94 318is auto tranny taking off from 2nd gear?

[seans1985]

Well I'm unemployed and the weather sucks here in Ohio so I don't drive much in the winter. The weather turned last week so I went to start my car and the battery was dead from letting it sit so long. I jumped it, no big deal, car started right up. After letting the car run on its own for about 15 min I turned the car off and restarted it to make sure it could start on it's own and it did. No codes, so I took off. Right off the bat I noticed it was really slow taking off and it sounded like it was slipping really bad. After two or three traffic lights I noticed it was taking off in 2nd? So I put it in first (this is an auto tranny) still took off in 2nd gear? It shifts fine from 2nd on up but 1st is gone? I tried pressing the (M) button next to the shifter and it would not stay lit, so maybe electrical? i don't know. It ran fine b4 the battery died so I'm stumped on this one and was hoping someone has ran across this problem on here. I searched the forums and came across one that said theres a pressure switch in the tranny that can go bad. I dont know, any help would be greatly appreciated.

[brettski]

Welcome to the Werkz.

It might be worth taking it for a decent drive to really warm up the transmission, see if anything that is stuck get loosened by the heat. Next stop might be a Auto service place that can change the fluid and properly test the electrical side of the gear box. Changing the fluid can cure all manner of weird behavior in these cars.

Good luck

[seans1985]

This is the first thing I should have done but it ended up being the last, I'm a idiot. I left the battery disconnected for 15-20 min. to reset the ecu and it fixed the problem. I dont know how or why but at this point i dont care. thanks for the advice tho, disregard this thread.

[witeshark]

Glad it worked out.