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trans slipping for two years, now trans program

2K views 8 replies 8 participants last post by  tmarshallg 
#1 ·
Hi,

This is my first time to bimmerfest!

I have "inherited" and 1995 525i with 250000 miles on it about March of 2011. That is when the transmission began acting up. It has simply caused the same problem since then but getting worse over time. Just recently it has been significantly getting worse. I have put probabaly 12,000 miles on it fine with the trans messing up. My plan was to drive it till it died or drive it till the tranny dies then buy a used one and replace it myself.

So here is what the tranny does - When you accelerate from a stop, the car will begin jolting rapidly. The shaking is quite intense. It only does this if you try to accelerate at a normal to quick speed. Recently I figured out if you acclerate hard enough, the tranny will slip and you can rev up the RPM to around 5,000 and it will somehow slip in and accelerate then. I only do this when the car is trying to go up a hill, its the only way it can do it now.

It goes into second gear fine once its out of first. Then once it goes from second to third, the RPM shoots up rapidly and it feels like the car stops accerating and the tranny slips. Then once in third, the car drives like a charm. Great on the highway... Reverse works fine as well.

One other thing is when its been sitting for a while, and I switch the car into Drive, it takes a couple seconds for it to seem to go into the drive gears...

Well yesterday the car finally gave in. a Trans Program message popped up display so I took it home and parked it. I have done lots of reading on the tranny over the years. One good read I found was this -
http://www.bimmerfest.com/forums/showthread.php?t=142574

I'll perform some of that today. Esepecailly the gear selector switch. I believe liquids have spilled in that before.

SO my question, will replacing the tranny fix this? or could it be as a simple as the ECU, a solenoid, throttle sensors, etc??? I truly dont believe the car is having low voltage issues. Has a brand new really nice $200 battery.

Thanks so much for your time and help!_a_
 
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#3 · (Edited)
i have kinda the same problem, i us to get the trans program but i swap a censer that was by the speaker in the passenger side inside a black box, i think its the transmission computer anyways it seems to have fix it since that was what my mechanic was seeing to having a error MSG, but it would only happen when i would turn on the car and it would be a rare thing, months at a time, anyways the car still slips it does it only twice one right after the other, it can be a soft little push while the car slips to gear. i have notice that if i speed up to fast from normal to fast speeds the car will slip and push you hard enuff for the passengers to feel. i have also change the speed censer but nope it still there, it was almost a 400 dollars and no fix, they gave me a full inspection of the car and car wash, and now i used it as if i payed for a 400 dollar car wash lol, my car is an 1992 525i automatic with 101000 miles on it, i have also notice that at times it will be hard to shift down from P to Drive or Reverse, i also notice a slight delay when entering reverse not to much to freak out about it but still noticeable. I really hope we can get answers to our questions as i do would like to swap or do an overhaul on my transmission.
 
#4 ·
Get brave and rebuild. Worth it in the long run..
 
#5 ·
uh oh....
This happened to me two months ago. I have a '94 525i, 185k miles. At first, when this happened, I was just low on Trans fluid, they put more in, and it ran great for 2 months. Then, it happened again two months, took it in for more fluid, they said you are full of fluid, time for a new transmission. I said okay, do it, how much? $1500. So I said okay do it. They couldn't find another transmission with less than 200k, so they said to rebuild it would be $2500... I said oh no. Took it to my old mercedes mechanic who works out of his house. He said he would rebuild for $1000, i said great do it! 40 days and $2000 later, I have my car back and my transmission working. They had tons of problems putting that car back together. When he rebuilt and put it back in they had no reverse, so they took it out, and put it back in, and for the next 3 weeks they didn't have power at all. They had to replace multiple "hard parts" as they called it, that had to do with the transmission. Apparently they had to reset the transmission computer with a BMW comp. Runs great now, still need a tuneup though.

Best of luck.
 
#6 ·
uh oh....
This happened to me two months ago. I have a '94 525i, 185k miles. At first, when this happened, I was just low on Trans fluid, they put more in, and it ran great for 2 months. Then, it happened again two months, took it in for more fluid, they said you are full of fluid, time for a new transmission. I said okay, do it, how much? $1500. So I said okay do it. They couldn't find another transmission with less than 200k, so they said to rebuild it would be $2500... I said oh no. Took it to my old mercedes mechanic who works out of his house. He said he would rebuild for $1000, i said great do it! 40 days and $2000 later, I have my car back and my transmission working. They had tons of problems putting that car back together. When he rebuilt and put it back in they had no reverse, so they took it out, and put it back in, and for the next 3 weeks they didn't have power at all. They had to replace multiple "hard parts" as they called it, that had to do with the transmission. Apparently they had to reset the transmission computer with a BMW comp. Runs great now, still need a tuneup though.

Best of luck.
I don't think hard parts are replaced during a tranny rebuild, although that is a common excuse used to inflate the cost.

Can someone corroborate this ?
 
#9 ·
Hey guys,

Andy, when it first did it, I took it to two mechanics. The fluid was changed and refilled and it still did it.

So my final question before I proceed, most of you think it is in fact the transmission and probably not some sort of electronic controller?

If I proceed with replacing it, will almost any e34 auto tranny work?

Thanks!
 
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