Guys, here's what happened. Left my car with a local shop for two days. Simple fix, weld a cracked downpipe. That was done in one day.

Went to pick it up the following day. As I get in to test drive, I drive off and before leaving the parking lot notice that the Airbag light never went off. So I turn my ignition off and restart. Same thing, Airbag light still on. So, I go to back it up to let the guy know that the light is on.

I go to put it into reverse and it won't go in ! I make a u-turn and pull up to the front of the shop and playing around with the shifter.........I notice that it's wayyyyyyy lose and doesn't bounce back to neutral by itself. If I push it to the left to go into 1st.....it stays there.

So, mechanic takes off the shifter and finds a broken shifter bushing. It was totally cracked.

Now, I have never once had a problem with the tranny or shifter bushing.

Strange thing is.......when I pulled up to the shop, my car was backed into a spot right in front of the shop. Meaning that the guy took the car out of the shop and backed it in right before I got there. He said that the reverse worked perfectly right before I got there and I believe him. I can usually tell if someone is B.S.'ing.

So, what do you guys think happened ? Could it be the crushed shifter bushing not allowing me to shift it into reverse ? It shifts perfectly into all gears including 5th ! But no reverse.........not even if I turn the car off and try shifting it.

 

i have had kinda the same problem. what would happen for me is the shifter wouldnt go into reverse unless i pumped the clutch in a few times and put the car into 5th gear while the car is off. then i would turn the car on and it would go into reverse no problem. However this has only happened three times. my problem was due to a leak in the clutch line tho

 

I don't think that bushing will have anything to do w/ it...Mine was all but completley gone and would still go into rev. somethings not right... I hope your friends w/ everyone at the shop... since it soulds like someone didn't realize it was a 5sp or something... whats the difference in the miles from drop off to current?

 

My tranny did it once, where I couldnt get it in reverse, so I just gave up and pushed it into the parking space, I waiting a few hours (after we had dinner and bling) and back to normal, no problems never did it again and nothing that I could think of should have caused it. I have actually heard of it a few times, but a lot of people it happens to dismiss it, or never use reverse.

 

I had no shift bushing for a while on my short shifter (forgot to order a new one, and the stock one was shot) but I was still able to shift fine. I think it's just there for comfort and wear prevention.

 

i took mine to a goodyear and left with this same problem but didn't notice it for a couple of days. I went ahead and took the oppurtunity to do my 5th gear syncro hoping it would maybe fix the problem. I've done the syncro and put the tranny back on and still won't go in reverse. I'm hoping after putting in some new oil and driving it around to loosen up the gears and break in the new syncro it will fix itself.

i researched this a while ago and here are some solutions people had for theirs
1. replaced the nylon bushing at the bootom of the shifter
2. out in new oil and drove the car for a while
3. shift through all the gears and then try it
4. roll the car backwards and force it into reverse (this one has worked for alot of people)
5. put the car in either 4th or 3rd or 2nd (i can't remember which one) and slowly pull out the clutch w/out stalling and inch the car forward. then try putting it into reverse
hope all this helps

 

Do you think they took your car for a joy-ride trashed your car? I hope not. But that's the first thing that comes to mind. Maybe I'm paranoid.

 

hope it wasnt the shop.... i took my car into the stereo shop one time,,,,, when it came out it needed a new clutch cause it was slippin so bad that it wouldnt engage until 4500. i dont trust non rotary shops anymore....... PS. ALWAYS CHECK THE MILEAGE AND TALK TO MANAGERS BEFORE HAND! NOT A REGULAR ASSOCIATE!!

 

Unfortunately, that is what I am worried about as well. I know that people have messed up their reverse by blowing the 2-3 shift. MAYBE the mechanics took it out for a joy ride, and blew the shift, causing damage . I'm hope I'm wrong and you get everything worked out.

 

Well.........a little update. Car is at my boy's shop. He took it apart and said that the plastic thingy at the bottom of the shifter is what was cracked.......not my shifter bushing.

So, now he is certain that I have some kind of tranny damage. Gonna do a tranny swap with an extra tranny we have. Then we will investigate to see what kind of damage occured to the tranny.

The ******* saga continues. I was JUST telling everyone this week how my car is running absolutely perfect. HAHA...........guess the jokes on me.

 

Those guys took it out and realized they fudged it.
Then they pushed the car into the spot backwards to appear that the reverse was working.
Sounds fishy, you just don't get tranny damage when you were the one that drove it last.

I saw them do it....

Raj

 

.......go back and yell at them! tell them u had the tranny inspected the day before and that they need to pay for ur cars repairs!

 

Is there syncro for reverse. If so, that could have gone bad. However, the only thing that I've heard wrong with the FD's is the 5 gear syncros. If not, then it could just be an old tranny and u can get a new one.

 

well the only thing i am going to say is the only time i had a problem with my car not going into reverse was one time i was driving and missed the hell outta 3rd under hard accelaration and high RPMs. It took me two weeks of leaning and playing with the shifter to get it into reverse and ever since then I have had a slight 5th gear synchro grind. apparantely the cause of my misshift was bad motor mounts and/or the lack of a ETB. not saying this is what happened, that is just my story.

 

So you guys fixed the downpipe so much the tranny broke.