Complaints about BMW 3 Series - No Reverse

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John of Michigan (12/22/08)
2000 BMW 323ci. December 20th 2008, going to reverse out of my garage, car wouldn't go, just sounded like it was in neutral. Looked online for info, found thousands of others with the same problem. How is it that BMW doesn't recognize this as an engineering flaw? WTF, something needs to be done!

Shireen of Elon, NC (12/19/08)
I was on my way home from Asheville and I stopped at a rest area. When I went back to my car and tried to back up my car would not go into reverse. It was the first time anything had happened. BMW said my extended warranty expired in October because of time, not miles and they also said they had never heard of this problem. It is very unusual that a reverse would go out so suddenly. I took the car to a transmission shop and I can get a rebuilt one for $3000. I think the car is only worth about $7000 right now. I don't have the money to fix it so I am driving my parent's car.

Kevin of Seattle, WA (12/19/08)
My transmission just went out on my 2001 BMW X5 4.4 with 88,000 miles. The local dealership said that "that's the risk of buying a used car" and "you have a lot of miles on your car". They quoted me $6300 to replace the transmission. A local transmission shop quoted me $3000-$3500 for rebuild. I called the BMW customer relations department to request good will assistance, but they declined my request. BMW will be losing a customer for life if they don't step up and address this problem. I expect a car like this to make 150,000 to 200,000 miles before having problems like this.

Matt of Hickory, NC (12/17/08)
I have a 2001 330I BMW and the same thing has just happened. It will not go into reverse. It is going to cost me 3k to rebuild and 6k to replace with dealer. The water pump went out a month ago and a seal in rear was busted and leaking oil. This is the second BMW I have owned. You can Imagine my surprise when I was looking to find people to get qoutes on rebuilding the transmission when I came across this. It is obvious there is a problem and when you pay this much for a car it should last. I am all for a lawsuit

David of Painted Post, NY (12/13/08)
I lost reverse on my 323iT today. It's a 2000 that I bought Certified Pre-Owned in 2002 from Winslow BMW of Colorado Springs CO. There are only 66,151 miles on the car. I just retired from the USAF and relocated to my and my wife's hometown in western NY...regrettably the closest BMW dealer is 51 miles away. I plan to have the car towed to my local ASE/ATRA/TNRi transmission shop on Monday. I'll keep you informed...wish me luck.

Kevin of San Francisco, CA (12/10/08)
It's Dec 10, 2008. I had an urgent errand to run by 5pm. To my surprise, I just found out that I could not back out of my garage. Surfing the web I find that many have had this issue. My car is an 01 330CI. I just spent $2400 to get the car completely serviced and now 2 days later, I cannot use reverse. This car has warning lights for everything, but not this.

David of San Francisco, CA (12/7/08)
Today, 12/5/2008, 98k on my BMW 323i. Out for a Sunday drive with my wife. Upon attempting to put it in reverse to pull out of the parking spot, i got nothing but neutral. Towed to the dealer, and now researching. Can't believe that this is such a common problem . . . and glad to have found this site and others who are dealing with the same issue. Add me to the class action suit against BMW!

Ken of Mill Valley, CA (12/1/08)
I, like many of you had my transmission fail on my 2000 323i wagon. I found a great resource to repair my baby... I had the transmission pulled in Northern California by a local tech.... I boxed up the transmission and UPS it to Steve Dose of Dose BMW in San Diego. He repaired the transmission in a week and sent it back to me. I had it reinstalled by my local tech and it works perfectly. Thanks to Dose BMW and my tech for handling this situation. My vehicle had only 51,000 miles on it. The transmission type is a ZF 5hp19. Please include me with any class action suit.

Jessica of Bethesda, MD (11/19/08)
I have about 65,000 miles on my 2000 323i BMW. I bought the car in August of 1999. The other day my reverse gear stopped working. It went into neutral instead. Luckily I was parked on the street and the Drive gear still worked, so I was able to get home. When I got home the reverse gear worked again. I'm waiting to see what my mechanic says about the problem. I have also called VOB dealership and am waiting to hear back from the them. I DO NOT have the money to pay for a new transmission.

I'm reporter for a major Washington, DC radio station. If anyone in the DC area has experienced this problem, please contact me at jessicaforres@gmail.com.

Bill of Tulsa, OK (11/19/08)
I want to verify that Charlie's Transmission, Chad Sumner, is a great source for anyone dealing with the "sudden no reverse issue." He fixed my 2000 323i and saved me a ton of cash. I originally sent you photos of the problem reverse drum. Chad found an OEM drum from a parts house and did the installation for me. The car has run great since he did the work.

Anthony of Fountain Valley, CA (11/17/08)
Wow. If I knew about this and did better research, I would not have bought this car. I got the car as a lease return with 70K.. It's not has 84K and my reverse went out yesterday. I can hear little clinging sound that i guess it's coming from the broken teeth. I'm not looking forward to the repairs. Not in this economy. I'm getting myself a bicycle after the repairs!

