2000 BMW 328I: stuck in gear or won't shift

Filed Feb 16, 2010 · Transmission · 143,300 miles · AZ

Have a 2000 bmw 328i. Transmission began slipping a few weeks ago. When I drive at highway speeds for a period of time, I get transmission indicator light that comes on. As explained in the manual, I stop, turn car off for 30 seconds then restart and it goes out. Then last week after driving home, when I went to garage to go back out, the car wouldn't go into reverse. I pushed it out of garage and it drives forward fine. After a mile or 2 I pulled over and it went into reverse. Not happening all of the time, it's happened 3 times in past 5 days. Have not taken it in for service or anything yet.

Filed Aug 29, 2009 · Transmission · 930,000 miles · CA

2000 bmw 328i transmission won't go into reverse.

Filed Apr 19, 2009 · Transmission · 187,286 miles · TN

Plain and simple, someone needs to look into this transmission problem that everyone seems to be having! Thousands of people like myself are losing the reverse gear and facing $5000 plus in repairs. You can find website after website and page after page of people that are facing hard economic hardship as it is, then getting slapped in the face by ridiculous repair cost from bmw. This is an injustice to all those who trusted in bmw to deliver the quality product they boast about! Think of it this way, your wife or daughter is stuck in a dark parking lot and can't move her car because the transmission won't go into reverse. Now she has to sit and wait for a tow truck to come to her rescue. Now here's the kicker, its in a bad location and her safety is threatened! Hmm, wouldn't it have been nice if someone would have gotten off their butts and done something to solve this problem? Think about it.......then pass it along to the people who can help us innocent victims!!

Filed Apr 19, 2009 · Transmission · 187,286 miles · TN

Plain and simple, someone needs to look into this transmission problem that everyone seems to be having! Thousands of people like myself are losing the reverse gear and facing $5000 plus in repairs. You can find website after website and page after page of people that are facing hard economic hardship as it is, then getting slapped in the face by ridiculous repair cost from bmw. This is an injustice to all those who trusted in bmw to deliver the quality product they boast about! Think of it this way, your wife or daughter is stuck in a dark parking lot and can't move her car because the transmission won't go into reverse. Now she has to sit and wait for a tow truck to come to her rescue. Now here's the kicker, its in a bad location and her safety is threatened! Hmm, wouldn't it have been nice if someone would have gotten off their butts and done something to solve this problem? Think about it.......then pass it along to the people who can help us innocent victims!!

Filed Mar 26, 2009 · Transmission · 132,472 miles · CA

None, no accidents. A few days ago my car did not go into reverse in the morning and I thought maybe it was to cold or maybe I put it in reverse too soon. So I tried switching the gear into park or in drive and back to reverse and nothing. I even restarted the car and still no reverse. So I just sat there for a few minutes and tried again and it reversed very very slow even when I tapped the gas. Anyway, so car had been going into reverse fine until this evening. I had made a morning trip and an afternoon trip and reverse was working but this evening I got in my car as usual and put my 00' bmw 328i into reverse and nothing. I can't even feel the gear switching like usual but all other gears are working. I have read a lot of complaints so bmw has had to have been aware of this issue for some time now considering that most complaints come from bmw cars that were made in 99' and up. Question is, when is bmw going to do something about this. If it is a transmission problem like so many others it would costs the blue book value for my car just to fix and its not worth it. My first bmw and probably my last if "bmw" does not fix the problem as they should! I mean if my reverse goes out what's next to go? I am kind of afraid to drive now.

Filed Mar 4, 2008 · Transmission · 60,000 miles · CA

Transmission suddenly would not go into reverse. Transmission needs to be replaced.

Filed Nov 16, 2007 · Transmission · CA

I own a 2000 bmw 328i. Around february 2007, I parked the car in a parking stall. When I returned, the car would not go into reverse. I had to push the car out of the stall. Since then, the car either hesitates to reverse or completely fails to go in reverse about half the time I drive it. My mechanic informs me that the transmission needs to be replaced. I am about to have it replaced at a cost of $4,000. I discovered today that this problem is wide spread in circa 2000 bmw 3 series cars. One website I found containing over one hundred similar complaints from throughout the country is: www.consumeraffairs.com/automotive/bmw_trans.html. There is apparently a design defect in the transmission. Bmw n.a. Denies any problem, despite the fact they discontinued use of the particular transmission in later models. I am informed that if the transmission fails while driving, the car will suddenly stop. The danger is obvious. Please investigate.

Filed Mar 21, 2007 · Transmission · 85,000 miles · CA

My 2000 bmw 328i with 85000 miles will not go into reverse anymore. A search of this problem at consumeraffairs.com showed that this seems to be a very common problem with this year and model of car. Here is the link. *ak http://www.consumeraffairs.com/automotive/bmw_trans.html please note this car is in excellent condition and has always been maintained according to bmw guidelines at either a bmw dealer or a bmw specialist. Also this car is driven by adults only and in a gentle fashion. This problem is not a random problem based upon the internet searches I have conducted. I'm quite sure there are many more folks who have experienced this problem and have not regestered a complaint on the internet.