my car had a stroke :(
 

well everyone, i think it may have finally happened:

my car just had a "stroke" tonight and i fear that the transmission has gone out at last :(

i was in a parking lot near the Pier 1 near Mission Valley looking for parking to find my gf some candles ... all of a sudden that dreaded warning chime sounded and i looked at the info screen on the dash and saw, to my shock, the following 3 things:

"TRANS. FAILSAFE MODE" (or however it's spelled out)

CHECK ENGINE

and the DSC light illuminated as well.

At that point, the car suddenly felt like it was stuck in 3rd gear, very hard to get it moving ... in fact, harder than it usually feels when starting out in 3rd gear.

Also, the RPM was occasionally fluctuating, frequently dropping all the way to 0 and back up again.

Additionally, the speedometer was totally nonfunctional.

And the RPM itself, on occasion, sounded very rough, as though the engine was about to die.

I tried turning the car off and letting it sit for a while, but nothing made any difference. I have just less than 1/2 a tank of gas in the car so obviously that wasn't it either lol.

Anyway ... AAA towed my car (AGAIN!) to BMW San Diego and tomorrow morning I'm just hoping I can get a loaner car -- X3 or X5? -- so I can still drive to LA and pick up my girl to take her to Vegas.

If NOT ... I'm going to have to ask her to drive down HERE and then i'll have to drive us there in her car.

But i just dont' have the heart to tell her yet ... i want to "gamble" and win that i'll get an X3 or X5 loaner car tomorrow. But one thing's for certain -- i'm not ABOUT to do the drive in a freaking Camry lol.

I'm so sad ... my poor X5 ... my big little tank ... my suburban assault vehicle ... this could be the end of her...!! :(

How many miles on the X are you at?

nearly 115,000 miles :(

awww...i hope your x will be okay...how much is the dealership quoting you to replace it? i hope you're plans won't be too unfortunate...

what bad luck...the day before valentine's day...:rolleyes:

i don't know, it happened tonight after they closed ..... so i'm setting my alarm for 6 AM so i can be at the dealer when they open at 7 so i can get a loaner car.

i still haven't told my girl yet ....... i just don't want her to have to drive all the way down here, i'm confident i'll get lucky and i'll be able to get a loaner.

and EVEN if i get a crap loaner, at LEAST i can drive to LA at which point she'll offer -- INSIST?! -- that we take her car if only for the comfort and nothing else.

however... if i CAN'T get a loaner tomorrow ...... i'm screwed ..... there goes a precious 2.5 hrs or so wasted as i'll have to wait for her to get down here. lame.

it'll be better in a loaner...you can do things to it which you wouldn't normally do to your regular car (no pun intended). you don't have to worry about scratches or anything...

Thanks, just wondering since my 01 is at 87k now. Wonder if there is anything that can be done, since this seems to be a common issue, and my CPO is about to expire in June or 100k?

hope it fails now...when you still have the warranty...i know i am...:D:D:D

I know, but I am cuious if BMWNA would do anything about it before it expires??:dunno:

it should be covered by the warranty...new car and extended/cpo...

But that is if something goes wrong now, my question is what, if anything, can/would they do to prevent/fix it before it fails? Knowing that it is a common problem.

ohhh...i don't think that there's anything they could do but maintain it...when it dies, it just dies...i'm saying nothing but, the transmission is made by gm, no?

the transmission is made by gm?? no fraking wonder

i'm pretty sure it's made by gm...for the pre-facelift and the 3.0 facelift Xs...or the V8s may be, or may not be...but i think the 3.0 4.4 and 4.6 had the same transmission... the six-speed trannys are made by zf.

No, the prefacelift X5 4.4's have ZF 5-speed autos (A5S440Z) while the 3.0i's have French made GM 5-speed autos (A5S390R-GM5).

thanks for the clarification :thumbup:

but now...are both vulnerable to the failure?

Why not go and hire something nice for the day?

Best case scenario: Water in the underhood electronics affecting transmission controller.
http://www.xoutpost.com/x5-e53-forum/...lure-help.html

Worst case scenario: Failed transmission.
http://www.xoutpost.com/x5-e53-forum/...home-mode.html

ooo...you can rent a ferrari for $500 a day...but i think that's almost your entire budget wasted on one day...but that would be awesome :thumbup:

but renting a nice car is expensive...something like a cadillac dts is $100 a day :rolleyes: and BMW loaners are FREE!!! ;)

While 115K isn't insane mileage and a trans shouldn't go at that point, it is certainly possible after 100,000 miles to have issues with large components.

Sorry about the bad luck.

Ouchies....sorry for the X.....hope it makes it out alive.....:goodluck:
Ask them for the nicest BMW loaner they got...because they may have a 530 or something in the back...and if you only ask for an X...they may not give it to you...have fun in Vegas!

Was it raining a lot when that happened?

Ouch, hope your X is ok! Let us know.

If a transmission fails from a pre facelift, can you throw in a transmission from a 2004+?

3.0s are the same...don't think you can with the six speed...but good question, i want to know too.:thumbup:

same thing happened to my x5 a month ago
TRANS. FAILSAFE MODE came on, dsc light came on
felt the shakyness of shifting up/down
i just turned the car off, let it sit for like 5 hours and turned it on, worked fine

that's strange...it remedied itself?

So I guess what ever happened triggered the DSC, which might have cut the throttle and hit the brakes, which would add to the issues....

One possible cause is water getting into the control unit box. The control unit box is located just under the hood left vent. It happened to me once after a huge storm the car started displaying all kinds of error including the TRANS FAILSAFE one. After I let it dry it worked fine. I since have protected the box with a plastic film. Never had the issue since.

yea it remedied itself somehow...
HEY i remember it was raining that day too lol so it could be the control unit water leakage problem where u just have to dry it off

Hey everyone!

So my girl and I just got back to SD from Vegas... here's a quick summary as i'm too exhausted to type much.

* bmw DID give an X3 loaner, only after much begging and pleading ... although my own service guy didn't do it -- i had to ask one of the girls real nice lol

* drove the x3 to LA where we both suggested why not just take her new ML 350 since it's a much nicer car for all that driving anyway lol

* meanwhile, while in vegas, BMW called me and said the problem with my X5 is: the DSC and INSTRUMENT CLUSTER computer modules have gone bad and are not communicating with the main computer properly.

total cost: ~$2300 with tax.

*sigh*

i think we may be getting rid of the X ....... i cannot keep getting hit with these expenses. and god forbid the tranny should go out, that'll be like $7,000+ I've been told. Better sell the X while I still can ..............

there's only two cars I'd consider right now: pre-owned M3 convertible or pre-owned SL500 :)

Go find a couple of used ones. No sense in shelling out that much if you don't have to w/o warranty.