Complaints about BMW 3 Series - No Reverse

Archive: April - June 2009

Aaron of Maryland  (6/22/09)
I have a 2001 330ci. Loved the car until Friday. Driving to a game and could not reverse. Drives forward perfectly. Have it checked out this morning and it is going to cost me $3400 for a rebuild. Any word of the class action suit?

Gerson of Los Angeles, CA  (6/12/09)
Well my reverse went out about 3 weeks ago...2000 323i and i barely had gone over 100,00 miles...after reading all your comments i got very worried about the cost....thankfully i had bought a warranty from the used car dealer and they covered all of the cost except the filter and fluids....the total cost was 2,100 ...the shop is in glendale and anybody who wants info i can get it for you....the car works great now but i'm still going to trade it in while it's running....never buying a bmw again

Jay of Dallas, TX  (6/12/09)
My 2000 BMW 323i lost reverse power. All other function work correctly. It seems I am not the only one who suffered.

What shall we do??

Ali of Pompano Beach  (6/12/09)
I am dealer and bought a 2000 323i. It has 178k miles. It has been driving fine until I sold it last week. Customer called me the next day that the car does not go in reverse. I took the car back and my concern is that 18 times out 20 it goes in reverse. I stalled tested reverse everything is okay, but on occasion there is no reverse period. Please advice.

Jared of York, PA  (6/12/09)
Looks like i was next on the list to loose my reversing privileged. My wife hopped in the car this morning to go to work, put it in reverse and nothing happened. I love this car, but the repairs are killing me. I just paid $900 for a power steering pump...

Joy of Atlanta, GA  (6/11/09)
The reverse just went out on my 2000 323i this Sunday, 6/7/09. I am shocked at the amount of people who are having this problem with the transmission. I see there was a Class Action settlement last year against BMW. What about all of us who it is still happening to? Is there any way to sue BMW for this?

Sandra of Atlanta, GA  (6/10/09)
I have just repaired the transmission in my 2000 32i BMW to the tune of $3,200.00...guess what, no reverse. This is no small amount of money. But I have a great mechanic. Please add me to the class action suit.

Don of Dallas, TX  (6/10/09)
My reverse won't work! WTF? I'm thinking about trading this lemmon in.

Joe of Boiling Springs, SC  (6/8/09)
178,000 miles on my 2001 540i. Same problem, no warning and no reverse. I let the car cool down and now reverse works, but for how long...? So much talk about a class action suit, but no real meat. Does anyone know if there is a suit and if so how to get involved?

M. Phillips of Forest, VA  (6/9/09)
Same thing happened to me. NO REVERSE. Stealership wants $6000. AAmco wants $4300 for rebuild. ok let me go out to my money tree in the yard. These people are out of there minds. Any help from outthere is appr.

Phil of London, UK  (6/7/09)
Hi there, ok I might not be located in the US, but I would please like to join the 'no reverse' society. I lost my reverse gear yesterday in my 99 E39 528iA Sport. It has full service history and has 95K on the clock.
I love the fact that a car is pretending to be an airplane, in that it can only go forward. Perhaps BMW have some stock options in Boeing which we don't know about lol. It's the weekend here, so I'm gonna head down to my BMW dealer tomorrow to see what they have to say.

Justin of Salt Lake City, UT  (6/4/09)
I have also fallen prey to some faulty BMW equipment. I was backing my 2001 330i out of a parking stall when I heard a clunk. Then poof, no reverse. I have it in an independent BMW repair shop as I speak getting an estimate. I have seen what others with the same problem are paying. Since it is not in the budget right now it looks like I will be making payments on a car that is sitting in the garage. I love that car, but unless BMW does something to fix this, I will NEVER own another BMW.

Carmen of Los Angeles, CA  (6/3/09)
I guess I joined the club today!! My husband and I were on vacation in Sedona, AZ and we got into out car to go out for lunch and wait for it...NO REVERSE!! It freaked us out a bit thinking that we were going to have to tow our our car almost 600 miles back to L.A. Our mechanic told us that we could drive back in our car if it went forward, but to be mindful if we had to stop since we had no reverse. I also remembered that i got my transmission replaced a year ago because reverse was getting stuck and I paid about $1800 to get it replaced. I just got home and looked at the work warranty and I've gone over the warranty by 20k miles. :( I'll keep you posted as to how much I will have pay out of pocket. Oh BMW why can't you make a good transmission that works!!

Heather of Seattle, WA  (6/2/09)
I have a 2000 323i sedan with 85,000 miles and this same problem happened to me the night before last - the car was absolutely fine, then all of a sudden wouldn't move when put into reverse - acted like it was in neutral. Was told by BMW yesterday that it needed a new transmission at $6,000. Contacted the lawfirm http://www.hhplawny.com and was told the class action lawsuit is closed, but am waiting for a call back to get more info. If anyone knows anything more, please advise.

