Topic

Despite using this forum a lot over recent months this is my first post as I cannot find any answers myself. Hopefully someone can provide some assistance?

I have a Mk2 F Steptronic that has a little difficulty selecting 'D' (Drive). Symptoms are:

Engine starts normally and idles smooth.
I can move the gear selector to 'R', feel the engine note drop and the car wants to move - all good.
Selector moves through 'N' and the engine note goes up a touch
Move the selector into 'D' and engine note remains unchanged. Release foot brake - no movement. Apply throttle, engine revs pick up but still no movement. Now, if I pull a little on the gear selector I can feel the gearbox engage (engine note drops, car wants to move). Release pressure on the selector and sometime the car appears to 'come out of gear' (I know there are no physical gears in the box but I think you know what I mean....)

The indicators on the selector all perform normally. However, I have removed and cleaned the selector switch in case that was causing the issue but no difference.

To my simple mind it feels like a adjustment is required. I have consulted the Workshop Manual and true enough it refers to 'Adjusting the Selector Cable' under the 'Adjustments' section but I cannot find it anywhere - it's certainly not in the adjustments section. Google searches have proved equally as fruitless.....

Can anyone help point me in the right direction??

Thank you, Paul.

You could have excessive wear at the bell-crank pivot, or out of adjustment.

If you raise the back of the car and look up where the selector cable attaches to the bell-crank (the part which changes the vertical movement of the cable to the horizontal movement of the selector rod) check that the pivot is not loose or worn as quite a lot of movement can be lost at this point.

To check the adjustment; put the gear selector in the cab into drive (D) then from underneath slacken off the adjusting nut on the selector rod (item 6 in the attached PDF) This will allow you to push the gear selector of the gearbox to the end of its travel fully into the drive position, then re-tighten the adjusting nut.

The pivot pin of the bell-crank is riveted to the plate, mine had come loose also the nut on gearbox shaft (item 4) was loose exacerbating the problem.
I ground off the riveted end of the pivot and fitted an M6 stud and Nyloc nut as a repair.
Hope this helps.

Thank you for taking the time to write such a comprehensive response. It certainly sounds like this could be the issue. I will try to find some time to get under the motor in the next couple of weeks and let you know. Thanks again.

Change the fluid and only use EZL799 MTF94 ( BMW supply it as its used in the mini) the symptoms you describe can be caused by old burnt fluid or the wrong type used, these CVT gearboxes must ONLY be filled with EZL799 MTF94 and nothing else.

I don't know if quicksilver is still on here, he knows more about steptronic/stepspeed gearboxes and always advised changing the fluid first.


David Aiketgate wrote:-

I have corrected Bryan's 'senior moment' regarding the correct fluid in this post to avoid misunderstandings. The explanation by Brian below covers the reason.

MT94 gear is for manual transmissions only (Landrover recommended oil for manual transmission and transfer box) on no account put MT94 into any auto box, especially a Stepspeed/Steptronic CVT, not even just as a top-up.

There is no torque converter on the Stepspeed/Steptronic CVT gearbox, if the wrong oil is put into the gearbox the oil burns and sticks onto the frictional faces of the FWD and REV clutch packs and drive is lost, the transmission is damaged with a very expensive repair.

The original oil for the CVT was Esso EZL 799 which is no longer available but, XPart and Rimmers still sell the oil under part number XPT002002OF which is around £10 per litre (you need 4.5 lts for the oil change)

The gearbox was also fitted to the BMW Mini (1st Gen R50/54) and BMW have the correct oil, but my local BMW Mini dealer buys the oil in large drums and they don’t sell the oil separately, only as part of a gearbox service. (far too expensive for me)

As suggested changing the oil could be the solution (with the correct oil) but if you have drive in (R) and not in (D) unless you pull the selector hard back, then check the cable adjustment first as my post above.

Brian .

thank you Badger for correcting my mistake, another '''' Senior Moment'''''' i meant EZL799, it can be obtained from BMW dealerships, as its used in the Mini but they charge around £20 a litre and you have to buy 5 litres

Problem Solved....

I finally got around to lifting the car and investigating the selector problem. I adjusted the selector as advised but this failed to solve my issue. However, whilst investigating I did notice that the was a lot of play where the selector cable connects to the crank. Further investigation showed that this was because the rubber gasket had worn heavily to such a point that part of it was no longer there as shown in the picture... To overcome this I took a knife to a rubber grommet to carve a replacement. This removed the play from the linkage and cured my problem....

I've added a couple of pictures

Thanks to all for your help and advice....

Well done and thanks for the pics.