520i automatic is stranded

[electronblue]

Hi everyone,

I have a 1991 BMW 520i automatic that I've 'inherited' after it was off the road for a year and a half. It was running fine for a while, but then began to develop the 'trans prog' problem (similar to what I have found described at http://www.bmwe34.net/e34main/Trouble/TransProgram.asp), causing it to display the maintenance symbol on the dashboard and switching into third gear, but then also periodically switching back to the normal function of switching gears appropriately.

My cashflow situation didn't permit me to take it in for repairs for a few months, and now the problem has become worse (not surprising). Driving in third gear wasn't optimal, but manageable. On occasion the car would move with difficulty or hardly at all, and at the same time there was a throbbing sound/sensation from the transmission. I would turn the car off, wait a while, and try it again, and that did the trick - it would run normally (in 3rd gear).

Still faced with a dire financial portfolio, I tried the prayer method, which worked for another few months, but on a recent outing, the gear simply dropped out entirely, ie. I could rev the engine, but there was no connection, the car would no longer locomote. Again, I was able to turn off the engine, turn it on, try this a few more times, and it would eventually go into gear with a thud, and I was able to bring the car home.

After this, the car drove entirely in third gear (no more dropping out of gear completely) for several emergency trips. Recently however, it dropped out of gear and will no longer recover. At the same time, the maintenance symbol still appears on the dashboard, but is now flickering and dimming - and most of the time is barely visible.

Since it is an automatic, does this mean that due to some electrical problem the automatic system is simply incapable of putting the car even into third gear? On one hand I'm hopeful that fixing an electrical situation will make the problem go away, and on the other hand I'm afraid that due to not doing something about the trans prog problem earlier, the transmission may have suffered more serious damage.

After looking around for some information, I tried to get the fault codes from memory - by turning on the car, but not turning over the ignition, then waiting for five seconds, then pumping the accelerator five times within five seconds and waiting. But when I went to try this method, my display didn't show the maintenance symbol, instead showing the letters (E P). Once I turned on the ignition, the maintenance symbol (cogged wheel) came on, and then I turned it off and quickly on again, which then yielded the maintenance symbol, so I then tried the procedure to get the fault codes from memory - with no result.

So next I tried a suggestion I found on another site: disconnect the battery for a while, then touch the contacts to each other, then reconnect. When I did this, I found that I couldn't get the error codes to show up at all - instead I only get "E P", and then "E D" (in drive) and "E R" (in reverse) - but still it's not in gear. So the car thinks it's in gear, the engine revs, but there's no connection; no movement.


I now have to decide whether this car is potentially fixable - ie. is this purely an electrical problem - or whether it will cost a substantial amount of money to replace the transmission, in which case I would have to opt to surrender the car for parts.

Any suggestions, ideas, speculations about this situation would be most welcome, and I'll gladly provide any additional information required.

Looking forward to any and all replies, and thanking you all in advance for taking the time to read this,

electronblue

[E34-520iSE]

Have you looked at the fluid in the 'box? If it's black/brown/gungy etc then the tranny's pooped (by your description it sounds terminally dead).

HTH,

Shaun

[electronblue]

Thank you, Shaun!

"If it's black/brown/gungy etc then the tranny's pooped"

When you say pooped... does that mean that a change of fluid could potentially save it?

"(by your description it sounds terminally dead)."

That's a possibility too...

For the moment, I'm working through these options, in this order:

1. I took out the battery and am recharging it. While I was last trying to start the car (after disconnecting the battery for a while and no longer getting the maintenance symbol), the battery low warning was showing up on the dashboard. So I'll recharge it and put it back in, see what that does. A low battery (and electrical anomalies in general) may be behind the trans prog problem, so I'll try this first.

2. I'm going to clean the gear selector switch. (It worked for someone on this forum: http://www.bimmerfest.com/forums/archive/index.php/t-107100.html - see the fourth post by a user called imnprsd.) Also, moving the gear selector has been increasingly difficult lately, so perhaps there's something going on here.

3. I don't know if the car has a dipstick for the ATF (it's stranded a few miles down the road), but will look for this later on today. If not, then I'm not sure if I can check the fluid without either getting it to a garage or jacking it up, which will be a bit of an ordeal since it's parked on grass at the moment.

[E34-520iSE]

The oil in the box is fairy well sealed in - the filth in the oil is the internals breaking up. Regular gear oil changes during the car's life prolong gearbox life.
I don't think driving around in 3rd gear for three months is going to help it though. You'd be better of getting it home, jacking it up and checking it out.

HTH,

Shaun

[electronblue]

Up until the last two weeks or so, it would be in 3rd gear a third to half the time, and the rest of the time run normally.

I'm trying to contact a mechanic right now to see if he can look into this transmission fluid situation. The other two options (battery and gear selector) may possibly (knock on wood) allow me to move the car if need be.

Thanks for the advice, Shaun. I'll post updates if anything else transpires.

[electronblue]

Update: Just came back from a trip out to the car.

1. Tried fully charged battery, which did nothing but get rid of the low battery light. So that isn't it. I still suspect it had something to do with my having the trans prog problem previously though.

2. I cleaned the gear selector switch, which seemed kind of futile even while I was doing it since it appeared to be in pretty good shape. And cleaning it did nothing.

3. I'll also look for the dipstick or fill level tomorrow morning - in daylight.


So the current status is still this: Car will start up, dashboard displays "E P", and will change accordingly ("E D", "E R") when I shift the gear selector, but will not actually go into gear, and the car will not move.