NHTSA Complaint #11174764 — 2005 BMW 525I

I PURCHASED THIS BMW 525I USED FROM A PERSON THAT OBTAINED IT FROM A WHOLESALE DEALER, IT HAD SOME MINOR FRONTEND DAMAGE FROM A FENDER BENDER (BROKEN GRILL, DING TO HOOD) SHOWING 107900 MILES. EVERYTHING ELSE CHECKED OUT. I FEW MONTHS LATER I NOTICED A SLIGHT CHANGE IN TRANSMISSION SOUND, BUT IT MIGHT HAVE BEEN DUE TO THE COLD TEMPERATURES HERE IN WISCONSIN. A COUPLE OF DAYS LATER WHILE JUST FINISHING GOING UP A SLIGHT STRAIGHT INCLINE AT AROUND 45MPH THE TRANSMISSION DROPPED DOWN INTO LIMP DOWN MODE AND A TEMPORARY NOTICE CAME UP ON THE COMPUTER SCREEN INDICATING A TRANSMISSION PROBLEM. STOPPING AND RESTARTING THE ENGINE CLEARED THE PROBLEM, THE NEXT DAY NEAR THE SAME SPOT IT OCCURRED AGAIN. I ASSUMED THE TRANSMISSION MIGHT BE LOW ON FLUID BUT LOOKING ONLINE BMW INDICATED THIS IS A NO SERVICE TRANSMISSION BUT THAT IT IS POSSIBLE TO CHECK THE FLUID LEVEL BY ACCESSING A PLUG UNDER THE CAR. WHEN A SERVICE TECH CHECKED HE SAID THE FLUID LEVEL WAS NORMAL BUT SMELLED BURNT. HE RECOMMENDED AGAINST ANY SERVICE IN THAT IT LIKELY WOULD RESULT IN FASTER COMPLETE FAILURE. THE PROBLEM HAS NOT REOCCURRED AND NO CODES SHOW IN THE SYSTEM FILE, IN THAT BMW INSISTED ON NO PROVIDING A METHOD TO CHECK THE TRANSMISSION FLUID, THEY ASSUMED THE LIABILITY FOR FAILURE IF REGULAR MAINTAINANCE (TRANSMISSION FLUSH) COULD HAVE PREVENTED THIS FAILURE.