E46 STEPTRONIC transmission owners... Please vote!

[meansartin14]

If you are the owner of an E46 BMW 3-series vehicle with a STEPTRONIC transmission, please vote in this poll. If you would like to understand the purpose of this thread, please read on.

The catastrophic failure of STEPTRONIC transmissions in the E46 is an issue that has been discussed at length in many different threads and polls. The usual suspects are faulty reverse gearing and fouled plastic internals due to metal shavings floating in infrequently changed automatic transmission fluid. Thus, we have a somewhat decent insight into what appears to be the cause of these failures.

From many accounts, this catastrophic failure seems to be not only possible, but probable and imminent; it's just a question of when it happens. Mileage does not appear to be a factor, considering there are reports of failure with very few miles as well as significant amounts of miles. However, in all of the threads/polls seen thus far, there is only minimal attention paid to those who have gone without STEPTRONIC transmission failures. We do not appear to have a fair understanding of the true prevelance of this failure, from a positive aspect.

This thread - and subsequent poll - is an attempt to acquire a meaningful, quantitative measurement of the number E46 STEPTRONIC transmissions that have not had catastrophic failures, as reported by E46 owners.

This thread, just as others regarding this topic, is far from a true, scientific quantitative measurement of this issue and is prone to error for a number of reasons. The goal is simply to acquire a fair idea of the number of E46 STEPTRONIC transmissions that have not had failures.

To this end, I have chosen 2 voting options that are devoid of qualifiers (e.g. ATF fluid changes, modifications, ):
1) My E46 STEPTRONIC transmission has NOT had a mechanical failure during my ownership.
2) My E46 STEPTRONIC transmission HAS had a mechanical failure during my ownership.

I hope that this thread/poll serves a purpose and renews our trust in BMW's engineering and sound mechanical practices.

Moderators, feel free to sticky if you deem this worthy. I may begin to pull in links to other threads/polls that have taken place in the past so that this thread serves as a single point of reference for E46 STEPTRONIC transmission failure.

[Smilez]

i have 87k miles no problem on tranny yet.

[nathancarter]

2001 325i w/ Steptronic. Bought at 55k, sold at 66k (I hope). Steptronic works fine, no problems in forward or reverse, though it shifts a little rough. Had I been keeping it, a transmission fluid change would have been next on my to-do list.

[Smilez]

http://forums.bimmerforums.com/forum...d.php?t=494219

[FSUmac]

Currently at 63k on my 2001 330i with nary an issue.

I am about drop the pan, replace the filter/gasket, and refill as much as possible.

[Arby]

2002 330i with 28.5K on it...no problems so far (knock on wood)

[rgallip127]

mine is an 02 325ci and my only complaint is that going into first is rough...it pulls the car a lil too hard for my liking but only when going into first no matter what speed

[Vince S.]

I have a ZF 5HP19, supercharged and competing in NASA TT. No problems whatsoever.

[Smilez]

I have a ZF 5HP19, supercharged and competing in NASA TT. No problems whatsoever.

im still waiting for you to plug in your computer and flash my ecu and make it a faster.

[ALPIN3]

Most people are going to register "no problems" on the poll due mostly to their cars having less than 70k miles on them. I say we start a poll of those who have over 100k. This "poll" here is kind of a given...since we know the step failure is a higher mileage issue.

[cjf323i]

my car has 118,000 --no AT problems but how do you know if you have this stephonic transmission?? I have a 323i 1999......my car runs awesome and I have no idea if AT fluid ever changed..I bought it 3 months ago.. do I change it now or forget it at this mileage..

[ALPIN3]

my car has 118,000 --no AT problems but how do you know if you have this stephonic transmission?? I have a 323i 1999......my car runs awesome and I have no idea if AT fluid ever changed..I bought it 3 months ago.. do I change it now or forget it at this mileage..

Is it just a plain auto tranny? ie. P R N D with no ability to pull the lever to the left and shift gears 1 through 5 manually?

The plain non-step boxes don't have this issue of dying reverse the way the step boxes do.

[ALPIN3]

my car has 118,000 --no AT problems but how do you know if you have this stephonic transmission?? I have a 323i 1999......my car runs awesome and I have no idea if AT fluid ever changed..I bought it 3 months ago.. do I change it now or forget it at this mileage..

And also at that mileage I'd probably just leave it alone if I were you...especially if its not a step box and just the standard AT. If you're not having any issues at this point and the car feels good...leave it be IMO.

[Vince S.]

im still waiting for you to plug in your computer and flash my ecu and make it a faster.

lol!

[typeS4]

I have to disagree. The reverse problem is not due to a lack of changing the transmission fluid but the part itself. It is weak and there are pictures on here proving that.

Nonetheless, I have had 0 problems.

[Smilez]

lol!

im not playing...i would love for you to increase the gas usuage to get more hp. and more air flow if possible...

[meansartin14]

Most people are going to register "no problems" on the poll due mostly to their cars having less than 70k miles on them. I say we start a poll of those who have over 100k. This "poll" here is kind of a given...since we know the step failure is a higher mileage issue.

There have been posts about STEPTRONIC trans failures at low mileage also (e.g. 35K, etc). This is basically the reason I made the options devoid of qualifiers; there's data points all over the map in terms of mileage. We'd need like 6 different threads to truly cover the whole mileage range.

[cep2535]

2000 328i 65k on my car no problems as of yet, but have had it for only 2 weeks :-)

[RM4Two]

2000 328i 65k on my car no problems as of yet, but have had it for only 2 weeks :-)

I've only had mine for 5 days.....actually 4 and a half, so I really shouldn't vote.

[nickdeck]

43K over here, no problems, and I appreciate this thread. I'm seriously considering buying an extended warranty. It'll cost me about $1500 for 48,000 miles on top of what I have, but having a $4K tranny problem would be catastrophic.

[Chris Huff]

105k on my 2000 323iT.

Reverse is gone with little metal pieces in the pan.

Just picked up a used one for $600 though so I'll be changing it out in a week or two.

[ALPIN3]

105k on my 2000 323iT.

Reverse is gone with little metal pieces in the pan.

Just picked up a used one for $600 though so I'll be changing it out in a week or two.

$600? How many miles on this one? It cost the dealer $8,000 to install mine (covered by insurance of course). If its a low mileage unit...$600 is a steal.

[Smilez]

well the transmission brand spanking new would be about 2k install i believe is pretty simple... a lift would be great...
the dealer just charges you like crazy.

[tjohn]

45K, owned for the last 20K, no probs of any type but 1. I change out the ATF every year 2. rarely shift manually

[ChrisK]

New owner of a 2002 steptronic with no problems so far at 21K miles. Got myself an extended warranty just in case though.