Hi all, just an hour ago I just back the car up then go forward to my garage, but now I am unable to put into reverse gear at all, been trying for almost an hour now, but still can't, it is 2004 with 60000 miles. Any help, please.....

 

Going to need more info like:

Trans, maintenance, fluids used, driving habits, other symptoms

 

6 speed, normal driving, redline once in awhile, red-line fluid changed about 1.5 years, everything normal until today. thanks

 

thank God, it is ok now, back to nornal. thanks all anyway. I thought I will spend some big $ on it.

 

Did you do anything special to get it working?

Ken

 

The 8 seems to have a problem going into reverse, sometimes it just won't go completely in even the the clutch on the floor and the stick pressed down.

What I've found is that if you keep your hand on the stick and push it down gently it will pop in as soon as you engage the clutch.

If there's a downgrade behind you you can just roll back a little and it will pop in. I don't know what causes this but others have complained about the same problem so I think it's a quirk with the transmission. It can grind if you aren't careful.

 

My 8 has always been rather finicky when sitting still (since new). Sometimes it won't go into 1st gear until I throw it in another gear, then back over to 1st quickly. I probably should do the redline oil thing (assuming that helps as much as it did on my 85 rx7).

 

my previous transmission was horrible about going into reverse. my current one is fine.

i found that holding the shift **** back and then letting the clutch out slowly works well. my shift **** would also click back another 1/2" if i did this.

 

Most cars are like that. Reverse is a separate sliding gear, no constant mesh. The teeth can randomly line up so that they block each other. Engaging the clutch or rolling backwards rotates the gear a little so it goes in. On some cars putting it in one of the forward gears will jiggle things enough for reverse to engage.

The only special thing about reverse on the 8 is learning the right point to do the "down" in the down-right-back motion. I'll still miss every once in a while.

Ken

 

My RX8 does this as well, especially when the car is cold. It has done this since fairly new. I changed transmission fluid to Redline fluid at 36,000 miles, but didn't notice a dramatic difference, if any.

When I am not able to engage into reverse, I shift into and engage first gear, before shifting back into reverse gear, where it almost always will engage.

I just attribute it to being a quirk of the car

 

I usually have to play with it to get into reverse. It will seem like it's in, but when I go to let the clutch out, GRRIIIINNNDDDDD. So I try to put it in reverse, put it into first, then back into reverse. Haven't had an issue with it again.

 

Go through all the gears, inch it forward in 1st or second by slipping the clutch a bit then try reverse again. Sometimes I swear the straight cut gears on reverse will just refuse to engage. The rest of the gears are helical cut and never have a problem.

 

I generally put the shifter in to 2nd before putting it in to reverse. I never have a reverse issue though.