Chad of Dallas, TX (11/17/08)
Just a reminder to everyone. You must file a complaint to the NHTSA in order for a recall to take place. CLICK HERE TO FILE A COMPLAINT

Lucy of Pasadena, MA (11/7/08)
I came across your site trying to find information on the BMW tranny since I was just told my 2001 330i is in need of a new trans and torque converter. I see that you are looking for data. What is the NHTSA Item Number: 613552? If I knew what it was I might be able to get it. Please advise. Thanks

Mike of Atlanta, GA (11/6/08)
2000 BMW 323. 51,000 miles. No reverse on Sunday. $5800 to fix.

Mark of Phoenix, AZ (11/5/08)
I am an original owner of a 2000 323i and currently have 101K miles on it. I purchased it as a European delivery and have been plagued by the typical problems (window regulators - 8 in total, front bushings, water pump, radiator, etc). Now I have been victimized by the automatic transmission no reverse failure. Being the original owner I have taken meticulous care of my car. I have owned several cars well up to 150K miles with typical maintenance costs but a transmission problem that will run me in the thousands is unconscionable!!!!

Avery of Dallas, TX (11/4/08)
Last week my car quit going in reverse. This car has 85,000 miles and has been extremely well maintained. I talked to my mechanic, but he hadn't had any experience with this problem. Once I got online, I learned that it is a common problem with 99/00 BMWs. I was guided to a transmission shop that specializes in European cars, and they were knowledgeable about the different BMW transmissions & their problems. They had an example of a failed drum out of another ZF5HP19 transmission to show me as they explained what happened. They said the transmission has to be completely rebuilt, and it will take 3 days & cost over $3000. Ouch.

Ayaz of Atlanta, GA (10/29/08)
I have well maintained my 2000 323i with 106K miles on it. Today I drove to work just fine and when leaving the reverse gear gave up. No sounds, no warning. It felt like I was putting the gear in neutral. What a shame BMW!! Yeah sign me up for class action law suit as well.

Mark of Denver, CO (10/24/08)
2000 323i Sedan with 99k miles. Wife drove to work with no issues, went to leave and could not back up. Had a few folks push her out of the parking spot, and she drove her home. She is now on our lift, in the garage, and I'm pulling this junk out. Converting to the 5 speed. My wife would much rather have the auto, but you cannot depend on them to last unless you replace every little thing in path. BTW this is the ZF transmission, and this car is impeccably cared for, as is our three other Bimmers.

Chris of Boston, MA (10/24/08)
'97 328ci with 114k miles - transmission just went out on me. include me in class action suit.

Sue of San Diego, CA (10/22/08)
I lost my reverse on my 2000 3 series wagon in January of 2008. I took it to Dose BMW in El Cajon, CA and paid $2000 to repair it. It has been 10 months and have put over 11,000 miles on the car and is still working. The dealer wanted over $5000 to fix it! Thank you Dose!

Florence of Toronto, Ontario Canada (10/21/08)
The reverse in my 2000 323i just stopped working with no warning. All the other gears work fine. The car was well maintained. My mechanic has quoted me $2800 to rebuild it. This is not what I bargained for when I bought a BMW.

Cole of Washington State (10/20/08)
Well it finally happened to me, at 123300 miles the transmission decided it was time. My 2000 323Ci no longer has reverse.
Car has been well maintained and checked ritually. I was leaving a restaurant after having lunch with a friend and as I was leaving the parking spot the reverse was no more, no noise, no warning, nothing..fortunately enough the parking spot was on a slight incline so I was able to get out of the spot and drive home (forward gears not effected at all).
I know a lot of people that has had this happen, it's obviously a known defect and I am greatly disappointed that BMW has done nothing about it. If there is a class action lawsuit, sign me up! Such a shame.

Jonathan of Bloomington, IN (10/20/08)
Please keep me on the Class Action list as well - This is my 7th BMW - I love them - BUT this 2001 740i obviously has the same issue - No Reverse- It is a known issue and BMW does nothing.
The reason BMW still sells vehicles is out of loyalty and love - SADLY enough they are alienating their4 core base.
I just went to the link and filed my complaint with the TSB.
PLEASE do the same if you have no reverse in your car.
Sadly I think this goes unreported so often as the mechanic says - Get a new tranny and the buyer does. End of story.
I would be curious to know "How many after market transmissions have been sold and installed in these vehicles across all of the series."

Michael of Brooklyn, NY (10/16/08)
93,900k No Reverse on a 2001 330Ci, very odd because my 1998 Audi A4 uses the same exact ZF gearbox and ran to 150k until I sold it. You guys might want to look into the fact that these gearboxes are only failing in the BMW's although Mercedes and Audi are using them in various models with no reverse issues whatsoever. Damn BMW they probably knew about this a long time ago.

