* No-Reverse Solution For GM Transmission *

twice in 3 months so far

Originally Posted by Toad21

2 year update after replacing the TCC selenoid and replacing the trans fluid with Redline D4:

No reverse has popped its head 5 times in 2 years, seemingly farther apart each time. Reverse works 99/100 times roughly now. It was close to 90/100 before the replacement.

So it was worth it, but was not a cure all.

FYI.

I guess, that's good news and bad news. 5 times in 2 years isn't much, but
not knowing when it may happen can drive you crazy. What if the 1/100 happens when I go on my once a year/ 900 mile camping trip?

My reverse went out about a month ago and I took the valve body apart.
For now it's holding up, but I am waiting to see what happens, to be able to give better feedback about it.

Originally Posted by lszlszx

I guess, that's good news and bad news. 5 times in 2 years isn't much, but
not knowing when it may happen can drive you crazy. What if the 1/100 happens when I go on my once a year/ 900 mile camping trip?

My reverse went out about a month ago and I took the valve body apart.
For now it's holding up, but I am waiting to see what happens, to be able to give better feedback about it.

I find myself always parking on a slope so that if I need to push it back I can. Also, If its on a downward slope, I will back in to the space. So basically I always account for the fact revers can fail at any time. I live in a 100,000 person town, so I can always find parking to accommodation this style fortunetly. If I was in Chicago, I would not be as fortunate.

Hey guys... I have the GM tranny in my '99 328i.

This morning, when going to reverse out of my driveway, it would barely move. As I rolled backwards, I saw a big puddle of transmission fluid. What should this tell me? Should I assume that the solenoid that everyone's been talking about here be the culprit? I don't think I've seen any posts talking about large fluid leaks like this however. It leaked probably close to a quart very quickly. I didn't move it more than about 50 feet and parked it.

I will take a look underneath when I get home today but does anyone know what could cause this type of leak?

Jack it up and see where its leaking from. Could be a shifter shaft seal. Ive read about a guy who had a cup of fluid spill every time he put it into reverse. Its above the fluid pad on the drivers side. If thats the case you shoild be able to replace the shifter shaft seal without removing the transmission. Just remove the lever arm (that the shifter cable connects to) from the shaft and use a small seal pick to pull the seal out. Best of luck man

Fix the leak before thinking of the worst. Worth a shot

Hopefully the no-reverse is caused by low oil level.
If not, you can try to fix it by replacing the solenoid.
I read this whole thread, I found no more than 3 posts when the person said that replacing the solenoid fixed the problem.
By the way, TCC stand for torque converter solenoid, so it's not really
the "reverse solenoid", although it can cause a no reverse condition when defective.

Thanks for the feedback. I'm the person with the leak from a few posts above.
I spent yesterday evening simply figuring out how to get my car off the street and into my garage (tow straps, pushing/pulling, etc.) so, tonight I'll get it up on jack stands and hopefully track down the exact source of the leak. I feel fortunate that this leak didn't occur while driving down the road and that I noticed the leak right away.

I'm going to spend some time today looking either for local transmission shops or a place to buy a re-manned unit just in case the problem with mine ends up requiring a new tranny.

I would be up for trying the replacement myself.....Does anyone know where to buy re-manned transmissions (mine is the A5S360R). Also, does anyone know of any BMW-trained transmission shops in Columbus, Ohio just in case I need to go that route?

Any updates? Dont think of the worst just start with the little things . Take pictures of where its coming from and post them.

Ok, I got under the car today and I think I see where the leak is coming from. Though I don't know that I'd call it a simple leak as it gushed out about a quart very quickly. I was hoping it was just one of the cooling lines but it looks like it's coming from the spot the green arrow is pointing to. You can see drips on the outside and looking through the inspection hole(?) in that housing, I could also see drips on the inside.

The photo with the orange arrow also looked suspicious but I couldn't imagine how the fluid could gush out of that spot where the two cooling lines come/go.

As suggested above, I also looked at the shift linkage but it sure didn't look like fluid was coming from there (not shown in photos).

So, what's the opinion? What is the source/problem if there is a severe leak from within? Does that mean that somehting like the torque converter is cracked or something? Is there anything else I can check?

Depending what I hear from everyone, I simply plan on refilling the fluid and test driving it.

Maybe refill it, put it up on stands. Have a buddy get in the car and go through prnd a few times and step on the gas. Obviously car has to be in the air...you go underneath and inspect where she is coming from... Im no expert but id probably try that if it were me

Ok, here's my update from a few posts above.

I went ahead and did the transmission fluid and filter change. That didn't help. I was getting the triangle and exclamation point symbol and I led myself into thinking that it was transmission related because it had just puked a bunch of transmission fluid and the transmission wasn't engaging so I thought it was going into limp mode. But, here's what the deal was.

The other symbol similar to this, the gear symbol with the exclamation point, is actually for transmission specific problems while the triangle version I was getting is for the ASC (automatic stability control). Since there was snow, the wheels spun which must have tripped the ABS/speed sensors. I reset the car by leaving the battery unplugged for a while and pulled each of the rear speed sensors and cleaned them --pretty dirty. So, I think it was stuck in that mode because they were dirty or that system needed to be reset. Once I did those two things, I started it and it went through the gears and drove just fine whereas previously, it wouldn't engage. I assumed it was the transmission slipping/failing but it was really just the ABS system kicking in and not allowing the transmission to engage.

Thankfully, it wasn't my transmission. Hope this helps someone else.

Originally Posted by eweis

Ok, here's my update from a few posts above.

I went ahead and did the transmission fluid and filter change. That didn't help. I was getting the triangle and exclamation point symbol and I led myself into thinking that it was transmission related because it had just puked a bunch of transmission fluid and the transmission wasn't engaging so I thought it was going into limp mode. But, here's what the deal was.

The other symbol similar to this, the gear symbol with the exclamation point, is actually for transmission specific problems while the triangle version I was getting is for the ASC (automatic stability control). Since there was snow, the wheels spun which must have tripped the ABS/speed sensors. I reset the car by leaving the battery unplugged for a while and pulled each of the rear speed sensors and cleaned them --pretty dirty. So, I think it was stuck in that mode because they were dirty or that system needed to be reset. Once I did those two things, I started it and it went through the gears and drove just fine whereas previously, it wouldn't engage. I assumed it was the transmission slipping/failing but it was really just the ABS system kicking in and not allowing the transmission to engage.

Thankfully, it wasn't my transmission. Hope this helps someone else.

So after cleaning all is well? AWESOME!!

3 times now, guess I'll be replacing the valve body soon. Found one for $740, anyone have a cheaper source?

I can sell you a whole transmission from a 2003 BMW 325ci for $600 plus shipping

Originally Posted by jrcarter_2000

3 times now, guess I'll be replacing the valve body soon. Found one for $740, anyone have a cheaper source?

You can get a used tranny for less than that. Do you have a GM, or ZF?

GM

worried a used tranny will have the same no reverse issue in time

2003's didn't have this problem
only 99-01 and some 02's

Did GM correct the problem, or is the GM transmission not used in the 02' and later cars?

Originally Posted by jrcarter_2000

GM

worried a used tranny will have the same no reverse issue in time

I know, you'd be taking a chance. How many miles are on your current tranny? One good news is that GM trannies cost less, than ZF and more parts are available since this was used in several GM vehicles.