The other day my wife was driving the 98 540 and after parking for a few minutes pulling out of the parking lot the check engine soon light, car became sluggish and trans. failsafe indication on the display.

I checked it out tonight and after checking battery set parking brake and started car, fault is still there and in failsafe mode (4th gear). No warning, gridning sounds or anything. Another thing I noticed was with the transmission indicator, even though the tranny was in park, the N (neutral) light was illuminated, and when I choose R or another gear, they are all dimmed.

Any ideas, do I need a new tranny? I have searched message boards and there is not much on this.

undefinedIdeas would be appreciated.