How no reverse situation can become good news!!
 

Started the truck this morning and... no reverse!! I began to think to a new tranny as a very nice Christmas gift when I discovered this thread:
Possible No-reverse solution for GM tranny owners. Important information! Read - E46Fanatics
Followed the advice, pushing the car outside of my property, went for a 5 minutes drive and I got the reverse again like by magic! :bounce:Of course, I have to replace the solenoid, of course I have to change the 119000 miles fluid but at least I don't have to replace the tranny!
Please be aware that this concerns only GM transmissions, I'd like to know how many 6 cylindre engines have had their tranny changed instead of just looking at this solenoid!

I'm sitting on a bad solenoid in my X5 4.4i - the dealership won't go that far into the tranny to fix it - so their plan is $10,229.00 +tax for a new tranny.

I'm thinking I am going to get a good tranny shop to replace the suspect solenoid (I do have the BMW diagnostic report) and see where that takes me.

Sorry to hear about your misfortune. The reverse solenoid in a GM transmission is an easy fix, just accessible since you drop the pan. I don't know if this is the same thing on a ZF though.

It's not the reverse solenoid - which I guess is a good thing.

It's an intermittent solenoid issue - I would have to check the diagnostic to see which one - I get the Trans Failsafe Prog on start up and the car has one forward gear (4th, so it's still ok for the highway). After a warmup (clearing the filter?), I can restart the SAV and the issue is cleared. I'll be investigating local tranny shops and seeing if they have the necessary skills to swap out the solenoids.

I too have a 2001 3.0. Anyway to tell if I have the GM or ZF transmission without getting under the car?

All 3.0i engines have the GM transmission.

All 3.0 gasoline models have the GM transmission. The ZF is only used on the V8 models (not considering the 3.0 diesel models).

Good to know.... $250 beats $5,000 for trans. failure.

Great Information! Good to know!

This is great info. I am wondering how much longer I can go until my tranny takes a crap. So far it's flawless.

Thank you

My tranny unfortunely took a crap last week. I'm hearing metal on metal and it doesn't engage into any of the gears to include park.... :(

What is the difference between the GM transmission and the ZF transmission on the 4.4's??

Are you sure it is the transmission and not the transfer case output shaft splines? Do a search, this failure is not unknown.

Different design, different manufacturer, different fluid requirements, different torque capacities (hence the 3.0 with the GM transmission, and the 4.4/4.6/4.8 with the ZF transmission). Same BMW software (in concept, though different versions). There are also different versions supplied of each transmission, depending on year of manufacture. Some are 5 speeds, some are 6 speeds.

I'll have my indy check the TC prior to completely removing the tranny. I didn't bother to check it and to tell you the truth I really don't want to deal with it. But reality is, I have no choice..... plus it's getting really annoying bringing the wifey everywhere.

Anybody know what kind of unit that manual 5 spd unit is? My gears are sooo loose...

:rofl: ZF. And you know it has lifetime fluid, right?

Mmm... Not sure what you mean. Its the 5 speed manual stick shift transmission. Last I checked, manual transmissions dont use transmission fluid...

I think that was a joke...:rolleyes:

J/k, thanks for the info

Yes they do, they just don't use automatic transmission fluid.

ok. well good thing it has lifetime fluid cause I sure never checked it.