I have the BW12. No forward gears at all. I have adjusted the reverse band and reverse works good. Fluid level is good. The manual says the front band only needs to be adjusted when the servo is done. Can the front band adjustment be done to correct the issue or am I into the valve pack inside the tranny? I have never driven the car as I have been to busy rebuilding everything, fuel pumps, carbs, cooling system, electrical, brakes. I was told it was driven around the previously owners yard 6 years ago but has sat ever since. I have found most things on the car had to be corrected as they were not close to factory and wondered if he adjusted the front band wrong. The rear band was way out of adjustment. I figured I would just ask the experts. Thanks

James,
As I understand it, the front band is of the self adjusting type (large internal spring). Only the rear band is adjustable. Have you tried disconnecting the shift lever and operating the transmission shift directly? Have you drained and changed the fluid? Are you operating with the rear wheels jacked up off the ground?
I say all this as when I came to start my car after many years, I had the whole car off the ground for first start up. Then went through the gears with the wheels spinning. The transmission needed quite a bit of run time before it came good - the oil needed a good pump through the system.
The model 12 is a really tough transmission, I would be surprised if this is not something simple.

Mekon. Thanks for the reply. The car is jacked up, wheels off the ground. transmission shifts good at the tranny, shift cable has been adjusted ( it was way out of wack). Reverse engages smooth and wheels turn. Nothing in forward. I have yet to change the fluid. I did have to add 2 litres to get level corect as there was evidence of a small drip and the car did sit for 6 years. I have run the car with tranny in neutral for probably 30 minutes total with no change. I will change the oil this weekend and report what the internals look like. Is it worth while looking at the valve body when I have the filter off as the manual mentions a sticking valve? Thanks James

Ok Mekon
I changed tranny oil and filter. Ran car till warm (enough to burn all the spill oil) only reverse and no forward gears.. Is there some adjustment I could try on the front band. As I said before, I don't know what the previous owner did but it looks like there was some activity on the front band adjustment screw. The magnet had some metal filings and some sludge in bottom of pan. filter looked OK but was changed.

Hi James, if you have reverse that is telling you that you have enough pressure in the system to activate the rear clutch and rear servo band. Since you have no drive at all it sounds like there is a pressure issue which could be alot of things. In drive, only the front clutch is working BUT the governor circuit is also in play. A bad leak or problem there could bleed pressure. Governor is closed off during reverse.

You might try revving it a bit in drive to bring up the pressure and maybe compensate for an internal leak after being sure the system is full by shifting it through all gears and then checking fluid level. They are sensitive to fluid level. I had a S3 E-type that lost all forward gears (BW12) for about 10 min after coming off an off-ramp the day I got it. Fluid level was very low. I believe the pump sucked up air when the fluid was sloshed over to the left during the off ramp procedure. It came back about 10min later.

After being sure fluid level is good and trying to activate drive at higher revs, open the pan if it doesn't do anything. You may find that the nylon filter screen has come apart and pieces have found their way into the valve body. I've seen this on 2 neglected S1's.

When the pan is off you should be able to see if the manual shift valve is properly being activated by the linkage - probably is to some extent if you have reverse but you mentioned shifter was out of adjustment. Maybe it is screwed up and not moving the valve right - PO's do the darndest things.

Taking the valve body off with the box in the car is pretty easy if it comes to that. There alot of things this could be especially if a PO was in there...

~Mike

James,

Are you certain that you have the BW model 12? I say this as the 12 has no front band adjustment and you keep referring to it. The model 8, 35, and 65 all have front band adjustment.
The model 12 has no filter you can "change" - only clean a fine screen. Other than that I back up what Mike has posted. Fluid amount (not level) and pressure are critical. I say amount as the level can show correctly and yet the system not be full - though I do not believe this is your problem. Next step is to either do pressure check or remove valve body - which is possible with the transmission in the car, but I have never done it.

You guys are good. The spare Trany I have is a BW12 but the Trany in car is actually a BW65.. according to the manual I am probably looking at the governor. Any thought before I blindly get into this???

if its the 65 you can adjust the front band, torque to 8 inch pounds. my s3 lost forward drive[wouldnt go up driveway] and it was as simple as adjusting the front band and all good

Hooter - If you had an SIII didn't you have a BW66? Or did someone install a 65 in it as some point?

Bill

I adjusted frond band but no change. Reverse is good, neutral is good but no forward.