I know the "TRANS PROGRAM" is a pretty popular subject, and has been discussed plenty on this board. I need some guidance. I bought a 1993 525i J-SPEC with roughly 50K Miles about 5 months ago in Japan. It is a very clean car and was babied before I bought it. I am now in Turkey and this car has not even coughed, once. I do my own maintenance - oil service, coolant flush, sparkpluggs, etc.
Last week I encountered the infamous "TRANS PROGRAM". At first I got the error once a day; I could shut the car off and re-start and it would be fine. Eventually is began to happen more often, but it wasn't too bad because it would flash "TRANS PROGRAM" and instead of saving itself and going into 3rd gear like most people have experienced, the alert would go off and my car drove perfectly.
Now, I began to notice when the car would up-shift it started to wait for a higher RPM. It kept getting higher and higher. This would only occur from 1st to 2nd most frequently. I had a feeling it was the "pulse generator" in the tranny as I did all the suggested methods (Such as cleaning electrical connections in shift-selector, battery check, car computer, etc.). It was happening so randomly that I couldn't believe it was a direct mechanical problem. Eventually it got up to 7000RPM's before it up-shifted and I can't drive it anymore.
I decided, since I am new in Turkey and just wanted to get this fixed quickly I would bring it to the BMW Service Center here. I drove it there, gave them the play-by-play of what I was experiencing and told them what I believed it was. They laughed at me (There was only one english-speaking person there so she was translating what I said to their mechanic). She said it would be about 2 hours so they could run some tests. I waited and waited and waited. About 4 hours later they were done, she said that it wasn't the pulse generator, but that the gear-box would have to be replaced and it would cost 7000 EUROS or about $9000.
Now, I bought this car for $5000. I am really not that stupid. I do need some help though. That shop is the only place I can really bring my car to get serviced in Turkey. I am here for another 2 years. I did find a webpage -
www.phoenixhardparts.com (They offer remanufactured transmissions). I can replace my whole transmission and buy a remanufactured one from them for about $1500. I can also try to replace the "pulse generator" myself. I am really stuck here. That car is my only transportation. I just bought it and I can't see it go to waste. Any help is solving my problem would be greatly appreciated. I know this post has been long and detailed, but thank you for reading this far. I attached a picture of the car just so you all can see her.