getting rid of the "trans fail mode"

[jonnyivy]

Christmas day !!,...yup,  took my son home after his visit,...he says to me hey Dad is this thing fast ??... stupidly I just gave it a wee bit more throttle than I usually to and after changing up to the higher gears it bumped into the transfail mode with the ding and the dash sign on. So as I would usually do , pulled over and turned her off,...waited a few seconds like previous times and switched it back on. Still the dash sign was still on with a wee "ding" each time I switch back off and on. Had to carefully drive it back home with the failsafe sign on and tried again but I cant get the warning sign to go out. It even stays on when I turn the ignition right off and even after a few seconds after I remove the key !!
How can I get the X5 out of the trans fail mode ??
Bearing in mind I have been posting about maybe having a bad earth-strap on the car or even a bad started connection.... but its not the alternator as I have just  had the tester on it and its kicking out 14 amps..

Any suggestions  ?
Car still starts and drives (in limp-mode)

Jonny

[CondorX5]

You could try the old trick of disconnecting the battery for a few minutes, and touching the two cable clamps on each other to get rid of any static before reconnecting.  This problem is often due to a failing battery rather than anything dire,  so try the simplest things first. And try to resolve the poor earth connection as well. These cars are notorious for gremlins when the battery is not absolutely 100%.

[strummer]

this could be anything including the throttle body,need to plug in an read the codes

[jonnyivy]

Will try to dis-connect the battery tomorrow if this damned wind and rain settles down.... it is a brand new Exide premium 900 cca battery thats fitted a month ago with a higher crank rating than previous battery ( 800 )

Somehow I'm leaning towards either a broken earth strap or a bad connection .

[Smeeagain]

[quote="CondorX5"]
You could try the old trick of disconnecting the battery for a few minutes, and touching the two cable clamps on each other to get rid of any static before reconnecting.  This problem is often due to a failing battery rather than anything dire,  so try the simplest things first. And try to resolve the poor earth connection as well. These cars are notorious for gremlins when the battery is not absolutely 100%.
[/quote]

If I recall correctly the battery needs to be disconnected for a full thirty minutes rather than just a few
Smee

[Smeeagain]

[quote="CondorX5"]
You could try the old trick of disconnecting the battery for a few minutes, and touching the two cable clamps on each other to get rid of any static before reconnecting.  This problem is often due to a failing battery rather than anything dire,  so try the simplest things first. And try to resolve the poor earth connection as well. These cars are notorious for gremlins when the battery is not absolutely 100%.
[/quote]

I think there is also a reset process with ignition on, foot on accelerator, then turn steering wheel lock to lock but the fix is listed on here (assuming it isnt the gearbox itself) so have a search. But you must eradicate the earth strap issue
Smee

[henrym3]

Sympathy, on xmas day. When you do get it read no doubt there will be g/b faults but they will probably be caused cos something else isn't feeding it the right info. Strummer's solution fixed mine about a year ago and I didn't even have fault codes for the throttle body, I just worked on the no cost options first. Been down the bad earth road, make sure you disconnect all your vehicle earths and wire brush or emery the contact points, I even fitted extra ones, I swear even my dash lights looked brighter.

[X5Sport]

Turning the key off for a few seconds doesn't work as it takes 16 mins for the systems to 'go to sleep' meaning you have to wait that long for a warning to clear down (if it is going to).

The battery disconnect is usually the first thing BMW will try, and yes it is for 30-mins and touch both battery connections together (with BOTH disconnected from the battery) -ve lead off first and on last!

A bad earth would affect all of the electrics as these cars draw significant power doing nothing.  My later X6 draws 60A+ just with the ignition in and no engine start!

The full throttle for 30 secs clears the gearbox adaptions (it learns your styles) but does not reset it.

If you have the 4x4 and DSC lights on after reconnecting the battery then start the engine and at a walking pace only move the steering fully lock to lock.  That clears it.

If the error does not clear itself then you could well be looking at MAF/throttle body issue as suggested, or possibly a real transmission issue.  Getting the error codes read should point you in the right direction.  Sometimes the warning light you see is not the actual issue.....very unhelpfully.

