"Jeff Strickland" > wrote:
>I actually bought my car because of the No Reverse problem. The seller was
>dumping it because he was told it had to have the transmisison replaced. I
>got the car for pretty much the normal value, minus the price of the
>transmission. When I read that there was a solenoid that I could get for 80
>bucks, I jumped on the deal for my daughter.

I contemplated selling mine, years ago when I first heard of the
problem. That damn noreverse.org site with countless 323i owners
complaining... What a poor site - nowhere (that I saw) do they
clarify the GM vs. ZF issues, even though they show the service
bulletin that shows the change to ZF in March of 2000. Lots of people
cursing GM up and down for what is really not a big deal, if you can
do the work yourself, or convince someone to do it.

Obviously I stuck it out, and I was able to rack-up 140,000 miles
before the problem started. Then, some people that I know advised me
to sell the car while it still mostly worked, but that's not my style.

Of course, part of the problem is that no one since has made a car as
good as the E46. 8)

>Bottom line, if you have a GM5 transmission and cannot get a reliable
>Reverse gear selection, you probably need the TCC solenoid. If you have the
>ZF, and NEVER get Reverse to work, then you need the Reverse Drum. Either
>way, you do not need a new transmission, and if you can work on your car at
>home then your parts cost is very low -- less than $100 for the GM5, but I
>don't recallwhat the reverse drum runs.

The reverse drum is, of course, a major repair to the transmission.

>The E46Fanatics forum has an excellent write up on the transmissions used
>and the fluids each one takes. Check it out,
>http://forum.e46fanatics.com/showthread.php?t=706809