Disaster!!!!
 

Hi guys,

I have not posted for a while and was waiting to surprise you all with all the new mods. But unfortunately my car ran into some serious problems again, it was good for a few months but here we go again. 2 weeks ago the transmission failsafe mode came on along with the check engine light. After sitting at the dealer (BMW NYC) for a week they finally decided to replace the transmission (at only 56k!!). Thank god for warranty because the bill was 5k. Also asked to get 2 dents done and a detailing job. They cracked the coolant hose while detailing and was trying to charge me since its not covered under CPO warranty. I raised hell and they took care of the charge. However they forgot to fix one of the doors. So the car had to be brought back. Now lastnight the transmission + engine lights came on again then went away. A hour later the car just DIED on the highway while driving, steering wheel and brakes both lost power. It was not a good feeling doing 50's and try to pull off the road when you have no power assisted steering or brakes. The car got tolled back to the dealer and they are looking at it now.

Question, do you guys think this is the fuel regulator? Because the car starts right up, all electronics work but the engine sounds like its choking on gas...

Thanks for your help.

P.S. also have the noise coming from the leftfront suspension, think this is the control arm bushing issue. But the dealer wants 120 just to look at it and

CONTROL ARM BUSHINGS 950.00 + TAX

FRONT STRUTS 1150.00 + TAX

to fix. F that!

What are the codes from the ECM? Without that it is impossible to guess... Sorry about your problems- maybe another dealer?

With so many problems, Id try and get a replacement vechile. Same one.

Thanks all for your advices. I dont have the ecm code and there is no way i will get the same vehical again.

Though I know yours is an '01, this link mentions a defect in the ECM that exactly matches your symptoms.
http://www.theautochannel.com/news/2...14/203956.html

Sound like you've got a few items on your list but perhaps this can help narrow down the loss of brakes/ steering power at least.

Thanks for the info. Dealer has diagnosed that the stall was caused by crank case vent valves failure. So they replaced that. Now the transmission error came on again, even after they replaced the transmission and harness. I'm starting to think it's my eclipse navigation unit, which is connected to the speed pulse from the ecu. i think everytime i hit "accept" on the nav, the transmission error comes on... and it goes away then does not come back again. but the error message does come on once in a while. what do you guys think?

Pull it off and try it again?

Wow. Shame to hear that it might have something to do with another system (the eclipse). I'm only offering this since I'm researching a Trans. Failsafe error on mine right now, but here's another link I thought was interesting-
http://www.xoutpost.com/x5-e53-forum/...light=failsafe

Such a small thing might also explain it being missed on diagnostics (found 20 threads about this when I searched, and few if any were solved/fingered by dealer diagnostics). If that link doesn't match your situation, I'd recommend a search since there are tons of tips in the archives.
I'm 'in the trenches' with you apparently on this transmission error!