Keith of PA  (5/25/09)
My car was running great. I drove it to work and backed into my parking space it worked just fine. Then I drive it to a muffler shop to have them work on my exhaust. The lady goes to put it in reverse and..... nothing. She was like " your car doesn't go into reverse" I was like "WHAT" oh man I was so pissed. so I was driving it for couple of minutes and then I tried it again. it worked. then later that day it didn't work again. I just found out about this site today. I really hope they do something about this!

Christine of California  (5/28/09)
Same thing...........car was running fine with no problems the BAM!! NO REVERSE!! 2001 BMW 325i,

Automotive Solutions of Chapel Hill, NC  (5/21/09)
I have repaired several of these myself & all have been a failure of the piston that applies the reverse clutch. I STRONGLY suspect that when the piston is starting to fail & reverse doesn't immediately engage that throttle is applied increasing the line pressure to the "F" clutch and causing the clutch to rapidly apply. compounded by the fact that when a clutch doesn't apply in the normal amount of time it can cause a harsh engagement & this drum failure could be the result. When a clutch is working properly at the same time the piston is receiving fluid pressure there is an accumulator being filled on the same circuit. (an accumulator is a piston with a spring behind it in the valve body.) This softens the application of that circuit producing a nice smooth engagement. When the piston for the clutch is leaking the accumulator may already be compressed before the clutch is applied & when we give a few revs to try to get it to engage it goes in abruptly & puts more stress than normal on the reverse drum. Saab 9000's had a 4hp-18 that had a accumulator spring problem & they would bang into gear causing similar results. I have also talked to Erickson industries (a ZF factory rebuilder) & they see it is a F clutch piston problem.

David of Albany, NY  (5/21/09)
I stumbled on this site. Amazing! Had the same problem- reverse failure with no warning on 2001 330i two years ago. fortunately car had 99,900 miles and it was replaced under warranty. But I'll keep this in mind if it fails again!

Gavin of Texas  (5/20/09)
You may already know this already, however this failure is fairly common on Audi vehicles as well. I have not personally experienced this (yet), however I regularly read about others running into this issue. Many of Audi's vehicles use the same ZF 5HP19 transmissions. If your interested you can search Audiworld and Quattroworld forums for no reverse, and am sure you will fund dozens of examples. In addition to the no reverse failure, there is another known issue with torque converters which affect Audi vehicles as well (2001-2004). I am not sure if BMW shares this failure as well:

http://allroadfaq.com/downloads/tsb/tsb_32_05_02.pdf

As far as I am aware, Audi is not assisting customers who have run into these outside of the factory warranty.
Regards,
Gavin

Lina of Pennsylvania  (5/17/09)
Wow, unbelievable. I can't believe there are so many people out there with the same problem as me! I have a 2000 323 wagon with 90,000 miles I purchased a year ago, from a dealer who told me he just put a brand new transmission in it. I have owned 2 other older bmws that were good to me. So I wanted to get another one , and after the dealer told me it has a brand new transmission I thought I wouldn't have to worry about that. Well the other day, May 9, 2009 low and behold and without warning NO REVERSE! I guess I too am now an official member of this club I wish I would have known about prior to buying my bmw. So what do we do about it? After reading all these complaints on multiple websites, I say we join together and demand action from bmw! Please let me know if this is something that is already in progress or if we all need to join together and get a lawyer and make happen? PLEASE Keep me posted! ~ Lina

Jasper of USA  (5/8/09)
This is a very interested site. I'm deciding on buying a used BMW or a used Lexus. I was totally unaware of all of the transmission problems that BMW has, so thank you very much for putting this site together. I will just hope that Lexus is more reliable. Have there been a frequent amount of transmission problems for BMW that are 2005 and above, or has it just been the 2000 3 series model?

Nancy of Plano, TX  (5/6/09)
Has anybody contact a lawyer yet? I too, had the same problem on May 1st 2009 and my car is in the shop.
I put my car in reverse and without any warning or sign, it would not reverse.
Then, I was told about this website and decided to look for a lawyer.

Janice of Akron, OH  (5/3/09)
Went to back out of my garage on May 2, 2009 and car had no reverse. Had to have the car towed and am being advised that the transmission needs replaced at an estimate of $5K. The car, a 2001 BMW 330cic with 54K miles never had any problems, or previous transmission problems. To pay this kind of money for a BMW and have these kinds of problems is unacceptable for purchasers of these vehicles.

SuperGirlsAuto   (4/27/09)
Have an 02 BMW 330 in the shop now with--guess what?--NO reverse. Of course--the car is equipped with the infamous 5HP19 ZF transmission. Looks like the repair is going to cost our customer about $1500. This car has just under 90,000 miles on it. In the next bay sits a 1987 Oldsmobile Toronado with 198,000 miles on it. Second gear just failed. BMW quality and engineering superiority??. I think not--General Motors is and has been superior in their engineering. Do the math--89k vs 198k before failure??

Josh   (4/25/09)
FYI...I am the original owner of 3 series, which had the original ZF-5HP19 transmission, which has been maintained by BMW since purchase. BMW North America replaced my transmission at no cost after it failed.

