Need help!! No reverse.

[kadaf]

I was stuck on the snow and was rocking the car(reverse-drive-reverse-drive...) then all of a sudden the reverse stop working. All gears work except for reverse, the car is a 95 740i 135k.

[kadaf]

Anybody

[RenegadeBMW]

I had a buddy that blew his reverse in his Supra once. Turned out that he stripped the teeth on the reverse spline. He luckily didn't cause too much damage and it was a manual so he was able to do the repair for cheap. I would say your first step would take it to the dealer or someone like Cottman transmissions. Good luck!

[p901911]

Do you still have the other functions? Park, Drive, Neutral? And are they in the proper spot on the gearshift indicator panel. I`m thinking you might have slipped the linkage on the transmission, (loose bolt or clip, etc).
Just because the gear shift says Park or Reverse for example, the lever on the outside of the transmission may be in a different position.
Outside of that quick check, is your transmission fluid full and proper up to the mark? Got a lot of miles on the car? Have you flushed the fluid within 100,000 miles? Any other complaints with the transmission at any other time?
Hard shifts, soft shifts, late shifts, etc. Could indicate other problems with the transmission that have been coming on for some time before you finally had a failure.
Jack the rear end of the car off the ground or put the car on a lift, run the car through the gears and see if you hear any strange noises from the transmission, see if there is any reverse function when there is no load on the car. If it goes into reverse but the reverse is very weak when the car is off the ground you might have blown the seal in the reverse clutch pack which allows all of the pressurized fluid to escape without engaging the reverse clutches, could happen on a cold transmission with cold, relatively thick fluid.
In sympathy and commiseration I was pretty disappointed to be under my 3 series a while back to find out the the transmission was made in France.
They might know wine and food but in my mind the LAST thing you would want is a French automatic transmission, Bonjour........
I ended up having to swap the automatic transmission out of my 3er last year with one from a recycler, so far it has been holding but it does not inspire confidence. Plus the fluid can only be checked from underneath the car, thanks guys.
Glad my 5 series is a manual, keep it simple, Ja.
Let us know how you make out.
andrew