How many miles on AUTOMATIC transmission before failure? (or no problems at all?)

Well, my reverse in my 2000 323i just quit and my dealer wants $5500. for repair/replace. I bought my car almost new, 20k miles, and I have taken my car in promptly to them for all scheduled maintenance and repairs. I don't have $5500 right now nor do I have wheels to make it to work.... What's a girl to do?

If I am right, your transmission is GM (correct me if I am wrong). If so, it might be relatively cheap fix, since on GM transmission the cause of the reverse lost is a solenoid and not the drum (like on ZF).
I'd recommend to find a knowledgeable BMW indy mechanic (I know, it is hard....) and get his second opinion. Anyway, even if trans has to be replaced it will be MUCH cheaper to do in indy shop.
Another option is to sell your car as-is for cheap and buy a new one.

Originally Posted by OldChevelle

Drip a some of your transmission fluid on a clean paper towel and compare it to the same amount of fresh ATF. If the stuff in your transmission is brown compared to the nice new red ATF, it's time to replace your fluid. If it's still a clean pink and not too brown, you're probably okay for awhile.

At I understand it from the local transmission guy, once ATF goes brown it's burnt and has lost a lot of its lubricating qualities, which accelerates wear in the clutch packs, then worn material from the clutch discs clogs the filter, then the transmission gets starved for fluid and burns up. This whole process can happen fast once the ATF gets tired.

So keep your fluid in good shape!

One of the highest quality posts I've seen in a while. Very, very true.

Mine is lifetime and doesn't have a ready way to get to it.

Dealer said not causing any problem, at 173,000 miles leave it alone.

97 BMW 540I

I voted for 100,001 to 125,000...no problems!!! Recently had filter and fluid change at 106,000. Plan to do the next service at 50,000 miles. In the mean time just keep driving.

Originally Posted by simplify33

Well, my reverse in my 2000 323i just quit and my dealer wants $5500. for repair/replace. I bought my car almost new, 20k miles, and I have taken my car in promptly to them for all scheduled maintenance and repairs. I don't have $5500 right now nor do I have wheels to make it to work.... What's a girl to do?

Yea my sister in vegas has a 2000 323i sedan and she had the no reverse issue too and some guy not sure if he has a tranny shop, but he wasant a big dealer or big shop so his prices were reasonable, he new right away what was the problem because it is common it is the solenoid issue that the other guy says too. He charged like 250.00 buck to fix the issue thats including everything labor, parts, new filter and fluids.

So try to find a cheaper chop or tranny only shop in town and tell them your issue and you researched and it is common, and mahybe someone might say ohh yea I seen this before etc etc.

You can even google/research online and bring print outs of the issue.

Found sme links I saved when doing the research online a while back for my sister. This first link I just remember is another common issue with no reverse, So there is 2 total parts that fail for the no reverse, now maybe someone can chime in here because I forgot which failed part, but one way to tell which part for sure it is that failed on the tranny and I think it depends on the model tranny thats in the car too is one of the failed parts will alow sometimes it to engage in reverse sometimes. So if it will never ever go into/engage in reverse then its one of the failed part that will never alow it to do so.

http://blog.bavauto.com/bmw-e46/bmw-...325z-zf-5hp-19

Heres actually a DIY- How to fix your no reverse issue on a ZF5HP19

http://forum.e46fanatics.com/showthr...verse+drum+diy

hi,
read your reply on the transmission. What were the symptoms? I may be having some beginnings of a problem. My DSC light comes on strangely and I don't have any power or acceleration for about 2 seconds and then the transmission kicks back in again.

Do you still have your car?

Originally Posted by Linhansell

My Z3 just turned 60,000. The warning indicator light came on several times and we went thru the ritual and everything was OK for awhile. Then, it didn't correct the problem. Had my car towed in and the repair person replaced the control box. When the new one arrived, it blew out and we knew the transmission was kaput...... I replaced the transmission because I love my car and thought it was the wise thing to do. Very sad in Chapel Hill.

Hi
what were your symptoms when this started happening?

I'm getting my DSC light pop on sporatically for 1 or 2 seconds. Then I have no power or acceleration, then everything goes back to normal.....

