another trans fail safe situation
 

hi fellow x5ers.

i know this might be one out of a million trans fail post thats been up. but i finally experienced it first hand. so as i was heading toward summer school in the morning, i went to pick up my friend at her house before we went. when i started the car i saw the code on the dashboard and i was frightened for a bit because none of us wants to see it. i tried turning it off and starting it again, but DSC, ABS, Brake, SES were all on but i could actually drive the car..but very sluggishly and often the ABS goes on.

i ended up making it to the school because it was nearby and my dad came to get the car afterward since hes a mechanic. when he turned on the car all the lights were off and he had the obd scanning tool i believe thats what its called. i havent heard from him yet since he's still at work but hopefully my baby is fine.

alittle more info might help for now until my dad tells me what is actually wrong with the car since i read that trans fail could be a variety of issues.

-00 bmw x5 4.4l
-139kmiles...yikess! i know
-SES has been on for at least 2 weeks
-cleaned the car yday/and i took out the spare tire in the trunk to see if i can experience any significant power/acceleration off the line.
-the thing with taking out the spare tire was i forgot to put back the...rod that holds the tire there..i dont think that would be the issue there would it?

sorry for the long read..hopes someone can chime in. have a good night everyone!

ahh no responds? :/ well..i got some results from my dad. he said the speed sensor or w/e might be bad and we're going to have to replace it. is that one of the problems from trans fail? plus he couldnt do anything about to ABS part. he drove it to work and it drives but its so sluggish..is it better if he doesnt drive it at all?

I'm no expert on the tranny's but I've experienced a failure in the past on my E34 525i >100K miles. That cost me IRE£1100 for a tranny rebuild at that time.

The trans failsafe error will put the tranny in 3rd gear only to allow you get home - hence the sluggish performance when the error is active. The cause of the error can be many things from a simple sensor failure to a major mechanical issue. Let's hope that in your case the speed sensor replacement solves the problem.

If your car has been driven normally (not thrashed) and well looked after - the 139K miles should not be too much of a worry. For cars harshly driven - the tranny could be nearing the end of it's life at this mileage.

Regarding your comments above (leaving the SES without arranging a service and putting the standing start acceleration to the test) - If this is your routine practice then it will take it's toll on the car at some point.

Usually when the Trans. Fail Safe Mode comes on, everything else comes on like a Christmas tree...even when not related. I believe I had a wheel speed sensor replaced because it went bad and caused the Trans. Safe Mode also.

The abs wheel speed sensor faults can and do cause trans failsafe. And depending on which sensor has the fault can depict the problem at hand.

The left rear sensor can be a faulty instrument cluster, the right rear can be a faulty DSC unit. And the front sensors are usually just the sensors.

For diagnosis help the front sensors and rear sensors are the same on each side, so you can swap them from left to right to see if the fault stays put or followes the sensor.

Let me know what codes he finds.