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X5 E53 3.0D facelift 2006 ++++Transmission Failsafe Error

Posted: Thu Jan 10, 2019 6:50 pm
by kanewesley
Driving the car home yesterday and stopped at numerous traffic lights.
I am used to the usual "lurch as you almost come to a stop and am told it's an "X5 thing"
However, five minutes into my journey and as I came to a standstill, this "lurch " was accompanied by another noise, a kind of clunk.
Worked or way through more traffic and felt this lurch accompanied by a clunk once more.

When we got out of town and started driving, Noticed that the car wasn't changing gear.
We were doing approx 45 mph and the rev counter was around 3000rpm.

Tried shifting into sport mode but still no gear change available.

I didn't want to stop and have a check round as I didn't want to be stuck on an unlit road with the wife and dog if the car, in the dark, if the car would not move after stopping.(Last call out to the RAC was a 15 hour wait)
So I drove home about 12 miles at 3000rpm and 45 mph.

We got home and I switched off the ignition to be greeted with"Transmission Failsafe Prog."
I restarted the car, moved forward nd then backed into the drive and this time when I switched off the ignition, No Message !
I took the car for a spin up the road and it drove normally.

Looked into the error memory with INPA today and there was quite a listing but all in German :x

I reset all the memory errors and today the car has performed good all day.

My questions are

What happened?
Why did it drive normally after stopping and staring?
Will it happen again?
Is it time to get rid.

The car has done 175K

I have to say, I have been running about with an an ORANGE 4x4! light on for the past week( since I fit a new battery) and a RED low tyre pressure icon for the last 4 days.
I've read somewhere that among the unstable, lunacy programming of the X5, these icons can maybe cause the "Transmission Failsafe Mode" to kick in???

Thank You

Re: X5 E53 3.0D facelift 2006 ++++Transmission Failsafe Error

Posted: Thu Jan 10, 2019 8:45 pm
by X5Sport
Your warning lights should disappear if you go full lock to full lock at walking pace. That might solve the gearbox too, but it may not.

Transmission wise you would probably be wise to get either BMW to run diagnostics or a Bosch Autocentre as they usually have the correct decoding hardware...and will be less than the £100 or so BMW will charge you just to look.

Without knowing what the errors were that triggered the warnings it’s hard to tell. It could be overheating due to low oil level, or losing pressure on a clutch pack, or a sticky solenoid, or a Mechatronics module issue, or torque converter.....etc etc. It could be a bad battery - though from your description that might be less likely. There are so many issues that could cause the symptoms it’s a tricky one. It’s doing well at 175k though. :)

If no new errors are appearing then it will be hard to diagnose, and you cleared the old log down. Did you note any of the codes?

Re: X5 E53 3.0D facelift 2006 ++++Transmission Failsafe Error

Posted: Thu Jan 10, 2019 9:29 pm
by kanewesley
Hi,,,,no.
The INPA suite I have is all in german and the only codes I could see were in like a hexidecimal format.
Thats why I cleared the memory as it meant nothing

Re: X5 E53 3.0D facelift 2006 ++++Transmission Failsafe Error

Posted: Fri Jan 11, 2019 1:36 pm
by kanewesley
The full lock to full lock trick dont work either !....tried it 3x today as the 4x4 light came on on starting this morning