my car will not go into 5th or reverse. its not that the shifter goes in but nothings there. the shifter will not go into the gate for them at all. first is fine but i have to use force to get it into 2-4 and it wont go into the gates fro 5th or reverse. i have no idea whats wrong!! please help me tell me if you have any ideas whats up. thanks

 

Sounds to me like your 5th/reverse shifter rod inside the tranny has lost a pin. At one end of the rod is a fork that interacts with the 5th/reverse gear hub. At the end towards the shifter is a "slot bracket" that a tab at the end of the shifter slots into when you want 5th or reverse gear. The fork is attached at the end of the shift rod by a pin that runs through the rod. The "slot bracket" is also attached to the rod at the shifter end by pins. Imagining what is going on internally, it would seem that the position of these parts is no longer controlled because either a pin(s) has broken off or the assemblies themselves have broken in some fashion. How many miles are on the tranny? Did you have any hard shifts to 5th/reverse before this became a problem?

 

the trans has about 120xxx miles on it and its all factory. nope never had a problem with 5th but some times it would make a klunk and then a grind noise into reverse but would work fine after that.

 

took the shifter apart. nothing wrong and i put it back together and it still wont work right. any one else with ideas?

 

What I was describing is not going to be visible through the shifter opening. You will need to take down the tranny and pull the rear housing off. I think it is going to be related to the 5th/reverse shifter rod in the tranny. There are three rods that essentially run the length of the tranny. There is one for 1st/2nd, 3rd/4th and 5th/rev. Something is preventing the 5th/rev shifter rod from moving properly.

 

I had this same exact thing happen to me. Here is the thread --> https://www.rx7club.com/2nd-generation-specific-1986-1992-17/cant-shift-into-5th-reverse-wtf-359353/

I ended up taking the car to a tranmission specialty shop. They took it all apart and found a broken spring somewhere inside that was jamming the shifter. They put a new spring in and charged me $475 in labor and it was good to go.