[Marcus2112]

Sometimes in the morning when it’s cold I get the transmission warning light with the cog and exclamation point. I’ve never tried to drive it with it on, first time it happened I simply turned the car off and back on and it went away and drove fine. This happened the day after I purchased it at 80k miles. It would do it every few days and every time it would go away when restarted. I did a fluid drain and fill today at 80,500m. drove it about 50 miles, then did another drain and fill as an attempted quick fix. Drives smoother now and didn’t throw up the light, then parked it for about 6 hours and the trans light came on again. As always it went away when I restart the car. I have a decent OBD-II reader but it shows no codes and I don’t have access to BMW specific scan software/equipment. Does anyone have experience with this issue or have any input? The fluid I drained was pretty bad and obviously had never been changed but the car shifts smoother now after the two drain and fills and I never noticed any slipping or especially harsh shifts or clunking.

[bluewater328]

The best one to read it in your situation might be ISTA+.

It just might be the nanny code that comes in at about 125k (sorry forgot exact number). It's a code you cannot just clear. You usually have to step through it in ISTA+: It will ask you if you changed the transmission oil and filter. When you confirm it will clear the code. Hopefully its that one and its that simple.

Try to get at least NCSexpert or you could get Bimmergeeks Protool to get you the full BMW code of your error.

[Marcus2112]

I’m only at 81k. What it’s doing is not letting me out of park when I start the car, then I just restart it and the little warning message goes away and then it drives perfectly fine. It usually only does it in the morning when I first start then runs fine all day.

[Marcus2112]

For further clarification I get the warning and lock in park almost every morning and almost no other time which makes me think it’s temp related perhaps?

[bluewater328]

Originally Posted by Marcus2112

I'm only at 81k. What it's doing is not letting me out of park when I start the car, then I just restart it and the little warning message goes away and then it drives perfectly fine. It usually only does it in the morning when I first start then runs fine all day.

I mean 125,000 Km. = ~78k miles

[ValveslapAdjustment]

This just happened to me yesterday. It's annoying because I have to wait a few seconds after engine off before the car will release the key and at this point the cog and exclamation point show up. It also shows up when I unlock the car with the remote.

I used Carly to scan for codes. None related to transmission or transfer case (aside from the transfer case oil wear code that I haven't cleared yet, for which I'm waiting on my K+DCAN cable to arrive).

In the past week I have fixed the DS mode broken wire. A lot of other wires in the bunch were almost broken; i haven't repaired them yet. After my fix the LED for D next to the gear selector would fail to illuminate. Then two days ago I noticed the gear selector required more force to select park, and it didn't 'feel' as though the selector was fully in park and wouldn't slip into R. However, I cannot force it out of park without applying the brake so I don't think it will pop out.

I believe the issue is related to the gear selector as I have recently semi-completed repairs on it. I suspect the selector mechanism on mine is not positioned properly and/or I have another broken wire. I hope this helps!

2008 E92 328xi w/ GM 6L45 transmission.

[E92_William]

There's a known issue with the GM6 transmissions outside of these forums more with the Camaro and such forums regarding the manual valve. This is what actually moves inside the transmission to select P R N D. This can sometimes break and you can't get the transmission into any gear or out of park at all. Maybe it's related to this issue. I bet there's codes scanning with ISTA or INPA. Might be some solenoid that sometimes doesn't actuate

[rjahl]

Originally Posted by E92_William

There's a known issue with the GM6 transmissions outside of these forums more with the Camaro and such forums regarding the manual valve. This is what actually moves inside the transmission to select P R N D. This can sometimes break and you can't get the transmission into any gear or out of park at all. Maybe it's related to this issue. I bet there's codes scanning with ISTA or INPA. Might be some solenoid that sometimes doesn't actuate

I'd use INPA, no idea if Carley even supports transmission code reading outside of the standard ODB protocols.

Then when you have INPA loaded you can test various valves and sensors. I guess INSTA-D can do the same.

[Marcus2112]

I have no idea what inpa is but I understand that these BMWs have different systems for the diagnostics and codes, I hooked it up to my gf’s colleges auto sections snap on solus and it said my car has absolutely no codes on engine or trans. They have a partnership with Mercedes so they paid extra for Euro capabilities for the scanner.

[Marcus2112]

I’ve narrowed down the “symptom” slightly. It happens on cold starts, and I don’t actually have to turn the car off to make the transmission icon go away. It goes away in under a minute and once it does it allows me to go into drive and runs absolutely fine. It’s been doing it every day for a week and over 3000 miles with absolutely no changes in driveability. I am stumped. I am curious if the snap on tool would show a code if I left the car overnight then hooked up the scanner while the error message is actually up on the screen before it disappears

[Mrquik310]

How can u find out what trans I have one a 328i??

[E92_William]

If your transmission has a metal pan it's gm6. Plastic is zf6. 328i is 99.99% of the time gm