My car won't go into reverse anymore
 

Luckily my cars always seem to break down in the garage. I was out last night and it reverse was fine. Today I go to back out of the garage and the shifter feels like it's hitting a stop. I double clutched and tried again, same thing. I put it in first and rolled forward then quickly went to reverse ..... no dice :(

I shifted through all four gears, sitting still, turned the car off, then back on .... same thing.

It's never been even slightly hard to get into reverse before ...... is this something that can happen in a 930 from time to time? :confused: Any clues for a fix?

I am no expert,is there a Reverse lookout on our cars that is designed to help insure that you don't accidently shift into R that could have broken? Is there anything in there that is designed to make it harder to shift into R while moving that could now be totally blocking you? Just looking/hoping for cheaper $olutions.

Not sounding good. You might want to try to adjust the shift coupler.

I have a hard time getting in reverse when the Trans oil is low.

Do you go from 1st to 2nd and then reverse? That what I do to set up the gears. Give it a try.

I've never before had a prob going into reverse, so I am totally surprised that this happened. I tried lots of different combinations such as shifting through all 4 gears and stabbing the clutch a few times trying to get it to go into reverse. I even rolled the car forward in 1st and tried quickly shifting into reverse as the car was moving.

The weird thing is, there was never any resistance or problem before .... it always went in reverse with no issue before ....I wonder what is going on now ? :confused:

Could simply be a matter of adjusting your shift coupler which is quite simple. I actually ran into a problem at the track last weekend where my car would pop out of 2nd under hard decel and was able to correct the problem in about 10 minutes.

Linkage is located under a cover plate on the center tunnel behind the front seats. Good idea to mark where it is currently set with a sharpy so that you can always return it to your original position. Adjusts back and forth as well as right and left.

BTW... where in OH are you?

Have you changed out the shift coupler bushing?

The bushing in my '78 failed last year in almost the same manner. Great fun moving the car in the garage so I could open both doors to remove the seats for the R&R of the shift coupling. The seats are fixed Recaro Pole positions so, yes, they had to be removed for the project.

thomas

You were on the right track with rolling forward in first, but do not try getting in reverse with the car still moving forward.
I occasionally cannot find reverse, but what I do is roll it forward slightly in first, STOP, clutch in, wait for a second or 2 then try reverse. Reverse gear is a straight cut idler set that if not perfectly aligned teeth will nto engage. By rolling forward a little you re-index them and this allows re-engagement.
Have you tried engaging reverse with the engine shut off and then restarting it?

Good luck, Porsche was really stubborn in terms of trannys, refusing to give up on the good Dr.s synchro design to go to the Borg Warner style, which is a better design, until the late 80's.
Other than that, make sure the clutch is not worn and you are getting full disengagement when you press the pedal.

I think it is a shift linkage as well- heres the good news- if at the end of the day worst case scenario and the trans has to come out- Reverse is right in the front of the trans nose.

Thanks,

I am in Akron. I have some time today and will take a look at it.

I tried all different combinations. The weird this is, it's always gone in easily before. I am about to take another look and will report back.

Thanks everybody!!

It was the shift coupler set screw that came loose. You guys ROCK! Thanks a million!

:cool: