Transmission Failsafe, code P17E1

Hi, Ive finally had my first real problem after owning my car for 4 year. My transmission has gone into safe mode 3 times in the past 6 months but each time after a restart it would be good. Last month it did the same when i got pulled over after driving about 300 miles so i restarted and drove the remainder of 400 miles with out any issues. Drove it back another 2-300 while out of town and back home about 800 miles without issues. I have been driving it about 100 miles daily since then and no issues. Yesterday drove around town and noticed when i shift reverse to drive more often is when i get the issue. It started to give me that same error and not move the car and for the first time engine light came on. I scanned it and it gave me a error code P17E1. I went ahead and did a little of my own troubleshooting after reading forums with no luck. Voltage is about 14-14.5v started and 12.3-12.5v off. What else can i check before taking it to the shop? Car has about 40k miles. It is shifting fine today and shifting was great before this issue also.

Battery is going dead. Whenever you test a battery, once it gets below 12.7 its on its way out. With that voltage (14.5v) your alternator looks good. Replace the battery and register it with the ECM. My car did the same thing. New battery, no more codes.

A bad battery can also ause transmission robot engage and just revs? Any way to test battery for sure? It goes below that when cars on but not started. Would autozone be able to test it? Would it be a bad idea to pull it and have it tested? One thing I've also noticed sometime it struggles to start when left sitting for a few days and when I turn on hid fogs the navi screen kind of flickers. Battery causing all this? The car has original battery still. If so where should I pick up battery? Dealers of aftermarket?

Originally Posted by Harmztl

A bad battery can also ause transmission robot engage and just revs? Any way to test battery for sure? It goes below that when cars on but not started. Would autozone be able to test it? Would it be a bad idea to pull it and have it tested? One thing I've also noticed sometime it struggles to start when left sitting for a few days and when I turn on hid fogs the navi screen kind of flickers. Battery causing all this? The car has original battery still. If so where should I pick up battery? Dealers of aftermarket?

You don't need to test the battery. You just told us the voltage at which it sits and when its running. Its on its way out. The electrical system in your 7 series starts to prioritize its systems when the battery gets dangerously low to leaving you stranded. Like I said, my car did this when my battery was near dead. I thought my trans was having issues, and with a little research, I found out my battery needed to be replaced. I bought a new battery about 5 months ago. I haven't seen the issue arise since.

Go buy a new battery, have it registered to the vehicle and you will see no more codes.

I got the same code today. The mechanic says the code says to replace transmission. I checked my battery voltage after i got home and it was 12.0 volts off. I put the charger on it and will see if it makes a difference in the morning. From everything that i have read if its only 12.0 volts it will cause all kinds of errors.

12.0 is loww!

Where can I order the battery from? Is there a better brand over oem? Warranty?

I and some of the others on this board have had good luck with the Duralast battery at Auto Zone. Make sure you get the correct AGM bat. I believe AGM-8 but I may be wrong.

One question. A low battery would cause the transmission to not engage and/or slip?

Originally Posted by Harmztl

Where can I order the battery from? Is there a better brand over oem? Warranty?

http://www.dekacatalog.com/#

this link may help....gl

I charged the battery overnight and it got up to 12.2 volts. I ran the car for 10 minutes and it ran a lot smoother and didn't act like it would try to stall after revving it. I then turned the car off and checked the voltage and it was 11.9 volts. I guess it must be time for a new battery. Other than random errors i wouldn't even had known to check the battery. Its starts fine. Oh and when its running i get 14.4 to 14.8 volts.

Your batt. is shot.. I don't have proof but I feel bad batteries are what causes alot of the electrical failures on these cars.. I work with electronics and not enough power can cause more damage then too much many times.

Newbie question, how can I check my voltage?

I used a digital voltmeter on the terminals under the hood.

Well I ordered it at autozone. 179 plus tax. They tested battery and told me machine was showing 50% recharge and test again. Hopefully this is it. Can't wait for my inpa cable to show up so I can register it myself

Best of luck to you. I put in the same battery yesterday and it didn't solve my problems. Its at the dealer now so i will post later today what they say.

One more quick question I called a place here and they sell interstate batteries they are saying $245 plus tax for once installed with a two-year warranty and 84 month prorated warranty is a good deal?

I paid 159.00 for the one at autozone . But if its the direct replacement and they install it i guess thats not bad. The one i got has a 3 year warranty. The dealer called and said i had a ton of low voltage errors in the computer. Said he was 90 percent sure once he registers the battery i should be good to go. I will find out tomorrow.

Well after registering the battery, replacing the mechtronics sleeve and just about every sensor that could and was leaking oil or tranny fluid i am 2000.00 lighter. Picked the car up and it had a broken vacuum hose making a loud ticking noise when they handed me the key. Turns out they replaced the vacuum pump and didn't change the hose. So 20 minutes later all better. Now i am all set. NOT!!!!!!! drove the car 40 miles home and tranny goes into failsafe again plus i get a check engine light. On its way back to the dealer again.

Well been a few days and had a new battery installed and registered for 226 with 84 month warranty 24 month free replacement. So far so good. *fingers crossed*

I have another question about my 2003 BMW 745LI, I recently got my mechatronics sleeve replaced along with the pan, bottom gasket and filter. I bought three quarts of tranny oil from BMW my self and brought it to the mechanic. I got a transmission fail safe mode error and noticed there was a leak this is what triggered the transmission service. The car had the transmission fail safe error however was shifting fine before the service.



I want to emphasize that before the car went into the shop is would shift a little hard into first every once and a while. All other gears shifted smooth and perfectly. I picked the car up yesterday from the transmission service and I noticed a distinct difference immediately. The car is shifting hard into every gear, as if it was a manual transmission. I have noticed that the RPM are also fluttering when coasting. It shift really hard coming to a stop from 4th to 3rd and 3rd to second. If stopping abruptly it slams into first gear from 3rd, it feels like as if I was getting rear ended. Right before I got how coming out of a complete stop it reved up and then slammed into first gear. I don't understand how the car drove for the most part perfectly before the service and now so terrible after the service. Please help

Well after a few great days the transmission error is back. Any ideas what to check for?

IVM (integrated voltage supply module) caused my tranny faults

Any way to troubleshoot it?

Mine ended up being the mechatronics adapter seal. It was cracked. seams to work great now. My car is a 2006 750li with 68000 miles just for reference.