I also looked at the class action suit you reference and it appears that it was handled by http://www.hhplawny.com/

Contact details are on that website.
That looks like a great place to start.
Good luck.

Erik of Columbus, OH  (4/23/09)
I guess I don't really need to have any type of "set-up" here. My reverse in my 2000 328ci is gone. Paid $3000 to get it fixed, and it went out again 4 days later. If I would have seen these postings a few years ago, I would have bought American.

Dean of Prince Edward Island, Canada  (4/23/09)
Just to let all the BMW owners know that they are not alone with there transmission problems. Audi and VW also used the same transmission with the same results. My Passat is waiting for parts to rebuild it. (2 weeks now)
Don't waste your time trying to get a used one at a salvage yard it will cost about $1500-2000 (Installed) for a unit that is going to fail. Getting it rebuilt means a new reverse drum that has been redesigned and should not fail.

Diane of Staten Island, NY  (4/20/09)
Bought a Pre owned bmw x5 in December with 39000 miles on it so far its been to the shop 4 times and most recently its been there since 3/31/2009 because it needs a new transmission. Pre owned certified truck! I'd like to meet the person who certified this one!

Dean of Chicago, IL  (4/20/09)
I have the no reverse issue on a 2000 323 ci Do you have any repair shops in Illinois or Chicago area?

Doug of Roseville, CA  (4/17/09)
2000 323i, 68k miles. Well maintained. We also lost reverse without precursors. We have an after-market warranty (Mercury) who will replace it with re-manufactured trans (no out of pocket) or BMW Roseville will replace it with re-manufactured from their contracted rebuild facility for $900 out of pocket. I suspect both replacement options inherit the design flaws of the original, and I do not know if either facilities recycle used internal parts that may be on the verge of failure.

This is our 3rd BMW, we still have 2006 330i with no problems except very expensive run-flat, non-rotatable tires. I think we'll go back to Toyota or Lexus.

Randy of Kent, WA  (4/14/09)
Bought a 2001 X5 last week.. today? No reverse. The dealer is 'getting back to me' to see what, if anything, they will/can do. My guess is nothing. So based on what I have read here I'm going to be out about $5 grand. Neato.

Kevin of Los Angeles, CA  (4/12/09)
I bought my 2000 323i brand new about 9 years ago from BMW of San Diego, 4 years and 40'000 miles later, I encountered the NO REVERSE problem, took it to the dealer of BMW of San Diego and they told me this problem couldn't be fixed and I needed a new tranny, I went ahead and got everything and paid a ridiculous amount of money, now another 4 years later, the same problem has re-occurred, this time it really pissed me off since this is my 2nd tranny and I am going to need to get it repaired of get another tranny, the repair cost of the tranny is about 2G and there is no guarantee that this won't happen again! how can BMW not make a recall of it knowing how many people have had those problem? and this is the second time it has happened to me? I wrote them an email, but than they refuse to do anything at all, I believe we all have to stick together and find a way to protect our investment. there is no way that I want to keep on paying couple of thousand bucks once couple of years.

June of Los Angeles, CA  (4/9/09)
2001 BMW X5 4.4 - No reverse is being told it will cost between $3,000 and $3,500 to rebuild the transmission. No other problems with the car - well maintained.

Marvin of Carson  (4/6/09)
It happened to me too... With 69000 miles on my car. Next thing you know I start the car and the Reverse gear does not engage, you could rev it up but the car does not go anywhere... Driving forward is not a problem. Called an independent transmission shop and the manager has another BMW car (same model 2000 323 ci) that has the same no reverse problem Apparently its a very common problem that bmw does not account for. What a piece of s**t. I will not buy a BMW again..

Craig of New York, NY  (4/1/09)
we all know that the cars do not go into reverse. OK..... now, does anyone KNOW what the actual problem is. for example is it a leak, a bad relay, bad gear, bad seal, electrical or mechanical. it has to be the same problem with all the cars. BMWs are usually well made, maybe it a minor problem...don't let these mechanics just give you a price to fix it. whenever mechanics see a bmw owner they see $$$$$ signs. let them explain what the problem is they should know by now. dont just swap the transmission. if it comes to that look for a good mechanic and rebuild the one you have. what if you pay for a replacement transmission and have the same problem six months down the line. will you just change it again? whatever you do try not to buy a used one. does anyone know the real issue with the transmission is.

GJ of Milwaukee, WI  (4/1/09)
A year ago, my gas gauge sensor went out. The car had less than 100,000 miles on it. Today, my 2000 BMW 323i has 111,000 miles on it and the vehicle will not drive in any gear without a grinding sound. Within the past few months it would drive, but only when it was warm. Now it is completely inop. This car has been well maintained! How can BMW stand to allow their reputation to be ruined if their cars' aren't good beyond 100,000 miles?? This is absurd. It would cost me over $4000 to get a new transmission and I still over $6000 on the car. I currently have no operable vehicle and I still have to maintain my auto loan payments and find alternate transportation to work.

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