328is Auto to Manual Swap

[Torei]

Im slightly new to the whole car mechanic scene and recently my 1997 BMW 328is has had am issue with the transmission i believe. What happens is when i turn the car on and put it into drive, it will not move even when i apple the gas. But if i take it out of automatic and put it into manual, it will drive only in third gear. I have been used to manual transmission for a while and this was my first auto transmission vehicle so i do not know whats causing this problem. If anything i was hoping to be able to swap out the automatic transmission for a manual one if it is possible. The vehicle is completely stock and im not even sure where i need to begin to check for whats causing the issues. Any help with this would be greatly appreciated....

Thanks.

[shadowpuck]

when in drive - do the revs climb? does the car feel like it wants to move?

have you scanned the car for codes yet - particularly the EGS (transmission computer). this could be anything from a fluid issue all the way to a failing transmission.

if you are interested in completing a swap from auto to manual it is something that can absolutely be done. i wouldn't recommend it for my first DIY foray - it'd be best to have some folks around that are familiar with some of the key steps. at some point, it becomes mostly a clutch job with a few steps extra. there are many posts and writeups about how to swap an e36 auto to manual - it's been done many times. if you want a manual car in the end, it's a very rewarding swap. the car will seem like a much different animal when done!

i would also recommend using quality, OE/OEM BMW parts - the savings in not using quality parts will get more than accounted for in doing things more than once.

a Bentley service manual will be a nice companion too.

[bmwdirtracer]

Absolutely, the very first step needs to be reading the codes in the DME (engine), EGS (transmission), and ABS (brakes) computers. An OBD code reader can't do this; you need to use a real BMW specific diagnostic scan tool. Tell us the actual words of the codes in these three computers, and we'll tell you where to look, to fix it.