Transmission Problem or Computer Glitch? 1999 528i

Hello All,

I am new to the Bimmer community. I bought my car about a month ago. It's a 1999 528i Automatic. Everything has been fine up until two days ago...when my car switched to 2nd gear by itself, stayed at 3-5 RPMs and now seems stuck in second gear. Even in drive, it says S 2 on the dash. I didn't drive it yesterday but today when I took it to get it looked at (mechanic hooked up to computer) on the way there, there was nothing on my dash. No S 2, D, etc. All that was on was a little exclamation point indicator. It felt like it was in Drive though because my RPM's stayed between 0-2. The mechanic said an evap leak on the gas cap showed up, and a few codes on the transmission, but nothing appeared to be mechanically wrong and that it was probably just a glitch and that I should 'keep an eye on it'. Now, when I left there I made a stop at Wal-Mart and the same thing...on the way to WM, nothing on the dash indicating what gear. BUT, when I left Wal-Mart, it was back to saying S 2, and back up to 3-5 RPMs, but that little exclamation point was gone. I really have no idea what's going on has anyone had similar issues and is there way to reset the computer by myself or will it do it on its own? Maybe check my fluids? Any help is appreciated.

Load test the battery and check alternator. Also do the sun visor test for ignition switch. They can cause many glitches.

Thanks, I appreciate it. I actually took it to an import mechanic this afternoon and they said it was the neutral safety switch causing the issue (basically, the transmission doesn't know what gear it's in) and that needed to be replaced. Hope this can help anyone else with similar issues.