Transmission failure safe mode on a 1998 74O I BMW?

I had this same problem, my alternator was "Over Charging". Changed out my alternator along with my battery, no problems...EVER! Summary...Electrical! BMW745I the zf-transmissions in the e38 7-series are prone to failure if they aren't serviced properly. A lot of them haven't been serviced, as the trasmission is a so called "sealed for life-unit". That means it is made to be maintanance free, thus it needed no servicing, according to BMW. The problem is that there is really no such thing as a service free transmission. A lot of these cars develop expensive transmission problems due to lack of fluid and filter change, or simply because they've been serviced the wrong way, using the wrong type of filter or oil etc. When failsafe mode kicks in, it might be a very expensive problem, or a fluid and filter change might solve the problem. The only way to find out is to drain the oil and remove the oil pan. Because these problems can be very complicated and expensive, it is very important to get the transmissions serviced regularly, at least every 60.000 miles. If serviced, these transmissions are generally very reliable and long lasting.