E36 325i dead auto transmission - help!

["KHOO, John Kelvin" <john_khoo@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hi all!

On New Year's Eve I went for a fancy dinner and had my '95 E36 M50tu
325i A (4-speed auto) valet parked. On getting it back it started
displaying signs of abuse (I shudder to think of what it went thru). The
car now jerks very violently on slow to normal city acceleration,
shudders during cruising or at zero throttle, and nearly stalls when I
slow to a crawl. I have to shift into "N"eutral to prevent from stalling
the engine.

My suspicions are that my auto transmission has died because when the
selector is in "D"rive it starts of on 1st and jumps to 3rd violently
like as if without torque converter (like on the SMG?) and remains
there. Kick-down does not work and manually shifting from D to 3 or 2 or
1 makes no difference. On slowing down it remains in 3rd and it doesn't
change down automatically and it nearly stalls, like as if driving a
manual without the clutch pedal engaged. By the way the auto-tranny gear
fault warning light did not light up on the dash and the OBC / Check
Control does not display any fault. I understand that the BMW has an
emergency gear (3rd) to let you limp home which is what probably
happened.

Am I correct in my assumptions? What can I do or expect now? I'm using a
spare car (Honda - no critiques please) and I've booked the E36 in for
repairs. Any other comments welcome. I know, don't valet park your BMW!!

John Khoo
'95 E36 M50tu B25 (with a dead auto tranny)

------------------------------