Another damn TRANS PROGRAM Message

[bimmo_2007]

Good day fellas,

Here it goes, after sticking 2 hours in a lovely and wonderful traffic jam, I pressed the gas, the freaking message "TRANS PROGRAM" popped up & the car went into the limp mode, I drove about 200 yards and pulled to the side of the road & turned it off & started the engine in 5 minutes, nothing appeared yet, but when I moved the selecter to D position nothing happened!! just like the neutral position, tried the R and it worked fine but back to the D the same thing, I pressed more gas, small struggle on the engine, a clunk and then the message "TRANS PROGRAM" popped up again and went through the limp mode. Crawling forward and no ED lights on the dash etc..., now what do you think guys of this? I already did the valve body 10k ago. any ideas!

[whiskychaser]

Good day fellas,

Here it goes, after sticking 2 hours in a lovely and wonderful traffic jam, I pressed the gas, the freaking message "TRANS PROGRAM" popped up & the car went into the limp mode, I drove about 200 yards and pulled to the side of the road & turned it off & started the engine in 5 minutes, nothing appeared yet, but when I moved the selecter to D position nothing happened!! just like the neutral position, tried the R and it worked fine but back to the D the same thing, I pressed more gas, small struggle on the engine, a clunk and then the message "TRANS PROGRAM" popped up again and went through the limp mode. Crawling forward and no ED lights on the dash etc..., now what do you think guys of this? I already did the valve body 10k ago. any ideas!
Crawling for a couple of hours your battery may have been draining. A low battery voltage will certainly give you the transprog message. IIRC when it comes on it knocks off the 'E' and 'D' lights. I'd start by checking the battery using the OBC or a DMM. Fingers crossed its that simple

[bimmo_2007]

I already checked the battery, it seemed to be ok.

[whiskychaser]

If battery is OK I'd be getting fault codes read PDQ

[bimmo_2007]

Hurray! I finally got the damn thing fixed. The transmission now works very smooth. I went to a good mechanic (I trust). We disassembled the unit and found out the SUN GEAR SHAFT that holds few clutches was broken which caused the problem. All clutches were in good shape. So I asked him to replace that borken drum and all sealing rings as well. I also used Penzoil Multi ATF and now it runs so smooth with no lags.

[Mr._Graybeard]

What was the bill, if you don't mind sharing?

[bimmo_2007]

What was the bill, if you don't mind sharing?

Oh of course I don't mind. It was as follows:

* Sun Gear Shaft (Used) $165
* Precision kit (all seals, orifices, VB check balls, gaskets) $144
* Vaico Oil filter $39
* 14 quarts Pennzoil Multi ATF DexIII $59
* Labor $200

Total: $607

I think it's too expensive! what do you think guys? and by the way the guy who did this job made a special discount in labor for me.

[Mr._Graybeard]

I dunno, sounds like you got off pretty damned easy. The price on the filter seems high if it's aftermarket (the general consensus is to use an OE Filtran filter). If it's a factory BMW filter, that's about the price I've paid at my local dealership.

I spent $135 on the VB gasket kit a year ago from Auto Sports Unlimited; you refer to orifices and check balls, which sound like valve body kit components, plus I suspect your car took some additional gasketry for this job. So that price sounds OK. And $59 for 14 quarts of Pennzoil MVATF is about the price you'd pay off the shelf at a lot of discount parts houses where I live.

I'd say you paid almost no markup on parts and got tapped very lightly for labor.

But then I just checked your profile and noticed you're posting from Iraq, so maybe the parts market is quite a bit different. Where I live in southern Wisconsin, I'd be hard pressed to find someone willing to even attempt a partial transmission rebuild. Getting the car back on the road would have cost thousands of dollars.

[bimmo_2007]

Yeah may be! However, the OEM Filtran would cost about $90 here so I went with the VAICO wich I tried before.