2003 BMW 745I Transmission issues

[Mario Rousseau]

Hello everyone,

I've got some issues with my transmission lately (being unable to go reverse on an small hill). The problem is not there when I'm changing gears on a flat surface and not all the time! On reverse, the car is going slowly forward when I press the gas pedal!!! This is weird, then finally I put the transmission on D and then the car goes slowly and.... then finally engaged on Drive position! then, I go back on a flat surface (when I'm able too) and it goes OK on Reverse. I've putted some ''anti wear and stop leaks for old trans oil'' in the transmission throughout the ''check level stick'' and it helped for a week but today the issue came back. This time I've got the following message: ''Transmission Failsafe! Drive moderately'' message!!! Does anyone know what could be the problem(s)? I've tried to switch the transmission to ''S'' and ''M'' modes to activate it but I think its worst since then! Activate what, no clue, just to make it works harder and maybe clear it up and to make sure the ''fix oil'' will help but....????

Thank you
Best Regards.

Mario

[Mario Rousseau]

Any help please...would be much appreciated!!!

[samba]

Dear Mario,
Today, I have the same issue on my 2003 745i. Before that,I had overheating issue on the transmission for more that a month when I am in a slow traffic or a long way and it getting worse every day. Today I was driving on the highway for only 20 mins, then I got transmission overheating light which cause me to stop and put it on P to cool down. After that I could drived back to home safely but when I stopped, the car is not moving forward or reverse. currently I have the same issue (Transmission Failsafe! Drive moderately). Please, I need your experience on this and how you solve it.

[modular93fox]

There is no transmission dip stick on e65 7 series... You put that additive in the engine oil.

[BimmerBreaker]

The transmissions on those cars are notoriously unreliable. I was told it is often caused by "california stops" - aka slowing down and almost stopping but not stopping completely. Not sure if thats true but either way, those transmissions are unreliable.

Also yes, OP needs to drain his engine oil immediately...

[ImTheDevil]

I'm wondering whether this car has a trans cooler like my E39 does. It seems to be a very overlooked part of maintenance on the E39, with most people not ever thinking about it. Could be to some extent an issue on this car too.

That being said I have also heard of a lot of issues on this car's transmission, which seems to indicate that there's more to the issues than just neglecting to service the cooler...

[Stück]

those cars are notoriously unreliable.

Fixed.

Best way to fix the problems you're experiencing is to get a salvage bid from local junk yards and leave the car with one of them.