Worst drive home ever!

[dexternjack]

This weekend, the wife and I decided to go up into N Cali to the Redwoods, Crescent City area. It is just below Oregon. We have been in the Bay Area for almost two years now and haven't ventured out much.

So, after a couple of nice days looking and driving through trees, watching sea lions play and eat a lot of seafood, we decided to head south towards home. That was today and a large storm has stalled in most of north Cali, but I was dead set on getting home in time to get a good night sleep before the game tomorrow. Well, 12 hours later, we are finally home, should have been 6-7 hours max.

We set out early and after I chased/photographed a lot of elk, we were on our way. It was raining pretty good and about 30 minutes into our trek....we slid on some standing water. Immediately, my transmission went bat crazy and a dashboard warning light came on, it said "Trans.failsafe.prog." My car went into some secondary mode that is drive-able to prevent further damage.

This trip is in nothing but thick forests, mountains and coastline, so it is dangerous enough in great conditions. We were 70 miles from the nearest mechanic/town. We had to try and get there, was no other options because no cell service and no one else on the road. About 2 hours later we got to the next town and finally found a mechanic.

The bad news was that he was the only certifiable transmission mechanic in town, the worse news was that he didn't know how to work on BMW's We have an X5 SUV, so options are limited. We decided to limp another 60 miles to a larger town. It is there we found out the slip caused a solenoid to burn out in the tranny but we should be safe to make it another 250 miles to San Fran(if we drove slow and steady), they could not fix the car there either.

About 9 hours later we finally got home and the car somehow fixed itself, like the computer in it got reset. It no longer says we have a transmission problem in the dashboard computer. I am at a loss, do we spend the 1500.00 to fix it anyways or wait it out to see if really fixed? To see if we need it repaired, it still costs $500 just to look. It drove fine to me once the semi-mechanic reset the computers in it.

Best news of the weekend, we came across a huge Paul Bunyon wood carved statue and a bigfoot tourist trap

[tomson75]

Moral of the story: Don't buy a BMW.

[chip_gilkey]

I find myself wondering what it is you do for a living. Sounds like you make quite a bit of money

[Phoenix]

Wow, glad you and your family made it home safe and the cannibals didn't get you.

As to your question, you might consider just having another inspection done then go from there...

[dexternjack]

Originally Posted by chip_gilkey

I find myself wondering what it is you do for a living. Sounds like you make quite a bit of money

I help restaurants make changes to improve service, menu's, money among other things. Mostly smaller places and family owned. In the process of opening my own bistro though.

My wife is the one who does well though

[Wolfpack]

Sounds like you got some water in a place that should be watertight. Might have someone look at it, those connections sometimes have a boot or such or might be loose for what ever reason. You can do that yourself if you want...an SUV is easy to get under.

Should not affect the driving or use of the transmission, just keep an eye on how the thing shifts.

[dexternjack]

Originally Posted by Wolfpack

Sounds like you got some water in a place that should be watertight. Might have someone look at it, those connections sometimes have a boot or such or might be loose for what ever reason. You can do that yourself if you want...an SUV is easy to get under.

Should not affect the driving or use of the transmission, just keep an eye on how the thing shifts.

The car has two drive modes, regular and a failsafe one. In failsafe, the P N R D does not light up on the dash, but in regular, each gear is lit up, so the D would be lit. In failsafe, it is very sluggish and has trouble going up hills, mountains, etc and has little pick-up off the line.

Since the computer was re-set, it has been in regular mode with no error codes. I am hoping it was just a faulty error message due to slipping on the road.

Oh, in noway will I be attempting to work on this problem at all, once I get done, there will probably be more problems added

[trickblue]

I drive a Land Rover with a BMW engine...

Here's something for future reference:

• Disconnect both battery cables (+ first)
• Connect the battery cables together for about 10 minutes (Vice Grips or something of that nature)
• Connect the battery cables back to battery
• Restart your car

This is called a hard reset and and will take your learned computer settings back to factory as well as erase warning codes. If you DID have a real problem, the code would come back. Throw a pair of Vice Grips in one of your storage areas for future issues.

[dexternjack]

Originally Posted by trickblue

I drive a Land Rover with a BMW engine...

Here's something for future reference:

• Disconnect both battery cables (+ first)
• Connect the battery cables together for about 10 minutes (Vice Grips or something of that nature)
• Connect the battery cables back to battery
• Restart your car

This is called a hard reset and and will take your learned computer settings back to factory as well as erase warning codes. If you DID have a real problem, the code would come back. Throw a pair of Vice Grips in one of your storage areas for future issues.

Thanks, I will give that a shot.

[hipfake08]

About exactly what I would have said. Other than just disconnect the plus side only. Byt use a rubber glove to hold cable away.