[rp808]

Hey all,

I wanted to see if anyone has experienced these symptoms and to get general advice. I live in Hawaii so BMW tech solutions aren’t readily available.
I’ve been wrenching for most of my life so I know my way around a car and I do most maintenance myself.
I’ve owned my 2002 E46 M3 SMG for 10 years and have spent a lot getting it restored. I’ve only put 30k miles on it since I acquired it so it hardly gets driven.
I don’t drive it hard at all and never have, since it is an LSB I feel like I shouldn’t even drive it lol.
I had a new clutch put in 3k miles ago at a BMW specialist shop and all is good.
After driving it for a while I noticed that the transmission was a little loud but the SMG always makes noise so I didn’t think much of it. Then one day when shifting from 2nd to 3rd it made a ‘ping’ noise followed by a faint gear grind sound, almost like zipping up a hoodie. It went into gear but the revs dropped (due to me taking my foot off the gas) and drove fine.
The next time I drove I went about 80 miles which I don’t normally do, as I drive it around town and to work about 30 miles a week. The transmission got hot and so I drove it home and parked it thinking I would change the transmission fluid. When I did that there was about a cup of fluid inside as it had developed a slow leak in the rear seal over time which I was unaware of. I filled the transmission with new fluid (Redline) and it seemed to drive fine.
But the other day while shifting from 2-3 it happened again.
This only happens on upshifts from 2-3.
I’m seeking advice on what this could be, aside from the obvious that the transmission is toast.
Thanks in advance for the replies.
Peace!

[hrf]

Originally Posted by rp808

Hey all,

I wanted to see if anyone has experienced these symptoms and to get general advice. I live in Hawaii so BMW tech solutions aren’t readily available.
I’ve been wrenching for most of my life so I know my way around a car and I do most maintenance myself.
I’ve owned my 2002 E46 M3 SMG for 10 years and have spent a lot getting it restored. I’ve only put 30k miles on it since I acquired it so it hardly gets driven.
I don’t drive it hard at all and never have, since it is an LSB I feel like I shouldn’t even drive it lol.
I had a new clutch put in 3k miles ago at a BMW specialist shop and all is good.
After driving it for a while I noticed that the transmission was a little loud but the SMG always makes noise so I didn’t think much of it. Then one day when shifting from 2nd to 3rd it made a ‘ping’ noise followed by a faint gear grind sound, almost like zipping up a hoodie. It went into gear but the revs dropped (due to me taking my foot off the gas) and drove fine.
The next time I drove I went about 80 miles which I don’t normally do, as I drive it around town and to work about 30 miles a week. The transmission got hot and so I drove it home and parked it thinking I would change the transmission fluid. When I did that there was about a cup of fluid inside as it had developed a slow leak in the rear seal over time which I was unaware of. I filled the transmission with new fluid (Redline) and it seemed to drive fine.
But the other day while shifting from 2-3 it happened again.
This only happens on upshifts from 2-3.
I’m seeking advice on what this could [...]

I have SMG e46 M3 as well. I did some research on SMGs and this symptom does not look like SMG pump problem or relay, they usually stop shifting. Sounds more like a gear and transmission issue, especially if you had an fluid leak. Can you plug to diagnostic OBD tool to get a code?
This site has good info on all SMG issues and code explanation:

https://burkhart-engineering.com/smg...-2c6c5372-a94a