08 528xi 75000 miles
 

Been lurking for a while looking for a solution to this problem. Bought the car new in 2008 (currently ~75000 miles) but have had a problem with a "Transmission malfunction". I drive it rarely and avoid the highways now out of fear it won't respond in case I need to accelerate. The car hates having to accelerate but the problem is exacerbated when going up hills (regardless of incline). The tachometer will bounce around and eventually plummet (below 1) and if I decide to continue accelerating, it will spit out the transmission malfunction. Note, I am not accelerating hard. I'm just trying to go up an incline. Sometimes, if I take my foot off the pedal it will change gear and the tachometer will go up to 1.5. However, when the problem arises, it almost feel like I lose power and it just shifts down a gear. The problem (malfunction) goes away after turning the car off/on.

I took it to the dealership and they said it was the spark plugs - replaced some. Problem still persisted, so I took it back and they replaced all of them. Still, problem persisted. At that point I did not want to deal with a dealership but since it was not a pressing issue, I did not pursue. I basically just drive the car like an old lady - trying not to push it too much on local roads.

I have read other posts and have seen: battery, crankshaft position sensor, alternator, solenoids, fluid, etc.

I want to see if any other 2006-2010 5 series owners have had a problem specifically when accelerating where the rpm drops below 1 and it feels like the car loses all power and accelerating spits out a transmission malfunction.

So you have the codes that is being thrown. Transmission can effect the idling also.

When I had that, it ended up being a cracked hose. But there's other possibilities. With my reader, I have to read both the OBD2 codes and BMW codes in order to get the full picture.