Well, now at 90K miles the car is at the gearbox revision specialist... The dreaded error 0741 was there to stay, and now accompanied by the torque convertor slipping code. I could actually feel it slipping; for example driving at about 2000RPM, slightly thottle up 200-300 RPM, and nothing happens... I needed to push the throttle further every week before the box started to relay the torque.... The box (5-sp AUT) will be repaired or exchanged for an overhauled one. Good thing: still under warranty, so it won't cost me anything.

Originally Posted by bimmerized

OK, after reading 9 pages of reports, it's still not clear to me what the point of no return is for cars which have not had their transmission fluid changed yet. I bought my car with w/134K miles and the original owner had not had the fluid changed and I'm wondering whether my transmission would benefit from a fluid change at this point given the risk. If I were to do it, I'd use the drain/pan drop and clean/filter/fill w/ OEM fluid without the power flush but even that can be risky.

I'd like to hear from folks who have had their fluid chagned (or any other transmission maintenance) for the first time after 125K miles, whether their experience was positive or negative and if they did it themselves, what the fluid/pan looked like. Also it's important to state what method was used whether it be a power flush, drain and fill, drain/filter/pan cleaned/new fluid, drain and fill more than once, ect...

For those who have no problems at greater than 125K, was their fluid changed and at what miles? It would be interesting to know whether there is a longer life expectancy for transmissions that have had their transmission fluid changed or with the original fluid. How many miles on your transmission AND has the fluid been changed? Whether it is a GM or ZF would be interesting also.

I changed mine at 127k, have put an additional 8k on it and don't have any problems with the tranny....do have a couple other things going on, nothing major though....

AFAIK, the ZF units with the defective reverse drum were phased out in early 2001 and cars built after that have not experienced no reverse. Please correct me if you had a June 2001+ build date car with no reverse. From the posts so far, it seems that the no reverse occurs before 100K miles so if you've gone past that, you should be pretty safe from the no reverse problem.

What are the symtoms of a transmission needing attention or on its way out? A lag in engagement between D/R/P? It seems a torque converter problems with code is the most prevalent.

I changed mine at about 127k and have put an additional 8k on it.....still runs nice, have GM tranny, fluid was dark and gooey, had my indy change fluid and filter....BMW was just under it because of a shaking, but it is just the t-case mount and CV shafts....

I had 70,000 and was working as brand new

Was?

The original owner had it BMW NA come to the dealer to repair it with 70K on it. It has just under 50K since then. I think a fluid change will be in my future this summer.

She's back with a brand new torque converter and gearbox ECU, oil and filter. Shifting smooth as butter, and a normal, even a bit agressive throttle reaction. And yes, all fixed under warranty!

2002 325i everything running good at 128k miles

Hey,
Had to replace transmission within 5 months of buying my 2004 318i (second hand). It had 84000km and had been regularly serviced. Ended up buying reconditioned part as new installed would have cost me $8k AUD!! Instead it was $3k AUD with a 1 yr warranty.

Originally Posted by dbf_man

hey,
had to replace transmission within 5 months of buying my 2004 318i (second hand). It had 84000km and had been regularly serviced. Ended up buying reconditioned part as new installed would have cost me $8k aud!! Instead it was $3k aud with a 1 yr warranty.

ouch!

161K on my 2002 325i sedan with no problems, changed tranny fluid and filter once at 60K.

2000 323i. Bought it brand new and the tranny went out at around 70,000. Put a rebuilt one in with 2 year/24,000 mile warranty and darned if it didn't go bad 35,000 miles later.

Tyler,
We have 175,000 miles on our 97 540I and our transmission has not been touched.
There is no way to change the fluid in it anyway is what the dealer and our mechanic locally told us.
BMW dealership here in Birmingham say to leave it alone so we have.
Its an automatic and does fine. All we have done recently is change out one sensor in front of the muffler on the passengers
side.

1998 E46 323i with 171,000km:thumbsup:

Mine went out around 118k miles but for how much I drive and how much I use the steptronic I think it def lasted a long time!

1999 232i bought it second hand with 67k miles on it, and now with almost 120k miles the tranny seems well

Been two years since I posted in this thread. My car is now on 150k miles and still no issues with my auto tranny. And I average 350 to 400 miles a gas tank. I love this car, only if it was 5 speed though.

Originally Posted by calicruisin

Been two years since I posted in this thread. My car is now on 150k miles and still no issues with my auto tranny.

What did you do for maintenance during that time? Sorry if you posted it already, I have not looked though the entire thread.