TRANS PROGRAM on dash

[yolusola]

hi y'all, i having a problem with my transmission, i own an '89 535i, i was driving the car the other day, and i notice the car wasnt switching gears and the trans program error came on the dash, i read the manual and it said that i should switch the car off and start it again, but the car was stuck on 3rd gear, and i would like to know what to do solve this problem and hope i dont have to go through a tranmission rebuild cuz i dont have that kind of dough, so any help would be greatly appreciated, thanks.

[shogun]

That does not absolutely mean that you have a trans problem. The car is in emergency mode and that means that besides other things the trans goes into limp mode.
Do a stomp test, if the car is a US specification car. If you do not know what stomp test means, use the search function for stomp test above.
Easiest is to visit the friendly dealer and ask for a short connection of your car to the diagnosis port.
That will help.