[Anthony1s]

My car was towed recently and the driver couldn't get it into neutral with the car shut off. He started it, put it in neutral, shut it off, and started towing it, only to find out it switch back to park. A cop was getting my info at the time, so I wasn't paying attention to tell him that wouldn't work. Anyway, I ended up starting the car, putting it in neutral, and had him tow it with the car running. But the driver said he isn't supposed to start and tow running vehicles.

I search the owner's manual but couldn't find any info on how to engage neutral without starting the car. Say the car is disabled due to an accident or the battery is dead, any way to put it in neutral if it doesn't start?

Edit: Found this

View post on imgur.com

Though I'm not sure it's that great of a solution. Having to jack up the car and crawl under it after an accident.

[GoneIn4Secs]

press start button once without pressing brake and put in neutral

[Anthony1s]

Originally Posted by GoneIn4Secs

press start button once without pressing brake and put in neutral

Can anyone verify? That doesn't work without starting the car first for me.

[DanG]

Originally Posted by Anthony1s

Can anyone verify? That doesn't work without starting the car first for me.

Doesn’t work for me either.

[McGary911]

Can the car run the pump in order to shift, without running?

[M1fortyeye]

I found this: https://www.1addicts.com/forums/show...3&postcount=18
And this: https://f80.bimmerpost.com/forums/sh...74&postcount=1

[BOhio]

OP, sorry to hear about your situation necessitating your car being towed.

On the bright side, for anybody on the fence about what transmission to spec, maybe this is reason enough to get the manual (and save the $2.9k).

Seriously, really too bad about the towing thing. Some years back, my car (with me in it) got whacked by a guy driving 40mph in a 25mph zone, and my driver's side rear quarter was crushed.

Tow truck shows up, and the police. The police officer used his cruiser to shove my car all the way to the curb, and in so doing put dents in my rear bumper and metal surround. I realized too late what he was doing, and ran over to squawk. Tow truck driver said "Doesn't matter, the body shop will fix that too with the other damage".

Was your car towed onto a flat bed, or with just two of the wheels off the pavement? Egads...

[ICantDrive4Sht]

The car does stay in N if it's started, put in N then press ingnition once, not twice to shut all power. The car even says "Transmission in neutral, doors can't be locked"

[randyt]

Simple...

Start car, put it in neutral. Pull car onto flatbed, tie it down, shut it down.

[Anthony1s]

This thread was meant to be about putting it in neutral when they car is disabled (cannot start) also the tow truck driver said it's not safe to start cars that were in an accident. The answer is in the OP and is the only way to do it.

To the guy that asked if my car was on a flatbed or dragged behind style... it was a flatbed. He started winching it up and I noticed the wheels were spinning the opposite direction. Luckily I caught it after 5 or 10 seconds.

[randyt]

Ok, so a little more serious.

When my 1er was totaled (didn't know it was toast @ the time) and it would not run, I got in, hit start (it didn't) shifted to neutral and was winched onto the flatbed. I rode the car up, then shut it off & pulled the parking brake.

Same basic thing as above.