93 325I No 4th Gear

[9krider]

Whats up everyone I just recently bought an E36 as a 2nd car with some issues. It has no 4th gear, now I am under the impression that the tranny needs to be replaced but I was wondering if it could possibly be something else. All input will be appreciated. :)

[SRFast]

Whats up everyone I just recently bought an E36 as a 2nd car with some issues. It has no 4th gear, now I am under the impression that the tranny needs to be replaced but I was wondering if it could possibly be something else. All input will be appreciated. :)

Has a shop looked at the car? If you can't shift the car into 4th gear and you're hoping it is something else (cheaper?), you're asking for trouble if you don't have it checked. Single bad gears can be replaced, but the longer you drive the car without addressing the problem, the bigger the problem may get and the more it will cost to resolve it. As the old saying goes "You can pay me now or your can pay me (more) later."

Hope this helps & good luck....JL

[9krider]

I'm not driving it so nothing more will break. I'm just trying to see if it could be something else that someone from here might know of. Possibly the TCM....

[BeRzErKaS]

Whats up everyone I just recently bought an E36 as a 2nd car with some issues. It has no 4th gear, now I am under the impression that the tranny needs to be replaced but I was wondering if it could possibly be something else. All input will be appreciated. :)
Define "no 4th gear." Is the car auto or manual? How many miles?

If it's auto:
Are there problems shifting between any other gears? What happens at redline? Does it bounce off the rev limiter or does it try for 4th then slips? Could be time for a new clutch...

If manual:
Are you trying to jam the car into 4th and it just won't go? Does it go into 4th then pop out whle driving? Have the gears been grinding prior to this? Could be some blown synchros...

[9krider]

Sorry forgot its auto and it just doesn't shift into 4th or even try to. When it have it in D you can tell its only going up to 3rd by the rpms at higher speeds.

[SRFast]

Sorry forgot its auto and it just doesn't shift into 4th or even try to. When it have it in D you can tell its only going up to 3rd by the rpms at higher speeds.

You still need to take the car in to a qualified shop to identify the cause of your problem. If you are having a difficult time determining the cause of "no 4th gear", it is unlikely you will be able to fix it youself.

Good luck...JL

[9krider]

My father is a very good mechanic and we are going to figure it out this weekend thanks for those who responded.

[zachgeo]

Sorry forgot its auto and it just doesn't shift into 4th or even try to. When it have it in D you can tell its only going up to 3rd by the rpms at higher speeds.

As far as I can tell, "4th" is an overdrive with a lock-up torque converter, not a true gear. That leads me to think the problem is electronic -- something not informing the transmission computer that it's time to go into OD, or the computer itself being faulty. So the trans just thinks it's in "3" rather than "D". Sadly, an electronic problem is probably more difficult to identify than a mechanical one...

On the other hand, compared to other auto trans cars, I find that this car revs fairly high even in D/overdrive -- my last AT car (a V-8 with Chrysler torqueflite trans. and no goddam computer) cruised at 2500 RPM at highway speed, whereas this car tends to cruise at 3500. What are you defining as "high" rpms?