DCT Transmission Fault + other weird issues (on ESS 550 SC car)

[The Brick]

Apologies in advance for the long post, but I had a very strange issue with my 2010 supercharged E92 (DCT) today and I am not sure where to go from here.

I went for a drive to the park this morning. I was parking my car and sitting in 1st gear with the brake on for a few minutes talking on the phone and I get a light on the dash and message that says "transmission fault" with associated text explaining the issue. I turned the car off, hoping it was just a heat issue (it was a hot day) and took a jog. When I came back to the car and tried to start it, it turned over, but would not start. Then it starts lighting up like a christmas tree...transmission fault, airbag fault, dsc fault, cruise control fault, etc. I shut the car down, try again. Same thing. I try a third time, it starts up, but no A/C (blows air, but warm) and the car won't go into gear. Then the windshield wipers turn on and won't turn off. I start getting messages like "Gear can be engaged without braking" and "Selector lever may be faulty". Eventually, after several tries at starting/restarting the car, I get it to go into gear, but no gear selection shows on the dash. I decide I am going to try to limp it home, but the car drives about 100 feet, then it won't stay in gear. Now it drives like 10 feet at a time, then slips out of gear and goes into neutral (all the while, I have no indicator on the dash at all of even being in gear). I limp the to curb and park the thing...uber it home. I go find my code reader, my computer, and my e-flash ECU tuning cable thinking I will go back to the car and pull the codes / possibly reprogram the DCT to see if that helps. Anyway, get to the car about 2 hrs later and she starts up immediately, all seems fine. I try to pull the codes...no codes are stored!?! Then I decide I will drive it around the block. I get about a mile away and things start getting weird again. The red line meter that sits behind/surrounds the speedometer starts to jump up and down and the transmission starts doing odd things. I park it, hook up my ESS e-flash cable and try to pull codes using it (no luck pulling codes with this either). I decide to reinstall the DCT program to see if it helps and once done, I restart the car. After the update, things work mostly OK. Not 100% (a couple of hesitations here an there), but very subtle. The car seems to shift OK and I drive it home.

Now I am not sure what to do. I am concerned about driving the thing and getting stranded somewhere. I am also wondering if I have a big issue (electrical bug or DCT failure) or something less critical/expensive (battery issue, low tranny fluid)....or maybe a DCT control module failure? I am concerned that this probably needs to go to a dealer, but with the supercharger they might just point to it and say "there's your problem". I don't think so. It's an ESS 550 professionally installed about 5000 miles ago and the car only has 20K miles on it - adult driven - no track time.
Has anyone ever hear of anything like this? I have had no luck finding anything on the forum. Any thoughts, comments, suggestions are welcome.

[Tracyis300]

Your not alone. My car was possess with ad normal behavior too. But it wasn't the DCT! It was the BMW assist.. The damn thing kept calling them for no reason, and i had to keep telling them that it was not on purpose. I thought they where going to kill the car, lock me inside and call the cops for thinking it maybe thief?! Lol

It's probably just a power surge, and caused the sensors to go ape!
You should record yourself driving around the block to see if it happens again? That way you will have proof to show, if your SA doesn't find anything wrong with it.

[The Brick]

Thx. Been reading up more on this. Seems like the idle control valve issue is pretty common and has many of the same characteristics - christmas lights on the dash, transmission fault, DSC fault, etc. (doesn't explain the windshield wipers turning on and not letting me turn them off, though). Has anyone had the Idle Control Valve issue cause a transmission problem bad enough that the car won't stay in drive?

[Rich150001]

Originally Posted by The Brick

Apologies in advance for the long post, but I had a very strange issue with my 2010 supercharged E92 (DCT) today and I am not sure where to go from here.

