F85/F86 Shifter Retrofit on F15/F16 Development

[Igor_M5]

I've been more or less using my friends 2016 50i as my daily for the past year and couldn't help myself from digging into his car and doing a bunch of OEM retrofits, Which I did, and now I’m bored again...

Long story short lol....

I wanna get down to the bottom of why it's so difficult to retrofit these "DCT" style knobs on non M cars, aka... bypass the "Park" button.

I've attempted this several times on F30's and F02 Alpina B7 but with my lack of coding resource I was only able to get so far doing the physical part.

With the F85/6 using the same ZF as the F15/6, I think this should be a lot simpler to accomplish if we can pool together some time and get this going.

I have a F15 on hand, and I just gutted a 2017 F86 so I have all the wiring we would need, plus the actual parts.

I looked at the wiring diagrams and they are literally the same on the shifter aspect, with the M models having the Drive Logic button in addition, which only uses one wire to essentially tape into the existing shifter harness that the F15's already share.

My goal...

- Get this shifter in and working.
-Then attempt to adapt the drive logic button to the non-M chassis
-Then..., a lot more ideas, let's get through the first one first.

Who's willing the help out on the coding aspect of things here?

[menelaos]

Bryan at Kies Motorsports tried it at his F30, only plug and play.
It did work.. But had side-effects. He got stuck in two occasions. I would not do it, but wish you the best if you do.
Make sure you don't park near or block anybody while testing.

[The Libertine]

Interested to see how this turns out - good luck!

[Igor_M5]

Originally Posted by menelaos

Bryan at Kies Motorsports tried it at his F30, only plug and play.
It did work.. But had side-effects. He got stuck in two occasions. I would not do it, but wish you the best if you do.
Make sure you don't park near or block anybody while testing.

Just saw his video, he actually did what I did as well. When I used a Non-m shifter base and installed a DCT upper knob (with the LED board), everything works fine as it should. I just happened to catch the problem immediately, not sure why his worked for 3 weeks then had problems.

In my experiment, I concluded that the fault is caused by a missing P button, but only after 45 seconds in idle, so as long as you jump in and go, you'll be fine but the minute the car is stopped, it begins a scan, the sees the fault and deems the gear selector is malfunctioning, putting the car into park, and locking you out till you restart.

So once I learned that... I spent hours digging and translating every file on Bimmercode looking for some type of bypass on the P button, because after all... DCT's don't have it, so there must be a provision for that in the code somewhere !

Ok then maybe I thought i got ahead of myself, after all... ZF isn't Getrag, so I dropped the ideal till today... when messing with this F86, and the idea is back to curbing my brain. There HAS to be a code somewhere in the F8x X5/6 that simply ignores the P button value.

Honestly, I'm going crazy over than just out of principe. And it also bothers me that few people who did this over seas, can't manage to share some info on it.

Ultimately, I want a ceramic DCT knob without the M logo. Lol

Here's a video of my experiment on the B7 in 2018

https://drive.google.com/file/d/16Mw...w?usp=drivesdk

[Igor_M5]

Found these guys in Singapore doing the installs..

F22 w/ M2 GWS

F10 w/ M5 GWS

When I reached out to them... straight pimps. SMH

[e1000]

Well at least you know it can be done

[Igor_M5]

Just an update... haven't gotten anywhere except upgrade my MacBook Pro, purchase E-SysX, and kill about 50 hours digging around forums and CAFD files.


I found a thread where the guys were attempting the M kombi on non M Fxx cars, and saw a mention of eliminating the gear change error from the kombi.

FDS_enable=nicht_aktiv
Getriebe_art=handshalter

Tried those but they didn't take.

Removing 205 or 2TB and adding 2MK also doesn't work on the F15/85 because even F85 don't use 2MK due to only having one designation for transmission (M-Automatic).

Would probabaly work on 2/3/4/5/6 models though since the M cars using 2MK.

Reached out to several coders, and they went mia after getting more details.

Only one company in UK is down to do it but their next availability is a month from now... ugh.

——

Said and done, this retrofit shouldn't cost more than $250 including the shifter and even having somebody charge you for coding it.

[ozgemiciler]

I need help with something.
my car 2014 model f15 bmw.
I want to put the f90 gear lever into my car.
I made the cable connections.

what kind of coding should I do?
where should i start

[Igor_M5]

Originally Posted by ozgemiciler

I need help with something.
my car 2014 model f15 bmw.
I want to put the f90 gear lever into my car.
I made the cable connections.

what kind of coding should I do?
where should i start

You might want to retrofit the F15 base trim plate so that it's able to fit the F15 center console for starters.

Then you contribute to this research or wait till I figure it out lol.

[ozgemiciler]

Originally Posted by Igor_M5

You might want to retrofit the F15 base trim plate so that it's able to fit the F15 center console for starters.

Then you contribute to this research or wait till I figure it out lol.

f15 gws mainboard and f90 gws mainboard very different from each other.

f15 knob cable but f90 flexy cable.

f15 gws 4 can.ground and + cable.total 6 pin.

f90 gws 2 can , + and - cable.total 4 pin.

Although it is so difficult, I believe I will succeed.
Do you have an idea?

[Igor_M5]

Does the F90 base even fit into the F15 console? Let alone bolt down.

