e46 330ci no reverse

[TopSod]

A bit of advice needed please!

When I tried to reverse my car earlier, it will only move under its own power, by which I mean I select reverse and the car starts to move, only a little though. As soon as I put power on the accelerator the car just revs. If the car is on an incline there isn't enough power for it to reverse on its own.
When I say reverse under its own power, I'm assuming it is on level ground, it looked it by eye but might not have been.

Reverse worked fine 1/2 hr earlier leaving work followed by 25 minutes on the M6 going home.

It seems to be fine in drive, but I did think it was maybe a little hesitant but maybe I'm just imagining that because of the reverse problem, I'm not sure.

Any ideas?


Edit: Its an SSG box

[Andyboy]

SSG - that's the Italian Magneti Marelli (Alfa Selespeed) system by another name. A f*cking disaster waiting to happen sadly. It's basically a standard manual gearbox and clutch but with a computer controlled hydraulic ram for the gearchange and another for the clutch slave cylinder.

My best guess is the control unit's packed up and/or the hydraulic actuator has gone tits up and won't re-engage the clutch in reverse. However, they can be converted to manual. BMW dealers might not be much help but they may be able to read the fault codes.

[TopSod]

I was in it last night and its strange, when I put it in reverse the back end goes down as though it has engaged, but then doesn't do anything. I've got a BMW technician coming to have a look tomorrow so fingers crossed he has a better idea.

You are right though, they're not the best. I did a bit of googling and there are a shed load of lawsuits on the go for exactly the same problem.