transmission/all-wheel drive failure/dsc failure

GSmith · #1 02-19-2010, 08:34 AM

Yesterday driving home from the office I get a chime and a message stating "transmission failure"= drive at moderate speeds until able to take to dealer. Within 10 minutes other messages came on: all wheel drive failure, dsc malfunction, brake light came on. I-drive then froze up. Drove to dealer (about a mile away)- they saw all the messages. Took a look- scanned it. Said there was nothing wrong- they couldn't find any faults and that it must have just been a software glitch. Seems pretty strange to me. Any similar experiences- do I just wait and watch? Truck is 2008 4.8, not quite a year and a half old- has about 21000 miles. Am a little nervous about taking it out on the road or anywhere too far from dealer.

DSE · #2 02-19-2010, 01:09 PM

I have had the dashboard light up with multiple brake or transmission warnings a couple of times, but the car was driving normally so I was suspicious. The warnings went away after I stopped the car for awhile and restarted it, and it hasn't happpened again for several months now, so I haven't worried about it.

GSmith · #3 02-19-2010, 02:25 PM

Sounds similar. No long road trips planned till June so we'll see. Thanks!

ard · #4 02-19-2010, 02:38 PM

Did they write on the actual work order the failures they visually observed?

Is so, demand a PUMA case on why the car shows those failures but somehow, magically, they are not stored in memory...

GSmith · #5 02-19-2010, 02:42 PM

No work order at all (but then I didn't ask for one, just showed up. no appt). Drove it there around 5:30 PM last night and left with the car 45 minutes later.

Alicate · #6 02-19-2010, 04:14 PM

Check battery voltages at rest. Also terminals and connections, particularly ground. Random error messages have been found in other vehicles to be related to such electrical problems.

nepod90 · #7 03-08-2010, 12:07 PM

Happened to me a couple of weeks ago...luckily I was about a mile away from my house. The car wouldn't go fater than 35 mph. I limped to the dealership later that day and they said that it needed a new wiring harness. They replaced and it's been fine since.

However, I am now noticing that the car lunge's sometimes when I brake. I thought I saw something here about a sensor that needs to be replaced. Anyone else experience this?

hchi · #8 03-19-2010, 08:30 PM

If your battery and alternator is in good condition, this should resolve your problem. BMWs have a hard time when voltage drops to a certain level. I believe the Ignition or accessory wire was not receiving the correct voltage. BMW dealers are not the best in solving problems when they are intermittent or if no error codes are thrown. I have found these same problems you have described in several BMWs due to the build up of carbon or worn electrical contact in the ignition switch. This is a simple replacement and takes about 15 minutes and $75-$100 for the part. I have found the ignition switch would send out as low as 4-5 volts to the purple lead and several modules will fail such as the DSC, transmission, heated seats, steering wheel controls, airbags, and stuck brake lights. The tell tail sign will be no error codes thrown when this occurs. Good luck!!