Not the best thing for Xmas though..l

[jonnyivy]

Thanks,...good info there,..... I already know that my gearbox is due a re-build,...just been stringing it along till after new year when I can get it taken for a rebuild. Its had the codes read a while back which pointed to clutch slip etc.  so I knew about the problem as posted on here recently too. Most times lately when it jumps a gear down with heavy throttle and goes into failsafe  its just a quick pull over and switch off then on to clear the dash warning....  not saying it clears the fault though.
At the moment there  is no other warning signs on the dash but I do hear a kind of differant sounding "ding" when I switch on ignition and see the failsafe warning sign ??? !!
Still looking for a dry day to procceed,

Thanks everyone,..

Jonny

[jonnyivy]

Here's an update,... hoping someone can explain or suggest something to me.

I tried the foot on the throttle for 30 seconds etc., ...the transfail warning light went out, but as soon as I tried to start it the light came back on ( very slow crank)
This morning I disconnected the new battery, negative first, then touched the two poss and neg together to discharge any static.
I left it disconnected there for about an hour and a half then coupled it back up.
Turned ignition on and there it was again, warning sign on dash,.... tried the foot thing again and it disappeared, but this time I used the old (newish) battery to jump start the car. The starter shot into action and the car started straight away !!!  No warning signs this time but the car is stuck in 3rd gear (took it round the block). When I reverse its ok but when I go to put it in park it kinda wants to drive in reverse a little bit but doesn't do anything, just a small movement.
However I can hear a constant ticking in the cab,...maybe coming from the boot , about the speed of a ticking clock..not sure what it is,..while the engine is sitting at idle.
Strangely I dis-connected the jump battery then switched the engine off and up comes the warning sign again !!! I pull out the keys and its still there for a few seconds after I get out !!
Its not doing much for my stress levels at the moment.
I'm starting to wonder if the  new battery I got (Exide premium 900) is a dud ?  Only a month old ... and the alternator is kicking out a 14 amp charge..

Anyone care to chip in their advise  please ??

Jonny

[Horizon]

Ticking in the boot area : something could be not going to sleep, C/D multi changer, satnav DVD reader. tracker maybe causing a discharge of the battery. Try unplugging stuff. Is the small orange light at the side of the gearstick going out after half an hour when the car has been locked ?

[jonnyivy]

Yes it goes out when locked and I think the ticking was the CD changer going through its process of entering the Cd's . That is the first time I have heard this noise so it must have been initialising itself ?

thanks,

[henrym3]

You have checked the battery connection the other side of the wall where the jump start positive connection is. If that has some slack it would account for the slow cranking even thought the jump point is tight?

[jonnyivy]

Hmmmm,...where is that then Henry ? Is there seperate tightening nut at the other side of that part of the bulkhead ? I did remove that positive jump-start point when I dis-mantled the inlet manifold to take out the glowplugs. AND it was after doing that when my slow crank started !!!....  maybe, just maybe ??
I will certainly look at this tomorrow and let you know...
Am I right in thinking that the red possitive lead that attaches to the battery comes straight to that point ?

Thanks for that advise,..

[X5Sport]

I take it you mean a 14V charge, not 14A?  You will have a very dead battery very quickly if the alternator is only producing 14A.  It should be nearer 80-100A.

With the engine at a fast idle you should see 14.4V at the under bonnet charging point.  I'm not aware of a connection inside the bulkhead as the cables come direct from the battery to that point, and go to the starter as well.  Electrical distribution inside come via internal wiring.

It is not unknown for 'new' batteries to be bad.  Bosch are going through a bad patch and many failing early.  See what the four digit build date code reads.  It is often two digits for the week, and two for the year and stamped on the body somewhere - or it may be on a label.  It might have been in storage for months.

3rd gear is in emergency mode (could be 3rd or 5th deoending upon the box series).  Loss of reverse is more worrying as that sounds like a pressure loss.  The 5-sp boxes were known for loss of reverse as being the first sign of imminent failure.