Tranny gear lamp is on...

i have a 95 bmw 318is i bought the car about two years ago with no backround info on it and iv havnt changed the oil fluid on the car because i read it was life lasting fluid but just today i raced a camaro ss i got to 115 no problem....
the thing is on my way home my check engine light as well as a light with a small gear and an exclamation mark showed up on my cluster now the car makes a small but noticable whinning noise and when the car is in revers it doesnt move till i hit about 2500 rpm's it barely wants to move in drive and when i pop it in nuetral the car thinks in drive.... my question is what can b the problem maybe low fluid blow transmission..... please help thnk u

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This post was auto-generated based upon a question asked on our tech article page here: Pelican Technical Article: BMW Automatic Transmission Fluid Change

[Wayne 962]

That gear with the exclaimation point is typically bad news - it's the transmission fault lamp. If your transmission is on its way out, there's not much that you can do. But, I would still check the fluid anyway, just in case is low.

- Wayne