be).

There doesn’t seem to be any weak points in the wiring around the shifter like some of the BMW models, and the design is such that no wires move repetitively when you’re shifting either in regular or manual mode. Looks solid. Wiring breaks I think are very unlikely on this shifter.

There are 2 power lines with 2 fuses going to the shift lever. In my case (USA 2010 clubman) the fuses are F19 and F26. In older models it’s F25 and F17. Years and R55/56 are confusing, just check them all.... they’re all 5A. Non-US models just use fuse 17 or fuse 19 feeding both power lines.

The bezel is just LEDs and resistors (to limit current). If it is not lit, it’s either damaged, the shifter board is damaged or the fuse is blown.
They do get damaged easily through spillage, but unless the damage took out the fuse it won’t stop the shifter working in manual mode, and regular auto mode is good old mechanical linkage to the lever on the transmission. FWIW, it’s very easy to remove the circuit board from the bezel in the car and swap it rather than remove the whole bezel which involves taking off the shifter **** which, although I didn’t try, I’ve read can be troublesome.

The circuit in the shifter (which is just Hall effect sensors) is pretty well protect from spills locked in a tightly closed box that wouldn’t easily get fluids in - I’d think damage there is relatively unlikely. It does NOT have magnets that can fall off or anything like that. It Senses the shaft proximity directly.

if the fuse is blown, the bezel lights are out (not the night illumination - that’s separate) and the transmission works and the dash shows what it should, except it won’t go into manual mode.
Without power, the line drivers don’t work to tell the CAS when the lever is in Park, and they don’t work to communicate the manual mode lines to the transmission computer. So you get an A0B1 error from the CAS.

Deep OBD is very useful to see the CAS and the transmission module lines toggle as you move the shift lever.

So that’s it. In my case it was a fuse (and a damaged bezel board - with a new fuse the shifter worked fully, but without the bezel lights... I changed the circuit board in the bezel).

Hopefully that’s helpful info for the next person who’s manual mode doesn’t work and would like to avoid a very long wild goose chase into all the wrong things..... I’ll be listing a good shifter and transmission module back on eBay when I get round to it!