'93 325 auto transmission problem

[Jim Byrne]

I'm having trouble with the transmission. At time it will not shift. Restarting the car will correct the problem but sometimes requires restarting several time. At time the transmission module light also illuminates on the das. Again restarting the car will correct this. To add to this at times all of the dash instruments will go dead at start up. restartiing the engine also corrects this problem. The transmission has been serviced and the the car checked by a local BMW certified garage. The car runs well. The problem appears to be in the engine computer module or transmission module. Any ideas out there would be appreciated

[Wayne 962]

Hi Jim. Welcome to the board, I think you'll find this place to be populated by tech people who are more than willing to help you.

If I had these problems, I would first double-check the tranny fluid to make sure your shop did a proper job. Check out this article for more info:

http://www.pelicanparts.com/bmw/techarticles/E36-Tranny_Fluid_Auto/E36-Tranny_Fluid_Auto.htm

The other problems seem purely electrical, which are really, really tough to solve sometimes. However, when you finally do - it all makes sense. I have a truck that had a bad alternator that overcharged the battery, which made it leak onto a wire harness, which caused the truck to stall. Tracing back and back, I finally replaced the harness with one from the dealer - no more stalling problems. In hindsight it was obvious what caused this.

What I would recommend starting with is removing all the fuses in the box and lightly cleaning them, and then replacing them. Ditto with all of the relays in there.

How many miles are on the car? BMW transmissions are known to be one of the weaker components on these cars. By the way, the car used for the article above was the same exact year as yours - '93...

-Wayne