I fixed my Trans Program Error!

[trthrrt489]

Yus!!

It has been a couple of years that this thing has been doing the "clunk......trans program" error.

For whatever reason mine only seemed to happen when it was sub 40 degrees. I had changed the Alternator, and battery and tried to see if more electric draw would trigger the error. It wouldn't.

I gave up and a fellow board member gave me another trans. This weekend I was being lazy and decide to replace the "guts" of the trans instead of pulling and replacing.

I drained all the fluid and started looking at the harness inside the trans. Yes, there is a wire loom that sits in your fluid. The harness inside my trans actually melted certain wires together.

I cut and spliced in new pieces of wire, then I replaced all of the part in the picture below with the ones from the donated trans.

It worked and the code has not come back......yet.

I realize this is not scientific, and I did not pinpoint the exact solenoid or wire that was causing the error, but, it's a good start!

PS, who new these trans are made either by GM or with ALOT of GM parts??



There are actually two slabs that contain all of these solenoids and electrical things. They are removed easily.

I hope this helps. I'll post more picture of the melted section of wires when I get home.

-Dave

[Deanx2009]

Wow thats actually very interesting. because i know alot of e34's that get the trans program error, like my auto trans before i went 5 speed, which was a rebuilt tranny....Shouldnt have started to throw errors at 20k, but i ditched it anyway...I wonder if this is the answer so many people have longed for

[trthrrt489]

Originally Posted by Deanx2009

Wow thats actually very interesting. because i know alot of e34's that get the trans program error, like my auto trans before i went 5 speed, which was a rebuilt tranny....Shouldnt have started to throw errors at 20k, but i ditched it anyway...I wonder if this is the answer so many people have longed for

I don't know if this will fix my error for good, but, I was at my wits end.

I think people who have tried everything might look into this.

Here are some pics of what I suspect were the culprits.

Melted and squished wire chunk:


Slabs of shift Solenoids that are easily removed:

[vjdebart]

How many miles were on the transmission ..I'm looking at an 88 725 with 125K
it has not been on the road for 1.5 years. the "program" light came on for a second when I first moved the car then once when I kinda locked up the brakes at about 25 mph. then went on about a 20min test ride did not come back on

Note we had to jump the car. the battery was dead and would not hold a charge enough to turn the engine over, but the dash lights came on. I should have done a stomp test ...I have a 90 535 I get stomp codes from. can you get them from an 88 735i?

Thanks

Vince

[GarrettSR5]

Dude everyone knows the autos were built by GM. In France. Not sure why you didn't know that.