Hi Scotty,
I have a 2004 BMW 330CI automatic with about 200k miles. When driving the car forward, if I come to a complete stop and put the car in reverse it acts like it’s in neutral. In fact, the dashboard even shows that it’s in neutral. I have to put it in park and then put it in reverse to back up. Other than it being a BMW, what could be the problem?
Thanks
Please clarify if an E46?
if this is a 4/5 speed?
and if you know if you know the make of the transmission (GM or ZF)?
Also if you got any codes? (shift signal loss / communications loss…)
Yes, a 330 is an E46. Don’t know if it’s a four or five speed. No codes showing.
Since the dashboard shows it to be in neutral it sound like the message that the shifter is in reverse isn't even getting to the trans module. Putting the shifter into park then reverse is like jiggling the switch, so if you're lucky either the linkage is out of adjustment or worn, or the switch is worn. (That should be a much cheaper/easier fix than a trans module or the transmission itself.)
Well, not knowing the transmission amount of speeds doesn’t make diagnosis easy,
I’d just try buying a used gear selector to see if that helps, If it doesn’t it can be quite a lot of different things (but you need a super special scan tool to look into it further)
