Automatic Transmission problems of the 1999 BMW 323

Owner of a 1999 BMW 323i and the reverse gear failed. It occurs intermittently and continues. No action or accountability is being taken by BMW to correct the problem. This is a safety concern for owners faced with this situation.

Sporadically and without warning since I have owned the car, new, the reverse gear fails in my 1999 BMW 323i. In addition, the car seems to, intermittently and without warning, rapidly accelerate on its own. When the car accelerates, I have to apply all the pressure I can to the brake pedal, and even with that I can feel the acceleration for a few minutes before it stops. As for the reverse gear failure, I have to shift to each gear once or twice before I can get the car into reverse, and/or I just have to take the key out of the ignition and wait for a while before trying again, and/or I have to shift to and from reverse to drive several times while in a parking lot, street, etc. , holding up drivers behind me. In 11 years, no mechanic has ever been able to determine why the car has these issues, and most mechanics have been unable to duplicate the problems while driving the car. Thus, nothing has been repaired and the issues remain.

I own a 1999 323i BMW. The car will not go into reverse. 1. ) the car's transmission worked fine. Then without warning or indication after parking the transmission would not go into reverse. 2. )the transmission will not go into reverse. This problem comes and goes. The car cannot reverse. 3. ) no corrective action has been taken yet, I am just not driving it - too dangerous.

My 1999 BMW 323i would occasionally not engage in reverse. This happened initially without warning. After driving the car around for awhile, low and behold, reverse would engage. The dealer told me that the shift plate was not aligned and the car was thinking it was in neutral. After having that replaced at $700, the next day, same problem. Then the dealer said that it has to be that the transmission was gone. After having the transmission rebuilt at $2000, low and behold, 2 days later, the same exact thing starting happening. The car is in excellent condition and well maintained with 132,000. All of this started to happen on 10/22/2009. BMW needs to recall the vehicle because this has happened with several owners.

I drive a 1999 BMW 323i, today the reverse stopped working for no reason at all. Drove fine this morning, I pulled into a store to run an errand and when I came out the reverse was no longer working. I now read this is a common issue with this model but that BMW refuses to acknowledge this, this is unfortunate as I've always liked Bmws but now I'm stuck with a car that is unsafe and expensive to repair.

Drove into a parking spot a work and could not back out of the parking space once on reverse, the car would not move! after having spent $2,500 just 3 weeks prior on other repairs.

I own a 1999 BMW 323i. Sometimes the reverse does not work at all and on somedays there are no problems what so ever. I took the care into the BMW dealership and was told that I need a new transmission that would cost about $7,000. I am disabled and cannot afford this type of repair. I thought buying a BMW would be a great retirement car. I am very upset, especially reading on the internet how many people have the same problem and BMW does nothing to help. I have a 1997 381i that is down also. Have taken it to the dealership and my local mechanic. BMW has changed. . I really need help . . .

My BMW 323i 1999 has a defective transmission. BMW says that we shouldn't change the transmission oil as it's a lifetime oil. . . . But I think this is what lead to having this problem. My car doesn't go into reverse and I've looked in several sites about this problem and have discovered that I"m not the only one that has this problem. . . Read more...

My reverse on my 1999 323i automatic does not go into reverse. It initially worked then it would not reverse.

Reverse does not work. The same complaint from hundreds of others can be found at noreverse. Org. There is a service bulletin put out to the service technicians about the transmission but BMW will not do anything about it.

Reverse mysteriously not working. Goes in and out.

The reverse gear in my BMW 323i failed without any prior warning. It seems to be a common problem, as a drum in the transmission assembly is cast from weak metal and comes apart until it fails to compress the plates for the reverse gear.

I have been driving my 1999 BMW 323i for the past year with few problems. Today I got up to go on a road trip, and my car will not go into reverse. It has been serviced regularly, but there was indication of a transmission problem existing. According to the dealership, it will cost about $3,000. 00 to correct the failure. A quick web search revealed that this is a fairly common occurrence.

I discovered one morning that my car wouldn't go in reverse. It seemed like it would "catch", but it wouldn't actually go anywhere. I towed it to my regular repair shop, and they quoted me $6000 to replace the transmission. I found a transmission shop who quoted me $1600-$3500 to actually fix the problem instead of replace, so I had the car towed a second time over to them. Shop called back and said neither BMW or gm will sell him all the parts he needs to do fix it. BMW doesn't offer them (only whole transmissions), and gm wont warranty the parts if theyre installed on a BMW. He also said hed done some research on my concerns with the 1999 transmission, and that there were no technical service bulletins from BMW on it. There was a bulletin on the 2000 zl model transmission but not on mine (which he said was a 5l40-e model), so he doesn't think theres a widespread problem with this transmission. BMW started using the 5l40-e transmission halfway through 1999 when they changed the 323 over from the e36 to the e46 chassis. And although there is a new complaint on the consumer affairs page almost daily regarding failure to go in reverse, BMW has not issued a single service bulletin. This same transmission, however, was also used in the 2003 Cadillac cts, of which there are over 30 technical service bulletins regarding the transmission. Two of these specifically mention failure in reverse. Why will Cadillac at least admit to the problem, but BMW makes no mention of it in a vehicle thats been on the road four years longer? I know a bulletin wont have any effect on my now $5000 repair bill, but I thought I had done my due diligence in researching the 1999 323i, e46s, and BMW in general before I bought the damn thing. If id have known the transmission in this car was both non-serviceable and prone to failure, id have bought a kia.

1999 BMW 323i not going into revers at 90k miles.

Transmission locked to "limp home" mode. Can be reset by turn off and on the ignition, but it wont solve the problem and will occur again. If you run at 75/80 mph, and the "limp" mode is on. . The gear will be shift down suddenly and it will dangerously impact the speed of the car behind me. Luckily the car behind me have enough time to reduce the speed before it hits me.

I was driving my 1999 BMW 323i on hwy 101 in santa clara, CA. The car sundenly feels "weak". I immediately pull off the next exit. At the traffic light after the exit ramp the car stalls. I restarted the car and was able to move it, slowly, to a parking lot. There I found that a). I lost the reverse gear b). The transimission program light was on. I attempted to start the car again to see if it moves but the engine keeps stalling - I noticed that the transimission does not appears to be shifting. It is like starting a manual shift car from the 3rd gear. There was no warning sign of all these. It happen all in a sudden. The car had just gone through the BMW 60k mile service (major service) a couple of months ago. I have the car towed to my BMW dealer and there they pronounce the transimission dead - transmission locked-up. I am scared! I could have been killed that day!.

Entire transmission for 1999 BMW 323 ic needs to be replaced (estimated charge is $4600. 00) - after only 60,000 miles. The onboard computer did not alert me of the problem soon enough.

On November 1, 2000, I had a u. S. Air force appointment in the u. S. Pentagon in washington, DC. I proceeded to leave in my BMW 323i, which I lease through passport BMW in marlow heights, maryland. It was a dreary day, thus, I turned on the vehicle's headlights after starting the ignition. I placed the vehicle's gear in reverse and proceeded to back out of my parking space. However, the vehicle suddenly, and with great velocity, sped backwards. I immediately pressed the brakes preventing an accident. I tried this time to go forward and the car sped forwards back into the space I originally backed out of. I was quite shaken-up and completely analyzed the vehicle and my operation of it ensuring.