Six problems related to automatic transmission have been reported for the 2004 BMW 325. The most recently reported issues are listed below.
The contact owns a 2004 BMW 325xi. The contact stated the vehicle would not shift into drive in cold temperatures. When she was able to shift into drive and depress the accelerator pedal, there was a momentary delay and the vehicle would abnormally jerk forward before accelerating. The dealer advised that the failure was normal. The contact took the vehicle to a local repair facility for diagnostic testing but no failure codes were produced. The vehicle was not repaired. The failure mileage was approximately 57,000 and the current mileage was approximately 70,000.
I bought BMW 325xi 2004 on 03/04 and I noticed that it has problem with cold start. In the morning, when I put the car in "d", it doesn't move and then suddenly lurches with a jerk. First I thought, its just because its a new car but when I didn't drive it for 3 days and started it, it was worse. It wouldn't move at all for like a minute and then suddenly lurched forward with a jerk almost hitting the car in front of me. I took the car to the dealership and they told me that all 3 series manufactured between 03-03 to 11-03 have this problem and it is due to the transmission . What I don't understand is if there is a recall on that. They didn't tell me about this problem at all whereas now I read the message boards and there have been a lot of similar complaints. I wonder what my options are? I bought the car because there was a special deal on this car. May be the deal was because of this issue.
On cold starts vehicle does not move when transmission put in drive. It delays for 10 to 15 seconds to one minute. I was told by dealer that it has a defective part and they are currently replacing the transmission. Vehicle has 2000 miles on it. Also had problem with the steptronic transmission. Vehicle will not allow you to manually shift the gear when you select manual for the clutchless shift. It simply gets stuck and then shifts on its own. Dealer had not heard of this problem. Now I am driving 1 2004 x5 as a loaner from the dealer and it too has the same problem with the steptronic transmission when you select manual. I can shorten the delay by increasing the engine speed. The vehicle will then creeps forward until the transmission is fully engaged.
My new car will not accelerate when I give it gas. Contacted my dealer and they said it was "normal for a break in period". The car hit 2 - 3,000 rpms without moving. Very scary. This has happened several times usually after not driving the car for several hours. The car has less than 2k miles and was purchased in December. The BMW message boards are filled with other victims of this known defect. Dealer said I have nothing to worry about and that the car is under warranty. This is ridiculous for a $45,000+ car to be unsafe. Will you please do something to alert other drivers before someone is killed. Thank you.
The steptronic transmission will not engauge in "d" for several minutes after sitting overnight. BMW replaced the transmission at 1100 miles and at 300 miles the "new" transmission is doing the same thing. The car goes in "r" and potentially could leave you in traffic without the ability to move out of the way.
Petition for defect investigation of the 2004 BMW 325xi due to hesitation in shifting of the automatic transmission when vehicle is in motion especially when accelerating after a full stop. When the consumer shifted from reverse to drive it experienced delays of from one half minute to two minutes before the transmission shifted into drive then the vehicle would move forward.