hard to get into reverse?

Ronald Wendt

Registered User
In the last month or so since it got real cold, I am having intermittant problems getting my 5-speed into reverse. It is like the slot for reverser is locked out. I have to keep trying to get it into reverse over and over again until it finally does. It may do it when I first back out of my driveway for work in the morning. Or it will go right in but I have trouble backing into a parking spot later. No problems with any other gears

The tranny was rebuilt a year ago, and the 5th/reverse assembly was replaced. I rebuilt the shifter at the same time. Replaced the clutch slave cylinder but not the master cyclinder or the clutch.

I have Royal Puple synthetic manual trans fluid with a bottle of friction modifier in it.

Any clue?

Ron
 
I have had similar problems with my 5 speed as well. Shifting into reverse and shifting between 1st, 2nd, and 3rd were all difficult. Turns out my clutch fluid was low. When I filled it it dramatically helped. However, I still have a problem shifting into reverse sometimes and I have found that if I first shift into a forward gear and then tryreverse it works better than shifting directly into reverse. Hopefully someone else will have more insight for you, good luck!

Brandon

1994 5 speed
 
My 90 5speed would not shift properly if my engine oil got low and I had problems getting into reverse when my engine mount split. Good luck
 
I had a similar problem with an M5R2 once. Seems when they rebuilt the tranny they got a washer in the wrong space which allowed the blocker ring to turn from its normal slots (ones that the "dogs" fit into).

Everything else you have seems 100%.
 
Great

So Dave, did you just put up with it until it broke?

In thinking about it, sometimes it seemed very mushy trying to get into fifth sometimes but it always went in. Again very intermintent. Maybe related?

Ron
 
Could also be that the teeth on the syncro ring are worn. If they wear too much they get an edge on them that hangs up.

I pulled mine apart. PITA I know, but I couldn't get reverse at all after awhile. Ended up nothing was damaged, so I just reassembled it right and put it back together and never had any more problems. I have to assume that the car drove at least 15K miles with it together wrong. You don't need any special tools to take the 5th/rev assembly out, but the tranny does have to come out to do it.

I don't want to be the one to tell you to take it apart for no reason either, but I've had a bunch of these things apart and there aren't too many things that can go wrong. When everything is right they shift great.
 
Lots of times you can simply put it into 5th gear first and then reverse. Lots of times it will slip right in with no problems.
 
When it does not want to go into reverse, I have tried the going into 5th first. But when you pull back for reverse it just won't let you in and it goes to 4th. What seems to work is to work the shifter back and forth sideways in neutral, with and without the clutch in.

Still it never seems there is an exact sequence of what to do to get it into reverse rather quickly. I just sit there trying to get it in while the engine revs up ever so slightly as I let the clutch out hoping it is in gear while flailing away on the shifter. Anyone nearby wants to know what the heck I am doing
 
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