Tranny light

2005 530i. So as I was entering the highway waam the tranny failure light came on and the auto tranission gear dropped to what felt 3rd. So i pulled over turned the car off for about 2 mins and turned it back on and everything works fine. Has anyone experienced this? Also i just had new gasket replaced on the oilpan and housing gasket and new brakes about 1 month ago. Ever since then I smell a slight burning smell. Cant tell if its actually a burning smell or more like new rubber smell. Any comments are greatly appreciated

I'm actually having a similar issue, but mine is stuck in what feels like third, possibly a transmission limp home mode. I brought it to BMW and they told me I need a new trans, but I don't believe that. I think it's just a relay or unplugged clip. I've been doing a little research on my own, and it looks like it can be linked to the DME relay for the transmission. I'll be tearing it apart tomorrow, and I'll get back to you with what I find for mine, and maybe you're headed the same direction.

Mine all started after the starter was replaced, which involves removing the intake manifold, and supposedly there is a connector that runs to the DME located directly under the intake, so hopefully it's something simple.

Hopefully together we can figure this out!

Kevin

Please let me know what u find. I really appreciate it. One mechainc told me it could the tcm could be going out a d to wait for it to happen again. Also said my low tranny oil but he doubts it since there are no leaks and i dont see smoke.

My dealer noticed a leak on my trans, so they blamed low trans fluid as well, however, I made it about 60 miles to the dealer, and 60 back, and she ran alright, outside of being stuck in third gear. I've found a lot of people on here noticing that a bad alternator/battery will cause low voltage situations, which makes the codes go insane, causing transmission faults. So I'll report with what I find tomorrow, but I'd recommend you go to an auto parts place, and get your alternator and battery tested. If one of them is bad, that may be your issue and you're on your way.

Good luck!

Great idea will do that tomorrow!

Also, have you tried the trans reset trick by holding the pedal down with the ignition in position 2? I've heard that works, along with completely disconnecting the battery from both terminals, touching the connectors to drain any stored memory from the system, and hooking it all back up.

I plan on trying all of these, along with much more in depth tomorrow, so I'll be able to give you better feedback when I get some results.

Cheers!

No havent tried but let me know if it works.

Couple of things:

1 - check out the thread at the top of this section that talks about these transmissions first.

2 - we need to know what codes it is throwing to be of any real help

3 - I got that error once a while back and was able to just replace all of the solenoids in the transmission and it has been fine ever since. Most would replace the entire transmissions or mechatronics, but so far I have gotten away with a lot less (and posted a video of how to do it in the thread listed in #1)

4 - we need to know what codes it is throwing to be of any help

5 - the transmission "reset" trick is a joke in my opinion. You can google throttle reset procedure and it's basically the same--it can't be both

6 - you mention an oil pan housing gasket. oil pan for transmission or engine? If transmission, did they replace any oil? if so, did they reset all adaptations for the transmissions when they did so in INPA? If not, they need to.

Well, for me, all I had to do was replace the Crankshaft Position Sensor and it solved the problem. Turns out when my roommate installed the starter, he broke the clip on the old one, so it wasn't reading the CPS, causing the transmission limp home. It started throwing some strange codes after that, but completely unrelated. I hope yours goes well, but definitely post up the codes, and that'll help diagnose. The only code I had before I fixed the CPS issue was for the CPS. I've got the Bentley manual, so I can help you translate both the BMW codes along with the OBDII.

Hopefully I'll be able to sell my 530, so the manuals may be up for sale here shortly if you'd like to buy them.

Update this post, and try to keep us posted!

had a similar issue , needed a new tranny.

That's the easy way out for the mechanic. Doubtful it actually needed a full replacement.

Subscribed. Just in case.

Originally Posted by schpenxel

That's the easy way out for the mechanic. Doubtful it actually needed a full replacement.

I was told I needed a new trans too by BMW, and like I said, it was just the CPS that needed replaced. Engine codes can do strange things to these cars it appears. If the engine has a small malfunction, it'll throw the trans into limp home mode, which will look like the entire trans is bad.