is it possible that bad transmission fluid could cause a Trans Malfunction?

 

i'd do a fluid change. you said the error popped up on a hill while downshifting...low fluid could have caused air to enter the system. remember, a transmission is hydraulicaly operated, and low fluid will cause issues.

 

Turboaw
That's just what I was thinking! I'm going to have it flushed and reset all codes. Let's hope it goes away

 

Thought I'd add my experience here since I had almost the exact thing happen last year. On my 2005 530i, I started randomly getting the transmission malfunction error, especially upon a firm acceleration, and locking into limp mode. After the 2nd or 3rd time, I took it in to my independent and he named a number of things it could be, but he never mentioned the battery, and I had put a new oem battery in about a year before. The first 3-5 times, I would pull over, turn off the car, turn it back on, and away I went. In the middle of some smaller troubleshooting with the independent, I accelerated, the car went into transmission malfunction, but it would not reset after 'rebooting'. It stayed in limp mode (2nd gear?). My independent said they would disassemble, clean, service, flush, etc the transmission. After all was said and done, it still wouldn't clear the transmission error. After a new tranny oil pan change (recommended by BMW service) with no results, I ended up with a 'new' working tranny and a $3600 bill. My dealer quoted somewhere around $4500 to do it.

 

update: got my car back last night after the transmission fluid, mechatronics sleeve was replaced (sleeve was leaking oil). Also my mechanic updated all software to the newest one and oh my can i feel the difference. the shifting feels sooooo smooth unlike ever before. i hope that takes care of the malfunction i was getting before

Thanks all you E60 fanatics for the advice and exp.

 

nice! hope all is well.

 

glad to hear. i need to have my AT serviced too. at 97K, i'm sure my sleeve is leaking too.

after having my similar episode, i started keeping my car on a battery tender.

please update this thread if anything new, or nothing at all happens.

 

this is really helpful guys because I now am having a similar issues with my 2008 528xi about a month ago I started the car and it took longer to start than normal and a malfunction in drive warning came up stating I would have limited acceleration. I turned the car off and it started up just fine.....today I had the same issue and it seems like its not going away, could this just be a battery issue?? im going to suggest that to my mechanic although I know they hate that normally! Would the code show up as a battery issue ?thanks in advance and ill update once I get it fixed.