Technical cant put it in reverse

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Technical cant put it in reverse

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Jun 16, 2017
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Got an unexpected problem today. I cant put my car into reverse.
I left home for work, had to go reverse and all worked fine, did a reverse parking a work parkinglot al worked fine, after work i drove off and stoped at a burger place, when i wanted to leave the car didnt want to go into reverse. i tried for 10minutes than someone pushed me and i drove home, tried for 5more minutes even with abit more force and nothing.

-the car is a 2003 fiat punto mk2b 1.3jtd.
-Never had any big reversing problems, maybe one in a 50 that it didnt go into reverse when i tried.
-It goes into all other 5 gears no problem, with the car running or not,
-Wont go into reverse even if car not on.

It not like it goes into reverse but doesnt move, the shifter doesnt even want to sit into the spot, like it is blocked or something.


Please help! anything i can check at home??
 
The first and obvious question is, will it go into reverse with the engine off ?

Err..he did put in his post 'it wont go into reverse even if car not on'...so i think he answered that question....
I would suggest that maybe the cable has disconnected at the gearbox although that wouldn't explain not being able to move the gear lever into position. Maybe the next thing would be to remove the gear lever cover and look to see if something has fallen into the mechanism blocking it. also check at the Gearbox connection to see if anything untoward has occurred there.
Also occurs to me that maybe the problem lies with the Lift part on the gear lever (since you have to lift it to put the lever in reverse)
 
Last edited:
Err..he did put in his post 'it wont go into reverse even if car not on'...so i think he answered that question....
I would suggest that maybe the cable has disconnected at the gearbox although that wouldn't explain not being able to move the gear lever into position. Maybe the next thing would be to remove the gear lever cover and look to see if something has fallen into the mechanism blocking it. also check at the Gearbox connection to see if anything untoward has occurred there.
Also occurs to me that maybe the problem lies with the Lift part on the gear lever (since you have to lift it to put the lever in reverse)


yeah thats what i ment by that, i cant put it in reverse even with engine off.
It really feals likesomething got stuck there and i just cant move the lever into position. Amm my shifter doesnt need the lift or push down part. its just revers, just like like a 6th gear o_O
 
some update.

I took the shiftknob cover off and inspected it, all looks normal. no debries or anthing. tried looking at the gearbox when my friend shifter trough gears, i dont have a stand so i didnt see so well, but going trough gears it all looked fine until revers, the mechanism started to move but didnt lock in.... i managed to put it in revers a few times but not always, it did go into revers more time with engine off, but not a big differance than with engine on. one time i thought it all looked fine when chaning trough gears like 20 times and reverse working every time, started the car, puted in first, drove for 2m and tried putting it in reverse, couldnt do it, shuted the engine off tried revers and couldnt do it anymore. tried a few more times no luck. tried 20minutes later worked a few times than again not. its really confusing.. any other ideas ? or mechanic ?
 
My brother will come tomorow and we will raise the car and have a better look at the gearbox.hope we can try what you suggested. Any other suggestions are also welcome
 
On mine I cant get reverse without slightly moving the gears using the clutch with the engine on. Not sure if this is relevant with the engine off. Maybe you are aware of this already as its a common problem on these cars. I am supposing it must be a bit more user friendly when the cars are new.
 
There is a lock plate to stop you going from 5th into reverse by accident. It is only visible from in side the gear box caseing. Sounds like this has jammed. If the cables are free and adjusted right,then this plate could be your problem.
 
IMG_7080.JPG
 
On mine I cant get reverse without slightly moving the gears using the clutch with the engine on. Not sure if this is relevant with the engine off. Maybe you are aware of this already as its a common problem on these cars. I am supposing it must be a bit more user friendly when the cars are new.


Thinking about this some more......I had the gear box apart last year. When the car is new there are some triangular tabs to cause the reverse gear parts to rotate as the selector pushes them into position and on mine the triangular tabs have become rounded. The same kind of triangular tabs are present on the syncromeshed gears but they are not likely to be spinning when you select the gears.
 
There is a lock plate to stop you going from 5th into reverse by accident. It is only visible from in side the gear box caseing. Sounds like this has jammed. If the cables are free and adjusted right,then this plate could be your problem.

it might be this yes, as the cables seem fine and work, reverse also sometimes works but really really hard to get it. im taking it to mechanic tomorow and we will see whats the problem
 
update.. its something in the gearbox itself. mechanic checked everything outside and changed oil and added some additives he said.. but the problem still persists, he has to open the gearbox. atleast with the new oil and aditiv 1-5th gear work even better haha :D
 
update.
the gearbox reverse gears had to be replace with some other things, aswell as new oil and an aditive... it costed 365€ total. Not sure if it was the right choise to fix it or to buy a used one that "works" for 200€ and replace, but it say the cost wouldnt be that much differant after adding oil,aditive and labor costs.
 
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