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2003 BMW 325i Repair Question


Topics covered: Transmission, Battery, Motor oil.
Mileage: 90,000 miles.

Asked on January 16, 2013

BMW 325i Transmission Problem

My transmission suddenly stopped working properly while sitting at a red light. The car has a hard time taking off from a stop. It's like the car is stuck in second or third gear. Reverse works fine and once the car struggles to finally get up to speed it will cruise alright. I checked the transmission fluid and it looks like motor oil. I disconnected the battery hoping it would reset the computer for the transmission but that failed. The transmission warning light is on and when I checked for a code with my scan tool it came up with nothing. Also the tip tropic mode will not work. Any ideas? Thanks.
Avatar Asked by (pending member)

Answer

Replied on January 17, 2013

If it has a ZF transmission, you have described what I call a catastrophic failure and the transmission will require replacement.

Tiny Answered by Dr. Hagerty (expert)
9,669 answers provided