Check the wiring diagrams first and see if they communicate on the same CAN protocol... if not, you'll need some custom CAN emulator/adapter.

You're getting way ahead of yourself lol, we're having trouble adapting a M shifter from the same same platform, while you're trying to fit one from a newer one that utilizes CAN a lot more.

I've done what you're doing on shifters from all revisions and facelifts since 2011, in the end.... unless you hack up some custom fabrication, where you relocate the buttons and the PCB board outside the u it, you will always have one or multiple malfunctions or missing functions.

Try installing the F90 shifter stem/rod into the F15 first, then try adapting the top F90 PCB board into the F15 base board. Best case you'll have the LEDs working, the Park button (Possibly) working, and no chance the Shift Lock button is going to work.

[Igor_M5]

Does the F90 GWS even have a Shift Unlock button? If not... then that's the issue where I'm stuck on with the F85 DCT... how to eliminate that button function on non-M models.

Even if by some miracle you get that shifter to work, unless you find a way to disable the Shift Lock request inside the Kombi/NBT/BDC... you'll be getting annoying and interrupting messages all the time.

[ozgemiciler]

hi,
communicate on the same CAN protocol ???



how can i learn this?

my f15 gear selector; + and - and canH , canL , can2H , can2L

f90 selector + and - and can2H and can2L.

[Igor_M5]

Originally Posted by ozgemiciler

hi,
communicate on the same CAN protocol ???



how can i learn this?

my f15 gear selector; + and - and canH , canL , can2H , can2L

f90 selector + and - and can2H and can2L.

Yeah so thats fairly straight forward, because G30/F90 has like 7 or 8 CAN lines.

Issue is the the coding on the F15 so you don't keep getting GWS Malfunctions, because they pop up every time, especially when parking... you will never have a chance to see your Cameras lol

[Neuera09]

I’m glad you guys are making great use of the shelter in place order over there in NY. I’ve been procrastinating my invisihitch install for 2 weeks now. Thanks for sharing this info. It’s way above my patience and technical skills.

[Ahmedosman]

Hello

How are you guys .i hope everything is fine. This is first day and first time to post here. I loved this forum and how much it helps the bmw f16/f15 comunity. I wanted to say hiiiiii ��

[Ahmedosman]

i talked to the the guys in Singapore.
They said it will coast about €1280
I know they are good but its too much esp the swap will only work as normal shiffter but m style.
The only thing that is making me confused ... are thease the only guys that could make it right?
Any one thought about the g30\g31 shifter ? I guess it will be much easier?

[JZEE12]

Originally Posted by Igor_M5

Just an update... haven't gotten anywhere except upgrade my MacBook Pro, purchase E-SysX, and kill about 50 hours digging around forums and CAFD files.


I found a thread where the guys were attempting the M kombi on non M Fxx cars, and saw a mention of eliminating the gear change error from the kombi.

FDS_enable=nicht_aktiv
Getriebe_art=handshalter

Tried those but they didn't take.

Removing 205 or 2TB and adding 2MK also doesn't work on the F15/85 because even F85 don't use 2MK due to only having one designation for transmission (M-Automatic).

Would probabaly work on 2/3/4/5/6 models though since the M cars using 2MK.

Reached out to several coders, and they went mia after getting more details.

Only one company in UK is down to do it but their next availability is a month from now... ugh.

——

Said and done, this retrofit shouldn't cost more than $250 including the shifter and even having somebody charge you for coding it.

Got it to work on a f30 with the OEM f80 DCT the error message is not comign up anymore only thing is the D/s light does not come in drive mode.
Here’s what I did

BMW F80 shifter coding on non Mcar

instrument cluster (Kombi)
expert mode
3001- CC_ID_SPERRE
CC_AKTIVIERUNG_7
Turn it to AUS and not EIN
Code
Done

It was all done on the BimmerCode app.

Does your D/S light work on the OEM shifter when you put it in drive ?

[ccfj1]

Hi All,

Ok, I'm going to have a go at this...

I have an f25 x3 with sport shifter and tbh its not bad looking, but i do like the look of the dct m shifter.

So, Ive bought an oem f25 basic (non sport) shifter and an F16 x6m sport shifter (the one with the shift speed button at the base).

I'm going to mix and match and see if i can get it working.

I'll either try and use the shifter speed button as the park or baypas it altogether.

I'm just hoping the unlock button is not going to be an issue.

I'm also looking at the m-kombi and hud.

I dont mind loosing the FDS, but would like the gear display in the cluster working.

Just oredered the shifters of ebay (uk) less than £100 so they should be here next week.

I'll keep the thread updated.

Pics, current shifter, x6m and then oem non sport shifter for f26/f26

[KYB]

YEss!

[Xolinlevh]

Originally Posted by Ahmedosman

i talked to the the guys in Singapore.
They said it will coast about €1280
I know they are good but its too much esp the swap will only work as normal shiffter but m style.
The only thing that is making me confused ... are thease the only guys that could make it right?
Any one thought about the g30\g31 shifter ? I guess it will be much easier?

Personally I find that version hideous...

[JZEE12]

When the m shifter is in can you guys go into sequential mode ? Or does it kick you out immediately ?