E46, smg problem!

Hi everyone. I am new to bimmerfest. I have a 2002 M3 smg transmission. The problem started about a month ago. The problem doesn't happen all the time. The problem is that sometime the transmission doesn't shift at all. No matter what gear the car is on, sometime the gear doesn't change. I have to take my foot of the gaz so the transmission can shift. So if I am driving on the highway, the car is on the first gear, than second gear, than third gear and the car won't shift anymore to the fourth gear, I have to take my foot of the gaz so the car changes to the fifth gear. One time I was changing gear with the paddle shift, the gear stopped at 2 and a smg light showed up on the screen saying check your dealership. I took the car to the bmw dealership, they run diagnostic on the transmission and told me that the transmission stopped at the third gear and it didn't shift no more. They said I need a new transmission but the question is how come I can still shift the gear in my car. My problem is that the smg doesn't shift sometime, even if I am on the 5th gear and driving on the highway, the car doesn't shift to the 6th gear until I take my foot of the gaz. Somebody told me that it might be a computer problem, somebody else told me to reset the battery(give the battery a shot) and reset it.

So anybody had this problem before. Do you guys think I need a new smg transmission?

Read up on gear position sensor.

My car would shift 1-2, delay on 3rd and eventually skipped it, 4-5-6..

Some days it would go 1-3-5-6, others 1-2-4-6...

How many miles do you have on your car?

100k, 2002 as well, but I've heard of them going out before that.

Hop on m3forum and read the smg FAQ...

I am not sure if this helps you but I have the smg and once the sensor went bad and it would not let me take it out of gear,BMW fixed it I think about 200 bucks.The dealership stated that due to the salt on the highways it corroded the sensor

You likely have either a bad gear position sensor or the small springs that control the shifting position are broken, both are inexpensive fixes. The reason the Stealer says you have to replace the tranny is because they do not serive the unit, they only replace it.

Go to m3forums.net to get more help.

I had the dealer check it and I didn't trust them so I took the car to a special bmw shop and they run the diagnostic and told me the gear is not shifting so I don't know if I really need to change the transmission or put a new sensor.

My friend has an 02 M3 SMG (euro version). Bought it brand new. Had the same problem plus problems with breaks that caused him his nice rims when it went bad during road test before dealer released his car after servicing his SMG. It happened before the car even had 10,000km (6000mi). Dealer fixed the problem eventually.