1999 BMW 540I Engine problems

My transmission would not accelerate or move. I had the trans rebuild and 2 years later the same problem. The trans has lost gears 1-3 and reverse, multistate repaired the trans again 2013, ifor the second time, it never worked after repairs. The engine light stays on, bmw says I need new trans and engine. When I looked up recalls for 540i, it states the same trans problem and it should be replaced. When I look up engine there are known engine problems with 540i, not my vin. I also have electrical issues,...

My son was driving home in rush hour traffic on connecticut ave. It was raining rather hard and visibility was low. My son all of the sudden smelled smoke coming through the vents and the engine shut down. It would not restart. He had to push it off the road into a service station due to the high volume of traffic. The car was towed that evening to my repair shop where it was diagnosed that the thermostat housing sensor failed which melted the wiring harness and damaged other electrical sensors on the engine. *Tr

Without warning a crack appeared in the radiator housing causing a loss of antifreeze. Car was out of warranty. Had to replace the part. Same thing just happened again. *Jb

(1) Normal driving conditions; noticed "steam" coming from under hood. 2) Radiator's upper hose inlet cracked (plastic); car disabled (3) car out of warranty; no remedy from manufacturer. *Ak

RADIATOR FAILURE AT 54,000 MILES. *AK

This is a very common occurence. On the roadfly bulletin board of fellow owners, failure rate is almost 40% of respondents! Typically after only 40 - 50k miles! Dt