[Boogalu]

Originally Posted by HFW003

"Slush box" is not a derogatory term mate.

It is an old fashioned slang term for an automatic gear box. In times gone by the shifting on these boxes was quite vague, hence the name.

H

Ah okay lol. No offense taken and no offense meant by my earlier response. I havent heard that term before and reading it online reminded me of a broken down type of car haha. thanks for clearing that up.

Originally Posted by infinitigor

the slush-box term definitely needs some modernizing- these things shift QUICK, esp the DCTs out there

Also, for those of you saying that a short red line is not dangerous, its not for a brief period.

But i bet if you red line the car for like 2min straight (huge exaggeration) i could bet you something will break in the car, unless the car just shuts itself off.

i definitely was not in the red zone for that long thank god

Originally Posted by Koer

Nothing will happen to it, your engine can go faster than the actual rev limiter allows it to go, thats why its there to stupid-proof the car ( no offense ) redline it for more than 5 minutes and it will overheat, causing it to go to limp mode. Preventing any real damage to be done.

It has so many failsafes onboard... Ever tried flooring it with a cold engine? It just wont go.

What i would be careful about though is letting the car put itslef into park by driving with the door open.. Its like an over-engineered suicide for the trans.

This i will never do!! i always knew that was bad to do anyways but now im even more terrified

Originally Posted by elistan

It's a "slushbox" because its an automatic transmission with a torque converter.
Caring about your car is good.
You didn't make a mistake.
He was suggesting the sticky because this same question has been asked several times before, and is therefore by definition an FAQ.

thank you!!

Originally Posted by Koer

Sure,

Open your door, put the car on drive or reverse, let go of the brake. At approx 5 km/h your transmission will think your car is actually running on its own and that you are outside the car, thus putting itself in anti-rollout mode, aka "Parking" brining it to a harsh stop.

No brakes, just the transmission taking your 1.3 ton car into full stop by crushing two pieces of metal together.

THIS is what i meant by over-engineered suicide.

Originally Posted by bimmerjph

Unless your engine was cold (your oil temp not at or near the 12 o'clock position) then your fine. If anything I know people that swear by the fact that BMW's need an occasional italian tune-up. And if it was cold when you did it, it would be pretty obvious. Because you wouldn't be asking if it hurt your engine, you would be bitching about BMW labor costs. LOL

i was running it for about 30 minutes before but heres a tricky part..the temp gauge never seems to get to the middle..its always around 10 oclock positions and rarely does it get close to the middle..is that bad?

Originally Posted by kevlartoronto

change your engine. simple.

to an automatic n55? would that make going to the red line safer?

[Thud]

Originally Posted by Boogalu

to an automatic n55? would that make going to the red line safer?

Yes, the N55 is more tolerant of redlining because it has a couple of spare pistons included.

[Elk]

Originally Posted by Boogalu

..the temp gauge never seems to get to the middle..its always around 10 oclock positions and rarely does it get close to the middle..is that bad?

This is within the normal range. The temperature varies based on ambient temperature, load on the engine, etc.

[drob23]

Originally Posted by infinitigor

the slush-box term definitely needs some modernizing- these things shift QUICK, esp the DCTs out there

As mentioned later, a slushbox refers to the function of the torque converter. The torque converter transfers torque from the flywheel to the transmission by a process similar to using a fan to drive a windmill.

DCT's and SMG's are actually manual transmissions in terms of how the flywheel couples with the transmission, which as it sounds, is through either a wet or dry clutch plate, or a clutch pack. The clutch is no longer controlled by the driver, but instead by hydraulic actuators. The shifting previously done by the driver is done by mechatronic units which literally push gears back/forth to select them.

The advantage of a manual transmission vs an auto is you theoretically can have perfect efficiency, while a torque converter will lose energy to the fluid moving around. This is why traditionally MT got better fuel economy and race car drivers always want low drivetrain loss.

The advantage of a torque converter is a much smoother operation in general, especially when creeping. Controlling the clutch on a DCT for example is really challenging at low speed, where ideally the clutch should slip a little. Also, automated manuals are incredibly expensive to replace, the mechatronic units alone can run you 4k. Newer AT's are surpassing MT's in fuel economy largely due to the inclusion of so many more gears and the ability to optimize shifting more with modern TCMs. Also, newer AT's have some sort of clutch that can mechanically link the torque converter together, but this only happens under certain conditions as far as I understand.

Forgive the massive nerd detour, I was just learning about it and thought it interesting to rehash and possibly expose my own misunderstandings.

[rconti]

Originally Posted by RPM90

How fast was the car going when it did this?
Who opened the door and why?
Did it feel like the car was auto braking, and then when stopped it put itself in park? Or did it really just slam into Park?
Is the trans still working along with the parking pawl?

The guy I quoted in my message said 5km/hr. I'm not sure if that's correct, but seemed about right.

I think the door was open the whole time. He was just rolling the car forward on a huge open parking lot. It looked like it just slammed into park, the whole car jolted to a halt. I assume it's still working fine, he was driving the car later.

I've been known to drive with my doors open on occasion, picking up cones at autocross, whatever.

[Boogalu]

Originally Posted by drob23

As mentioned later, a slushbox refers to the function of the torque converter. The torque converter transfers torque from the flywheel to the transmission by a process similar to using a fan to drive a windmill.

DCT's and SMG's are actually manual transmissions in terms of how the flywheel couples with the transmission, which as it sounds, is through either a wet or dry clutch plate, or a clutch pack. The clutch is no longer controlled by the driver, but instead by hydraulic actuators. The shifting previously done by the driver is done by mechatronic units which literally push gears back/forth to select them.

The advantage of a manual transmission vs an auto is you theoretically can have perfect efficiency, while a torque converter will lose energy to the fluid moving around. This is why traditionally MT got better fuel economy and race car drivers always want low drivetrain loss.

The advantage of a torque converter is a much smoother operation in general, especially when creeping. Controlling the clutch on a DCT for example is really challenging at low speed, where ideally the clutch should slip a little. Also, automated manuals are incredibly expensive to replace, the mechatronic units alone can run you 4k. Newer AT's are surpassing MT's in fuel economy largely due to the inclusion of so many more gears and the ability to optimize shifting more with modern TCMs. Also, newer AT's have some sort of clutch that can mechanically link the torque converter together, but this only happens under certain conditions as far as I understand.

Forgive the massive nerd detour, I was just learning about it and thought it interesting to rehash and possibly expose my own misunderstandings.

didnt see knowledge train

CHOO CHOO!!! haha

[PK2348]

Originally Posted by RPM90

Wow. How in the world did BMW overlook that insane item?

How fast was the car going when it did this?
Who opened the door and why?
Did it feel like the car was auto braking, and then when stopped it put itself in park? Or did it really just slam into Park?
Is the trans still working along with the parking pawl?

This worries me. It happened to me once when i was backing up my driveway. Did not know about this feature back then. I watched the car wash guy make the same mistake when pulling it into the wash few weeks ago. I park at a garage at work everyday and the attendant takes away the car. There is a very good chance my car is suffering this on daily or so basis. Good thing it's a lease.

[Koer]

Just specify the feature to people who handle your car, no one ever drives mine so i dont have that problem.

The real problem is that even idle on drive the car can reach 10 km/h easy.

Just to be clear though, they probably over engineered the parking mechanism aswell. Dont think too much about it!

[Boogalu]

i think if anything breaks while it is performing this stop while the car is rolling it should be under warranty. I mean they made the car that way, if the cars transmission gets broken by this then its not like you modded the car to do that.