My daughters E46 2.5Ci 2003 model transmission Warning light came on, yellow round light with exclamation mark next to Drive selection. the auto electrician cleared this and now it drives properly again, however;
1. with the light on acceleration was restrained, otherwise drove fine
2. car has done 235K
3. reverse could be selected but no signal to reverse camera (and assume no reverse light)
what could this be ? the auto electrician said to have the audit transmission looked at, he said the fluid if low not able to be topped up

 

could be anything, but seems to me an electrical problem. could be the gear shift selector. but with anything bmw, it’s very tricky. a seemingly simple problem with an electrical wiring, could be analog or mechanical in nature, that’s messing up with the electrical signals. so start from the gear shift selector, and find out more

 

ddrifter, i think you may be right i noticed that sometime putting in reverse the reverse canmer did not come on , like i needed to go back in and out of gear to make it work .. so i feel your maybe right.. just if its a transmission problem, that means its a bigger one

 

When the cog warning indicator is on, engine and trans are in limp mode. Selectingh any forward gear engages 3rd/4th gear only, so very sluggish drive, by design. This is how BMW encourages customer to return to dealer without further damage being done, and avoids need for towing.

If I am I reading your cypher text correctly, you get the orange cog (limp mode) when engaging reverse. Once.

When selecting R now, is R showing on the dash?
Does reverse engage mechanically well? No clunks or strange sensations?

Has it happened more than once?
The radio's reverse camera is usually a fault with the radio installation, if it an aftermarket device- they are usually poorly installed and are notoroiuously unreliable when they do work.
Stall speed warning may indicates a low pressure condition in the gearbox happened. This can be damaging to the transmission, so could be serious*. Has the fluid level been checked? How much is it leaking? From where? Only if you have had some seals replaced and the trans checked should it not be leaking...

* Can also happen if the engine has vacuum leaks, poor PCV sealing, other parts that might be failing, ICV, MAF, etc- many can cause bad run conditions. If the engine was in gear and had a bad drive engagement (Not uncommon in winter on a cold morning- if problems are starting one could get this jumping in, starting and engaging drive, then a vacuum leak causes lean run condition, slow idle/near stall, or car is placed in drive or reverse but rolls back the other way as its on a slope, etc.) All are simple to diagnose and check you just need a tech that knows E46s to check it out.

 

Dear ThreeM30s, see replies below.

When the cog warning indicator is on, engine and trans are in limp mode. Selectingh any forward gear engages 3rd/4th gear only, so very sluggish drive, by design. This is how BMW encourages customer to return to dealer without further damage being done, and avoids need for towing.
Ok, noted.

If I am I reading your cypher text correctly, you get the orange cog (limp mode) when engaging reverse. Once.
I dont know when it came on, its my daughters car .. but it came on once , cleared and has not come on again.

When selecting R now, is R showing on the dash?
Yes.

Does reverse engage mechanically well? No clunks or strange sensations?
Yes.

Has it happened more than once?
No.

The radio's reverse camera is usually a fault with the radio installation, if it an aftermarket device- they are usually poorly installed and are notoroiuously unreliable when they do work.
Ok, but strange that while the orange light was on there was no reverse camera.

Stall speed warning may indicates a low pressure condition in the gearbox happened. This can be damaging, has the fluid level been checked?
Not sure, but serviced not long ago.

How much is it leaking? From where?
I don’t see any leaks.

 

In limp mode the trans control module overrides forward gear selection, so no, this could be by design. Depends where the reverse camera is connected. Would not happen if the reverse cam was activated by the same voltage coming from the light relay module (LKM/LCM) that lights the reverse lamps. Indicates instead that the installer may have spliced into the gear selector and left it at that.

They all leak. Look closer ;-) Regardless, check the fluid level whilst dead level- by following the BMW procedure with an IR thermometer or diagnostics to monitor trans temp. You need to know if is correct, and if it wasn't, by how much is it down. This will tell you if it could be a cause- or if you need to keep looking.

 

I put my money on trans being low on fluid. Dropping the pan, changing the filter and fluid that drops is easy enough and cheap to do.

 

Read the auto trans fault codes and report back.
This should be step #1!

 

On a recent trans swap I switched out the selector shaft seal with a new one, (not impossible to do with the tranny in the car) and in the months since not a drop is visible. It is possible the new trans still has the original pan gasket, I've only swapped some of the fluid out by doing a drain and refill. Leaks at the front probably indicate the beginning of the dreaded front input shaft bushing failure- and thus time to do a trans rebuild or at least, pull it out and fit a new pump to the transmission.

 

Thanks for responses , i topped up transmission oil.. the light has not come back on since

 

Did u verify if the leak was from the front shaft, or the selector shaft at the side? If not, clean it all round and check a drive or three later, for more obvious fluid egress.

Probably just the selector seal, its easy to change (once the car is raised) and cheap (Repco even have them available for under <$10)

 

Thanks, i just topped up the trans fluid and have not had the issue return -- so wait to see