Oh no! Transmission Failsafe Prog!

[Sim0x]

Hi everyone!

Well here is the story.....

I'm currently offshore and I just happen to check my company email to find a message from the wife, I opened it up to find only a few words... "RING ME!". Oh shit I thought, do I actually ring her, or do I not. OK, I rang..... She screams down the phone for a few minutes in a pitch that only wild animals can hear until I manage to clam her down. She proceeds to inform me that when driving home from a shopping trip with the kids in the car, a notice popped up on the instrument panel:  "Transmission Failsafe Prog" and the car drastically slowed to nearly a full stop and the steering wheel went into tug-a-war mode. She managed to get the car home and quickly rang the closest garage she could, a guy came out and she explained everything that had just happened, he took the car to his garage to plug it into his computer, she told him that "Transmission Failsafe Prog" & "Fuel Inject System" have showed their ugly faces before but nothing like this had happened.

I rang her today to see what the score was,  the guy has told her that the only error codes to show up are for glow plugs?!?! now my wife has no idea about cars just like myself, but is no fool, She asks a series of questions....

1. How exactly do you know it is the glow plugs?
2. What test have you done to check it IS the glow plugs?
3. How many glow plugs does the car have?
4. How much are the glow plugs, each?
5. How much is labor?
6. How long will it take?
7. If I pay for this, will it correct this problem?
8. ARE YOU SURE??

Like I said my wife is no fool, and can beat most people down with words, I actually feel quite sorry for this guy lol

ANYWAY.....

I just wanted to ask if anyone thought that this could actually be the problem or are we going to change them all out as the mechanic has suggested or are we going to run into this problem again?

Thanks in advance

Steve

[shadrack]

can be battery issues, if its a random message, it needs to go to a bmw specialist really

[Sim0x]

Hi shadrack, Thanks for your quick reply but... I hope it's not the battery as I only put a new Banner AMG battery in it which cost me a lovely £180!! lol

[X5Sport]

If the car is doing short journeys, the battery will get quite low.

One trick I found with mine is that how you start it is important.  It appears to be essential to allow all the warning lights to cycle and only then crank the engine.  I used to get all sorts if spurious messages about transmission, oil pressure, oil level and the sensors were fine.  Dealer suggested the start sequence and after that it was fine for years. 

It's allegedly something to do with all the computers having time to boot up, self-check and log on to the network in the right sequence.  Any mis-timing and the car starts sending scary messages at you....

Worth a try at least...

Richard

[Sim0x]

Thanks Rich, I will tell her to give that a try but I'm quite sure she does this already as she normally turns on the ignition whilst getting the kids into the back then cracks it over.

But I will ask her.

Thanks again.

[Sim0x]

OK here we go, I've just had an update....

She picked the car up and all seemed fine, drove it home and the "Fuel Inject System" warning throws up again so now she is starting to panic a bit.

Any ideas guys?

[X5Sport]

Sounds like a fault code read is needed.  It could be a number of issues from a bad injector, low fuel pressure, dirty fuel filter, bad sensor, or air in the system (though it should self bleed), or the wiring.  If they've changed the plugs then they could have disturbed something!

The garage should have seen the code already as I think it's come up before so should be able to tell what's wrong.  It certainly won't be caused by bad Glowplugs.  I'm assuming the garage has the right kit?

Richard

[Sim0x]

Been doing some searching whilst out here, I think I'm going to get all the injectors changed, and get a Terraclean flush. What do you think about getting the egr bypass kit? or would you just clean the existing one or buy a new one?

[RoShamBo]

I just posted a similar thread in the general section - dreaded Trans Failsafe Prog error came up on my 4.4 Sport yesterday.......spoke to my independent and he is coming tomorrow to read error code.
My first reaction was "gearbox is broke, brilliant, big bills" but he did say that any number of things can throw up that error code, so keep your fingers crossed !
Guess that's why its hard to diagnose - could be any number of things.

[X5Sport]

Hence getting the codes read.  It could be a simple sensor fault, broken wire or minor twitch that tripped the light and 'go slow' action.

Richard

[jason@bwchiptune]

Find a well know independent that uses Autologic diagnostic to run some tests on

The normal garages will use cheap scanners on a pc or Snapon which are crap as they can not get into things like the gear box ecu


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[Sim0x]

Thanks for the advise guys, I'll look into it.

[RoShamBo]

Mine today was diagnosed as the gasket rocker cover leaking, meaning the spark plugs were covered in oil, tripping the error.....
Sorry that's how I understood / heard it - I am not very mechanical !

Oil has been drained, spark plugs cleaned - which should buy some time and make the car drivable before it goes in next week to be fixed. I am taking it for a drive soon to see if the problem has gone away and if it has then that's definitely the problem.

[X5patX5]

When i first purchased my car i had this Trans Fail Safe Message come up on my dash and i think it was the reason the previous owner sold me the car so cheap as most people and garages i approached all said my gearbox had gone, in the end it turned out to be my alternator which i am told is the heart of the vehicle, and if it is not pushing out the right voltage will cause all types of errors to come up.

Two years later and a brand new battery which i purchased from the RAC as i sell RAC and EXIDE batteries, so far fingers crossed i have not seen the Trans Fail Safe Message.

[CondorX5]

My X threw up very random Transfailsafe and other messages about 2 years ago - after discussing with others on the forum Raj said he had had very similar errors and eventually the alternator was replaced which cured it all - as I recall his struggles with it took ages of diagnosis as the drop tests etc all came in normal. Eventually the dealership changed the alternator and the problem was solved.  Went to the same dealership and after a bit of discussion, they did the same (I had replaced the battery first though, as they insisted on that first, but it did not rectify the issue).    Touch wood its ok 2 years later in that respect now the alternator was changed.  It was done under the extended BMW warranty, not a cheap main dealer repair as I understand it.