Karin of Poway, CA (10/16/08)
I came out of a store to find my 1999 BMW 323i would not go into reverse. After pushing it out of the parking space, it went into drive with no problem and upon arriving at home, it went into reverse. I took it into a dealer to have it looked at, and they couldn't find anything wrong. I drove it for about another month before it did it again. By the time I got it to the dealer a week later, it had done it about 4 more times. There didn't seem to be any pattern, and it was only reverse that it had problems with. The dealer had it for 6 days, and regardless of how much they drove it, they could not duplicate the problem, therefore could not make a diagnosis. Their best guess was that it needed a new transmission at the cost of $6000. I continued to drive the car, and it continued to periodically not go into reverse. About 2 months after the first episode, I reluctantly decided to look into having the transmission rebuilt. I needed the car for daily driving, and I needed my car to go into all the gears! The car only had 90,000 miles, so it wasn't something that I thought I would be having to do. Other than this, my car had been reliable and needed few repairs. When I started asking around for referrals, I came across Steve at Dose Independent BMW Repair in El Cajon, CA. He said he had seen similar problems and it had to do with a screen slipping off a sensor. I made an appointment, and when I arrived the car would not go into reverse. He was able to see that this was in fact, the problem. Within a few days my car was repaired, at a very reasonable cost compared to a rebuilt transmission. To contact Steve or Brandon at Dose BMW service call 619-449-3835. They specialize in complete BMW repair.

Michael of Knoxville, TN (10/14/08)
My transmission has been slipping a little bit lately. Last week, I got in my car and reverse wouldn't work. I live on a hill so I back down it and drive worked. Reverse finally kicked back in. It worked for a week. Today it finally went out. Please add me to the list of the pending lawsuit. I am ready to riot on BMW. My car is worth $8,000 and you all are telling me it will be $3k+. BMW needs to help or I will make sure none of my friends ever buy one again.

John of New York, NY (10/9/08)
Same story here, 2000 323i with only 55k miles on it. BMW of Manhattan wants $7500 to fix it. Calls to the corporate office didn't go anywhere. I was told there was nothing they could do about it since it out of warranty and that I should talk to the service manager at the dealership. I mentioned this site and all over the other evidence that this is a huge problem....it didn't get me anywhere.

Brenda of Massachusetts (10/5/08)
Yesterday, without warning, my husband turned the corner while going to a local sub shop for lunch. His 2003 325xi just stopped driving, the engine was still on, but it wouldn't accelerate when he stepped on the gas. He coasted to the side of the road. No gears. Not able to go into reverse or drive, neutral seems to be engaged as the car moves back and forth, even in park. No warning or explanation to this whatsoever. Waiting for bad news from mechanic. Anyone with similar experience?

Paul of Newton Massachusetts (10/5/08)
Like many other BMW owners - I got into my 2000 BMW323I wagon today and no reverse. I will be contacting a local transmission shop that I found via a google ad on this site - I hope that they are endorsed by this website. I would be glad to sign onto a suit against BMW for a recall.

Barbara of Orange County, CA (10/3/08)
Bought a 2005 325i (manual transmission) with about 30,000 miles nearly 2 years ago. Had periodic trouble getting car in reverse but after turning off car was able to get it in gear. Friend took it to get gas for me one day recently, had same problem and mentioned it to me. (I had always had to use both hands to get it in reverse. Friend never had, but even with two hands it would not go into gear.) Thank goodness friend mentioned it! I took it in at 54,000 because was pulling HARD right when braking, but also mentioned it was very difficult/impossible to get into reverse at times. Lucky for me, car was a demo so factory warranty is extended by 5,000 miles. (Didn't know it was a demo, glad it was!) BMW replaced the shifting mechanism to see if that would fix it. Nope. New transmission due in today and hopefully after 1 week I'll get my car back. Searched for info this morning and saw all these complaints. Disappointing at best. I also got extended warranty when I purchased it. Not sure if that would have covered tranny issue, but don't have to sweat it now. But, if this happens again in 30-50,000 miles it could be a big deal. Sad that a car with such a great rep for mechanics has this known problem. The service tech didn't indicate that when I took it in, but now I know he must have heard that a million times before. Sorry for those of you not lucky enough to have this covered under warranty. That's a ton o' cash to cough up.

Mike of Atlanta, GA (10/2/08)
1999 328i with 107,000 miles. No reverse. Initially the dealer said it was the linkage. Problem persisted and of course now its "you need a new transmission," That will run you $5,700. Can someone direct me to a better alternative and is their a class action lawsuit yet? Sign me up. I bought this car used 2 years ago and have had too many problems to mention. I have spent over $4,000 in other repairs. How does this company fly under the radar?

Leo of Indianapolis, IN (10/1/08)
2000 323i, 1590000 miles,
My reverse comes and goes with out any relation to heat????? Anybody!!!!!

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