I went for a drive to the park this morning. I was parking my car and sitting in 1st gear with the brake on for a few minutes talking on the phone and I get a light on the dash and message that says "transmission fault" with associated text explaining the issue. I turned the car off, hoping it was just a heat issue (it was a hot day) and took a jog. When I came back to the car and tried to start it, it turned over, but would not start. Then it starts lighting up like a christmas tree...transmission fault, airbag fault, dsc fault, cruise control fault, etc. I shut the car down, try again. Same thing. I try a third time, it starts up, but no A/C (blows air, but warm) and the car won't go into gear. Then the windshield wipers turn on and won't turn off. I start getting messages like "Gear can be engaged without braking" and "Selector lever may be faulty". Eventually, after several tries at starting/restarting the car, I get it to go into gear, but no gear selection shows on the dash. I decide I am going to try to limp it home, but the car drives about 100 feet, then it won't stay in gear. Now it drives like 10 feet at a time, then slips out of gear and goes into neutral (all the while, I have no indicator on the dash at all of even being in gear). I limp the to curb and park the thing...uber it home. I go find my code reader, my computer, and my e-flash ECU tuning cable thinking I will go back to the car and pull the codes / possibly reprogram the DCT to see if that helps. Anyway, get to the car about 2 hrs later and she starts up immediately, all seems fine. I try to pull the codes...no codes are stored!?! Then I decide I will drive it around the block. I get about a mile away and things start getting weird again. The red line meter that sits behind/surrounds the speedometer starts to jump up and down and the transmission starts doing odd things. I park it, hook up my ESS e-flash cable and try to pull codes using it (no luck pulling codes with this either). I decide to reinstall the DCT program to see if it helps and once done, I restart the car. After the update, things work mostly OK. Not 100% (a couple of hesitations here an there), but very subtle. The car seems to shift OK and I drive it home.

Now I am not sure what to do. I am concerned about driving the thing and getting stranded somewhere. I am also wondering if I have a big issue (electrical bug or DCT failure) or something less critical/expensive (battery issue, low tranny fluid)....or maybe a DCT control module failure? I am concerned that this probably needs to go to a dealer, but with the supercharger they might just point to it and say "there's your problem". I don't think so. It's an ESS 550 professionally installed about 5000 miles ago and the car only has 20K miles on it - adult driven - no track time.
Has anyone ever hear of anything like this? I have had no luck finding anything on the forum. Any thoughts, comments, suggestions are welcome.

My car did something similar yesterday. After driving a couple of miles to grab a bite to eat, the car upon startup provided a transmission malfunction message. I restarted a few times with no luck. I tried driving it but as soon as i gave it gas, the car would pop out of gear into Park.

I decided to cab home and do research on the issue. Upon my return, about 2 hours later, the car started up fine and drove perfectly back home. I am pretty confused but happy for now. Crossing my fingers the issue doesnt come back.

Note: my car is pretty much stock - only a dinan exhaust and a macht snell air filter. It is a 2008 with only 27k miles. I did recently change the oil, but that shouldnt have anything to do with this issue.

[Rich150001]

Originally Posted by Tracyis300

Your not alone. My car was possess with ad normal behavior too. But it wasn't the DCT! It was the BMW assist.. The damn thing kept calling them for no reason, and i had to keep telling them that it was not on purpose. I thought they where going to kill the car, lock me inside and call the cops for thinking it maybe thief?! Lol

It's probably just a power surge, and caused the sensors to go ape!
You should record yourself driving around the block to see if it happens again? That way you will have proof to show, if your SA doesn't find anything wrong with it.

Mine always calls my parents house only. Its really weird!

[T!m3]

Had the same crap. Problem was with DSC/ABS unit.

[The Brick]

So, I drove the car all week and the issues haven't recurred. All systems seems to be working fine after reloading the ESS DCT program. Weird. I will report back if it happens again...

[Rich150001]

Originally Posted by The Brick

So, I drove the car all week and the issues haven't recurred. All systems seems to be working fine after reloading the ESS DCT program. Weird. I will report back if it happens again...

Thanks for keeping us posted. I am getting back from a business trip today and am also hoping my DCT Transmission is fine.

[Rich150001]

Originally Posted by Rich150001

My car did something similar yesterday. After driving a couple of miles to grab a bite to eat, the car upon startup provided a transmission malfunction message. I restarted a few times with no luck. I tried driving it but as soon as i gave it gas, the car would pop out of gear into Park.

I decided to cab home and do research on the issue. Upon my return, about 2 hours later, the car started up fine and drove perfectly back home. I am pretty confused but happy for now. Crossing my fingers the issue doesn't come back.

Note: my car is pretty much stock - only a dinan exhaust and a macht snell air filter. It is a 2008 with only 27k miles. I did recently change the oil, but that shouldnt have anything to do with this issue.

Just an update in case anyone is interested or researches this later on. Been driving the car for a month now and the DCT issue never reoccurred. Car drives perfectly.