<40 - reverse = NO!

[FireFly]

Thread title should be <40 + reverse = NO!

Please give me a credible explanation as to why my 2002 330xi with a manual transmission WILL NOT SHIFT INTO REVERSE when it's a cold (less than 40 degrees) morning???????????????

If I get in the car, start it and try to get it in reverse (yes, I have the clutch pressed in) it grinds and will not let me in.

Now if I start it up and let it warm up for 5 minutes it goes right in. I have tried starting it, putting it in 1st or 2nd and then reverse but it will not let me in.

It's now summer so when I took it to the dealer they said "sorry, we can't duplicate it and this is a normal thing anyway" Not only did they say it's normal, they printed it on my print-out sheet they gave me. They said they looked over the transmission and could find nothing wrong with it.

What gives? How can a car, let alone a 42k car, do this? My freakin ford escort I had in college didn't do this.

[Mr. E]

Okay, since you sound like an old hand at driving stick you probably already know about this trick, but for what it's worth... With every stick I've had, in any weather condition, occasionally I can't get the car to go into reverse (transmission grinds like you describe). When that happens I put it back into neutral, let the clutch out completely, press the clutch back in, then it goes into reverse smoothly.

[Tanning machine]

Okay, since you sound like an old hand at driving stick you probably already know about this trick, but for what it's worth... With every stick I've had, in any weather condition, occasionally I can't get the car to go into reverse (transmission grinds like you describe). When that happens I put it back into neutral, let the clutch out completely, press the clutch back in, then it goes into reverse smoothly.

Yep, or shift into first (w/o releasing clutch) and then it can go into reverse.

Otherwise, wait until winter for a cold day, so you can duplicate it.

[Artslinger]

Try this, if you have room to put the car in first and move forward a foot or two, then try reverse. I have had to do this on other cars, I think it has something do with the gears not lining up.

[FireFly]

Thanks for the useful tips. I've tried just about everything and nothing works. If the gears were not aligned, the problem should happen on warm days as well but it never has, not once.

You try to get it in reverse and it makes a god awful noise and the shift knob vibrates as it's grinding. All this happens while the clutch is still pressed in.

I can tell you that if I let the car warm up for a few minutes I never experience this problem.

I'll have to wait until this winter and document it better and post again.